City Directories and History: This collection of Foster Family images and papers was provided courtesy of a Lancaster Co. historian in 2020, part of the AFLLC Collection. See further information on the purchases made by J.C. Foster via the Twitty – Ivy Co., in 1880, link this page. Also see Dr. Foster’s history and genealogy tree this page.
THE FOSTER FAMILY OF LANCASTER COUNTY By Paul Gettys – 2020
The files of D. Lindsay Pettus, long-time president of the Lancaster County Society for Historical Preservation, contain a number of original items related to the Foster family of the Waxhaws and Lancaster. This short paper uses some of these documents and other sources to provide a brief sketch of this important family. It is not intended as a full genealogical study, and additional information is welcomed.
Near Landsford on the Catawba River in the Waxhaws section of Lancaster County, there is a location known as Fosters Crossroads. The present-day roads involved are Riverside Road in a north-south direction and Landsford Road to the west and Old Hickory Road to the east. Fosters Crossroads marks the location of the farm of the Foster family, who moved into the Waxhaws area in the mi-1750s.
Henry Foster and his wife Ann Dunlop (Dunlap) Foster came from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania to Lancaster County, South Carolina. When they arrived, they had at least one son, John, who had been baptized at Paxton, Pennsylvania in 1753. By 1756, a second son had been born. He was named Joseph and was baptized at Waxhaw Presbyterian Church by Rev. Robert Miller.[1] On October 30, 1761, the family bought 150 acres of land from George and Mary Douglass.[2] They gradually expanded their land holdings. The family built a home very near the river at Landsford.[3] Henry Foster farmed the family’s plantation and was active in Waxhaw Presbyterian Church and other local organizations. Henry’s wife Ann died in 1795 and he died on December 19, 1797.[4]
The location of the original home site on the river was unfortunate. Diseases such as malaria and yellow fever were prevalent, both spread by mosquitoes. A study of the graves at Waxhaw Cemetery shows that at least eight Fosters died at young ages between 1764 and 1843. This was also true of the Leckie family, who lived across the river in Chester County. Robert Leckie came to do the stone work and other construction work at the Landsford Canal, located just across the river from the Foster farm. He lost his two-year old son and wife in 1822 and his aunt in 1823 to a fever. They are also buried in the Waxhaw Cemetery in a special enclosure.
The Lancaster Ledger on Aug. 4, 1886 contained an ad stating, “Charles T. Connors, attorney at law in Lancaster with office in the Lancaster Review building.”
The Fosters eventually moved their home site to a high point which is the current location of Fosters Crossroads. John (1753-1812), the son of Henry and Ann Dunlop Foster, married Mary Atkins (1749-1801) and lived at the farm. According to documents submitted to the DAR, he served in the American Revolution in the South Carolina Light Dragoons under Lt. Col. Henry Hampton. Their son, John Foster (1785-1868), married Ann Kelsey Cantzon (1795-1846). They lost several children to disease, but had two sons who survived to adulthood. The Cantzon family is shown in Mill’s Atlas (1825) as living south of the Fosters on the Catawba River. John was a prominent farmer, as the 1850 Census showed that he had twenty slaves. He also was active in Waxhaw Presbyterian Church, and in the 1850s, he served as Clerk of Session. In 1855, he was elected president of the new chapter of the American Bible Society which was organized at Waxhaw.[5] In the 1860 Census, John Foster is listed with real estate valued at $39,600 and personal wealth valued at $5,000. His wife Ann had died in 1846, and he is shown in both the 1850 and 1860 Census reports as living with his two surviving sons, John Cantzon and Joseph Henry Foster… Read the complete story as a PDF, this page!
[1] Louise Pettus, The Waxhaws, 1993, page 6.
[2] Pettus, page 128. This appears to be the first acquisition of land by the family. I have not attempted a full review of the land holdings of the Foster family.
[3] A house labeled “Foster” is shown on Mill’s Atlas of South Carolina (1825) located directly on the Catawba River at Landsford in Lancaster County.
[4] Most death dates are taken from tombstones at Waxhaw Presbyterian Church Cemetery. A listing of the tombstones was published by Nancy Crockett and Mamie Gettys Atkinson.
[5] The Lancaster Ledger, July 25, 1825 contains an article describing the organization of the Bible Society chapter.
*** Note that John Foster had land holdings across the Catawba River in Chester Co., S.C. See map link this page.
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