• The first Foster to immigrate to the United States came in 1710.  Sixty years before the United States was founded.
• John Foster fought in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, making all his female descendants eligible for membership into the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).
• John Emsley Foster fought in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, making all his female descendants eligible for membership into the United Daughters of the Confederacy (Texas Division).
• Stephen Collin Foster, composer of many traditional songs is a cousin.
• Albert Foster was a slave owner in Tennessee.

The name FOSTER is derived from the name of the person who was the guardian of the forest. The name took many shapes including, FORRESTER, FORSTER, FORREST and even FORRET, and of course the familiar FOSTER.

 

While it is correct to refer to our FOSTER ancestors as Scottish, a more common term would be "Scotch-Irish".

 

The term "Scotch-Irish" is peculiarly American, and in tracing its origin, I have, epitomized, the history of the people to who it is now applied.

 

The word seems to have come into general use since the American Revolution, having been first taken as a race-name by many individuals of a very large class of people in the United States , descendants of emigrants of Scottish blood from the North of Ireland.

 

The name was not used by the first of these emigrants, neither was it generally applied to them by the people whom they met here. They usually referred to themselves as "Scotch", just as the descendants of their former neighbors in Northern Ireland do today; and as do some of their own descendants in this country who seemingly are averse to acknowledging any connection with the Irish.

 

The appellation "Scotch-Irish" is not, as many people suppose and indication of a mixed Hiberno-Scottish descent; although it could be properly so used in many cases, it is not true of our ancestors. The Foster clan came from Scotland to Ireland in the 17th century and settled in the North of Ireland.

 

The North of Ireland is divided into the counties of Antrim, Down, Armagh , Londonderry (formerly Coleraine), Tyrone, Monaghan, Donegal, Fermanagh and Cavan. These nine counties comprise the ancient province of Ulster , which includes a fourth part of the island and contains an area nearly one-fifth that of Pennsylvania .

 

The so-called Scotch-Irish emanated from the Scottish Protestants who were transplanted to Ulster, Ireland during the 17th century. The migrations to Ulster began about 1607 and sponsored by King James I, continued intermittently during the next century.

 

By the close of the 17th century adverse economic conditions and political and religious difficulties made them wish to leave Ireland . Their farms were owned by absentee English landlords who received high rentals. Parliament prohibited the exportation of wool from Ireland , making sheep rising unprofitable; in 1704 the Presbyterians were excluded from holding office and they were taxed to support the Anglican Church in which they did not worship.

Therefore, thousands of these people with their Scotch heritage came to the American Colonies, including our ancestors.