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Below is a family biography included in Book of Biographies: Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens, Cortland County, New York published by Biographical Publishing Company in 1898.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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ISAAC FOSTER, one of the most substantial, thrifty, and successful retired farmers of Cortland County, resides in the town of Homer, where he settled soon after his emigration to this county from England in 1849. He was born in Carlisle, Cumberland County, England, April 13, 1827, and has therefore reached the age of a septuagenarian. His parents, James and Margaret Foster, were in very poor circumstances, and to make our subject’s lot the worse, he was bereaved of his father when an infant of a little more than two summers. His widowed mother was left with the responsibility of rearing him and his two older brothers, James and John, and to lighten her cares found homes for the two older boys in the homes of neighboring farmers. Until he was old enough to do for himself, our subject received the watchful care and love of a sainted mother, but he grew to manhood with scarcely any schooling, for the more important questions of how to provide food and clothing for himself at the immediate moment engrossed his time and his thoughts. He became a farmer, and supported himself at farm labor from a very early age, thus receiving on the English farms excellent instruction in the pursuits of husbandry. In 1849, he and his mother embarked for America, whither they had been preceded by his older brother John.

In September, 1849, Mr. Foster came to East Homer with $20.00 as the total of his worldly possessions. He secured employment on a farm with a wage of $13.00 per month above his board and keep. He worked faithfully for two years, husbanding his resources, and swing his earnings, so that at the end of that time he rented a farm in the town of Truxton. He had brought a good watch from England with him, and this he now traded for a horse, bought another horse then, and set to work in earnest to operate his rented farm and to advance himself in the good graces of the community by showing that he was made of the right sort of stuff, and was just the kind of a man that is always welcome wherever he may be placed. After running the farm for two years and making an undoubted success of his agricultural labors, he purchased a farm of 224 acres near East Homer, now occupied by his son, Isaac Foster, Jr., and soon after became a valued resident of Homer township. Later he bought still another farm of 160 acres, adjoining his first property. He made a success of farming, and engaged to no small extent in dairying, in which he also found remunerative profits. He was thus engaged in improving and making sure of his fortune until his retirement a few years since, to reap the rewards of ease from labor, earned by his up-hill struggle for a comfortable living. He has now an ample competency to put all thought of an evil tomorrow far from him, and to place him among the first farmers of the county. All that he has has been acquired by hard and well directed efforts put forth in legitimate lines of husbandry, and by an economical administration of his estate, and a curtailment of unnecessary expenses. His property is well improved, with stock in abundance, ample machinery, and that well housed and taken care of, and excellent farm buildings; altogether the surroundings of the place are those of an industrious, thrifty farmer, who knows well the value of farm products, and knows how to make the best use of the means at hand. He is a member of Albright Grange, No. 440, Patrons of Husbandry, and has always been a Republican, but with no desire for public office.

In his life-work Mr. Foster has not been forced to fight his battles alone, but has been aided by one of the truest and noblest of women, who has been all that a wife could be. Her sympathy has comforted in times of trouble, and her woman’s instinct has guided him aright, when he was in doubt which way to pursue. Their union was solemnized on May 17, 1851. Her maiden name was Jane Miller, her parents being John and Isabella (Wallace) Miller, natives of the Parish of Hulton, County of Cumberland, England. Mrs. Foster was born June 27, 1826. Her parents with the family, then consisting of Thomas, Jane, Hannah, Mary and John, emigrated to the United States in 1833, locating temporarily in the town of Preble, this county. Soon after, however, they settled in the town of Truxton, where they resided for eight years. Then Mr. and Mrs. Miller came to East Homer, where the declining years of their life were spent in the midst of their large family, surrounded by all the good things of life. At the time of Mr. Miller’s death, which occurred August 20, 1851, he left a family of ten children, all of whom were in excellent health, hearty and prosperous, and all living in Cortland County, quite an exceptional record. Mr. Miller was a blacksmith by trade, but after he came to this country, he gave all his attention to farming and dairying. By his own efforts, intelligently put forth, he became possessed of a good farm, fertile and well stocked. Mr. Miller was an active member of the M. E. Church of East Homer for many years.

Mr. and Mrs. Foster are the parents of seven children, as follows: John H., who died in 1861, aged ten years; Emma J., the wife of John Kirkup, a prosperous and enterprising farmer, residing near East Homer, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume; James of East Homer married Laura Rowe; Isabella of East Homer; Margaret, relict of Thomas Bell of East Homer; Isaac J. married Inez Vandenburg, and farms his father’s largest estate of 224 acres; and Mariette of Cortland, N. Y.

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This family biography is one of numerous biographies included in Book of Biographies: Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens, Cortland County, New York published in 1898. 

View additional Cortland County, New York family biographies here: Cortland County, New York Biographies

View a map of 1897 Cortland County, New York here: Cortland County, New York Map

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