Author: Foster, Robert
Biography:
FOSTER, Robert (1789-1835: ancestry.com)
Printer, publisher, and preacher, Robert Foster was born and died in Portsmouth NH. The names of his parents are not known. His spiritual father was Elias Smith (1769-1846, q.v.), one of the founders of the coalition of independent congregations in New England that came to be known as the Christian Connection or Restoration Movement. At Portsmouth in 1808 Smith also founded a newspaper, the Herald of Gospel Liberty, probably the first religious paper in the US. Foster must have been employed as a printer at the offices of the New-Hampshire Gazette in Portsmouth at first but eventually he ran his own press and bookshop, where he sold the usual mix of books, papers, stationery, and medicines such as "Foster's German Toothache Drops." After Smith left Portsmouth and temporarily left the Connection, Foster took over as proprietor and editor of his paper, renaming it the Christian Herald, and kept it going from 1818 to May 1835, when it was discontinued. He also took over as editor of and contributor to Smith's hymnbooks as part of his own contribution to the Connection, along with his revision of Smith's New Testament Dictionary (1832). But it is not clear how many--if any--of the "original" hymns were of his composition. He was married twice. His first wife, Frances (maiden name not found), died in Sept. 1827 aged 40, shortly after the birth of a son, James, who died a year later; they also had at least two daughters who grew to maturity. In Jan. 1828 he married Elizabeth Jones (1802-78) of Strafford NH; they do not appear to have had children. "Brother Foster" died at his home on 14 Oct. 1835 and was buried in Portsmouth. (ancestry.com 17 Oct. 2021; Portsmouth Journal of Literature and Politics 22 Sept. 1827, 2 May 1835, 17 Oct. 1835; New-Hampshire Gazette 29 Jan. 1828)
Other Names:
- R. Foster