Author: Brant & Fuller (1893)
from "Memorial Record of Alabama"

HON. JOHN ARTHUR FOSTER, LL. D., is one of the distinguished jurists of
southern Alabama and a lawyer of state reputaion. Tracing his lineage back
through several generations, it is learned that the paternal ancestor of the
family in this country was one John Foster, who came to America from London,
Eng., in the time of the colonies and settled in Southampton, Va., where a son,
Arthur, remained; but another son, John, subsequently located at Halifax, the
same state. Arthur Foster served with distinciton in the war of the Revolution,
with the rank of colonel, and throughout that long and trying struggle shared
the fortunes and vicissitudes of his gallant regiment on many fields of victory
and defeat. John Foster, also an officer in the patriot army, removed to Georgia
at the close of the war and there married and reared a large family. He became a
prominent politician and for a number of years served in the state senate, where
his abilities as a legislator won for him a reputation, state wide. His son,
Arthur, who succeeded him in the senate, became a lawyer of prominence and
published, in 1821, a digest of the laws of Georgia. Between the years 1818 and
1821, the entire Foster family except J. L. S. Foster moved to Alabama, and
settled in Tuscaloosa county, where a number of the descendants still reside,
being among the prominent citizens of that part of the state. John L. S. Foster,
the judge's father, was the youngest of a family of six brothers. At the age of
nineteen he removed to Jasper county, Ga., where, in 1821, he was united in
marriage to Susan Holifield, and where, on the 11th day of November, 1828, Judge
John A. Foster first saw the light of day. In 1833, he and family moved to
Tuscaloosa county, and the judge recalls distinctly many of the incidents of the
trip and remembers having seen Indians in their native costume, although but a
child of four years at the time. The judge's father became a prominent merchant
and manufacturer, and during the late war between the states he was engaged in
manufacturing hats for the army of the Confederacy. For some time he carried on
a large mercantile business in the city of Tuscaloosa, and before the war was
classed -with the wealthy men of Alabama, but, like many others, lost his
earthly possessions, which vanished like mist during the hostilities. He died in
Tuscaloosa in 1875, and ten years later his faithful wife was laid to rest at
Starkville, Miss. Mr. and Mrs. Foster were both born in the year 1800, and there
was but a difference of two weeks in their ages. They became the parents of ten
children, the eldest of whom, Elizabeth, married her cousin, who is not now
living. Hardy Foster, the first son, died in 1863. The third member of the
family is the gentleman whose name heads this sketch, and the fourth in order of
birth is Martha, wife of Rev. Dr. T. P. Crawford, who, since 1852, has been
located as a missionary in Tung Chow, China, by the Baptist church. Dr. and Mrs.
Crawford have become noted in their missionary labors, and are widely known
throughout the world in religious circles, especially in connection with the
denomination to which they belong. David L. Foster, the third son, was professor
of surgery in the university of Alabama at the time of his death in 1891. The
names of other members of the family are as follows: Jesse G., deceased; Sarah,
widow of Dr. Glen Montgomery of Lexington, Miss. ; Susan, wife of William H.
Pace, Marion, Ga. ; Robert S., a practicing physician of Warder, Texas, and
Ezra, a physician and surgeon of Brookwood, Ala. As already stated, Judge Foster
was born in Jasper county, Ga., at the town of Monticello, and in 1833 was
brought by his parents to Alabama. After a course of preparation under the able
instruction of Rev. E. B. League, a scholarly and disitnguished Baptist
minister, he entered the State university in 1844, and after his graduation, in
1847, began the study of law at Eutaw in the office of Hon. Harry I. Thornton,
at that time a member of the supreme court of Alabama. In January, 1849, he
engaged in educational work at Crawford, Miss., and after teaching there till
1852, accepted a similar position at the city of Columbus, in the same state,
where he had charge of the school until his election as president of the
Southern Female college, at La Grange, Ga., in 1855. He continued in charge of
the last named institution until 1859, in which year he changed his residence to
Clayton, Ala., where he was admitted to the bar in January of that year and
where he has since made his home. Shortly after engaging in the practice, Judge
Foster effected a co-partnership in the law with Jere N. Williams, Esq., under
the firm name of Williams & Foster, and their legal business was large and
lucrative, until interfered with by the war. In 1860, Judge Foster was elected
justice of the peace, at that time a very important and responsible position,
and in August, 1861, he relinquished official and professional life and tendered
his services to the Confederacy, enlisting in company G, Twenty-ninth infantry,
of which he was in a short time promoted to be first-lieutenant. Subsequently he
became captain of the company, and as such served until the close of the war in
the southwestern army corps. The Twenty-ninth was first ordered to Pensacola,
Fla., where it remained until after the. evacuation of that city, and for some
time thereafter was stationed at Pollard, thence sent to Mobile, where it was
drilled for heavy artillery service, and put in charge of the redoubts. After
remaining at Mobile until 1864, the judge's command was attached first to
Cauly's and then to Shelly's brigade, and ordered to Resaca, Ga., and arrived
there in time to take part in the bloody Atlanta campaign, and the leading
battles incident thereto. The judge received a painful wound in the left arm at
Resaca, but refused to leave the ranks, and when Hood made his raid back through
Tennessee, the Twenty-ninth formed part of his force and participated in the
bloody battles of Franklin and Nashville, in the latter of which Judge Foster
had command of his regiment. In this battle, on the 15th of December, 1864,
Judge Foster, with his entire regiment, fell into the hands of the enemy, and
from that time until his parole, the following June, he remained a prisoner of
war on Johnson's island. Retiring from the army, and returning home, Mr. Foster
found himself in reduced financial circumstances, and there being no demand for
legal services in a town and county from which all courts had disappeared, he
collected a class of young men and for some time instructed them in the higher
branches of learning. It is a notable fact that quite a number of these young
men subsequently distinguished themselves in their various vocations, and are
now prominent and useful citizens of the state. In 1866, the judge resumed the
practice of his profession at Clayton, and the following year was appointed
register in chancery. In 1875 he was appointed a delegate to the state
constitutional convention, and in 1876 became a trustee of the university of
Alabama, which position he held for a period of sixteen years. In 1878, Judge
Foster was elected to represent Barbour county in the state legislature, and two
years later was elected chancellor of the southern chancery division of Alabama,
to which position he was re-elected in 1886, and again in 1892. The judge was
married in December, 1849, to Mary J. Webb, who died in 1857, the mother of
three children, two living, namely: John Webb, a lawyer of Abbeville, Ala., and
Emma, wife of John E. Toole, Esq., of La Grange,. Ga. Judge Foster married his
present wife, Mary Borders, in La Grange, Ga., on the 11th day of May, 1858, and
by her is the father of three children, whose names are as follows: Mary, wife
of Dr. William H. Robinson, Pearl and Arthur B., a graduate of the university
and. practicing lawyer at the town of Troy. Politically, Judge Foster has always
been an earnest supporter of the democratic party, and although honored at
different times by his fellow-citizens, he has never been a partisan in the
sense of seeking official preferment. A faithful devotion to the practice of his
chosen profession and his eminent success, both as judge and jurist, have amply
demonstrated his wisdom and foresight in this direction, and a large and
lucrative legal business has been the reward of his strict consecration to his
life work. In 1883, the degree of L.L. D., was conferred on him by the
Agricultural and Mechanical college of Alabama, an honor which he fully
appreciates. Since 1842, the judge has been a communicant of the Baptist church;
he stands high in Masonry, having taken a number of degrees, including that of
Knight Templar.