Greetings To All ! For those that are on line, how are you enoying your family web site? We will be sending out paper copies to those who are not on line. If you have any information that you want listed, get it to your city or state chairperson and they will enter it on the web site. I am really proud of our family web site, so sit back and enjoy it and get involved with making contributions and help make this the greatest web site ever. We have two outstanding committee's. The Historical Committee which consist of three remarkable people; Earnestine Foster Gavin, Mary Foster Horton and Tia Foster Robinson. One of their undertakings will be to preserve our history and research our past. The family thanks them for taking on such a large and demanding task.SO let's rally around them and give them all our support. The Scholarship Committee is a fun and exciting committee. Raising money to help send a member of our family to college (ain't that fun). A family that pulls together, stays together. The Scholarship Committee consists of five members; Triva Foster, Victor Smith, Marilyn Foster Hill, Beverly Londsay Johnson and Paris Butler. And to show you how serious they are, Alabama kicked the new committee off with a raffle that raised five hundred ($500.00) dollars, and they are challenging every state/city chairperson to top their goal which is fifteen hundred ($1,500.00) dollars by the next family reunion, which is the weekend of July 21st, 2007. Our hats are off to the sweet state of Alabama. Thank you Triva Foster and Victor Smith - job well done!
Don't forget the auction at the family reunion- it's held at the picnic and officiated by Glen Foster (Bobby) and Vincent Butler, the head auctioneer. Everyone is asked to donate an item from their home state that will be auctioned off to the highest bidder (no reserve) all proceeds are donated to the Scholarship Fund. You're talking about fun and laughter- wait until you see Vincent go to work as an autioneer. Thank you Vincent Butler for your superb and spontantious work. Also, Glen Foster (Bobby) for your ingenious concept and planning. Thank you. For information about the auction see Glen Foster (Bobby) at (816) 673 1954 The Tia Award is sponsored by Louis and Maxine Foster. For information click on Tia Award web page. We would also like to say thank you to all the members of the past committees, chairpersons, secretaries and postions that played a roll in getting this reunion started. Your fortitude and vision is what brought us to where we are today. Without you we would not be here today. A special thanks to Lucille Foster Robinson who received the vision from Leroy Jackson (Uncle Lee) to start a family reunion back in the early 60's. She worked hard to bring our family together, endured all the obstacles and adversity that any organization goes through to get started, but she persevered and stayed right with it. She has that same great family blood that flowed through our ancestors, that same blood enabled our ancestors to survive adversity. We all have that same family blood flowing through our bodies. So what Lucille has shown us is, stand up, get involved, persevere and don't let adversity stop you because the reward is to great in the end. A special thanks goes out to Lucille Foster Robinson. Thank you for everything you have done and given us and your continued support to the family. We love you. Difficult things take a long time.
The impossible takes a little longer.
Live everyday to its fullest. The place to be the weekend of July 21st, 2007 is Columbia, SC. Jesse Foster is putting together an extravaganza, a reunion to be remembered for all times. So plan to be there for a fun-filled weekend. There will be a host of new family members that some of us have never met before. Seeing someone that looks like a family member that you do know, and you respond with "you look just like so in so". See you all in Columbia, SC! More info to follow. Perry County Perry County was created December 13, 1819 and named in honor of Commodore Oliver H. Perry, a naval hero of the war of 1812. Perry County is located in the west central part of Alabama. It is bounded on the north by Bibb County, on the south by Dallas County. The City of Marion was named in honor of General Frances Marion, a native of South Carolina.
Louis
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Hello Family: First I wish to thank Louis Foster for allowing me to be included in this publication. Louis and I have never met but we have established a great friendship in the last year. YOU --the missing link-- has concerned me for years. I am Mary Horton, third daughter of Willie Cute & Clara Anderson Horton. Pinkney & Fanny Foster Horton were my grandparents. Though I never knew my grandparents, my dad and his siblings talked about them often. In 1993 I decided to investigate the origin of the Horton-Foster Family. I was surprised by what I learned on my very first visit to the library; for the next twelve to eighteen months I was obsessed. Every free moent I was questioning the elder member of the family. I was in the library, or in the state archives, or in the courthouse in Marion, Alabama or just visiting the city. I found so many facts to substantiate what I had been told by my elders. It was amazing the stories that I found in the census records and in the agricultural reports. From the courthouse in Marion, I found marriage licenses, military discharges, and other valuable documents. I was so excited that I shared my research with anyone who would listen. I published my finding in a booklet and shared it with the family. They were so appreciative and gave me commendations, but I did not feel that I had completed my venture. I was only able to go back three generations beyond myself; I constantly received feedback on the Horton's but I wanted to know more about the Fosters.. I was directed to Larry Foster and he came to a reunion and shared his magnificent Foster Family Tree, but my grandmother was not on it. All I knew was that her father, Dave Foster's, parents were from Virginia and so was the other Foster Family. I kept hoping, but I was deadlocked. I knew that John Edward Foster was related, but I did not know how. Following the Jackson-Jones-Foster Reunion in 2005, the ball started bouncing again. In the family directory Ernestine Foster Gavin was amazed to find my siser, Willie Mae Horton, a long time acquaintance. Ernestine immediatly contacted my sister and was shocked to know that they were related. That one call set off a chain reaction. Before I knew it I was in touch with relatives in Huntsville, AL, Saginaw and Flint, MI, Buffalo, NY, Washington, DC, and Birmingham. By now I felt the love, but I still could not find the connection. Divine interventino led me to make a personal visit to John Edward. John Edward shared what his father, Stan Foster, had told him. He said, "Fannie Foster and Stan Foster were first cousins and your dad and me are second cousins". After much discussion, logic revealed that Dave Foster, Fannie Foster's dad, and Octavius Foster, Stan Foster's dad, had to be brothers. That one outing explained the mystery and for the first time I was certain of how we were family members. My dad, known to family and friends as "Uncle Cute" or "Cute" resides in Birmingham, AL. He is 92-1/2 years old and a two-time stroke victim; his seven children take care of him now. He is the only survivor of eleven siblings. The entire family is excited and looks forward to meeting you. I am still on a mission to fill in the missing piece of our family. If you can help, please call me at (205) 780-0294 or e-mail mj_hortan@hotmail.com Mary |
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...................................................................................................................................................... A Letter by Ashleigh N. Foster While growing up a lot of children often say that they cannnot wait to grow up so and be an adult, but being grown is not all that it is cracked up to be. Some of the experiences that I have encountered as an adult makes me wish that I did not grow up so soon. But if I could I would not want to take back any of the challenges that I have gone through because they have made me into the person that I am today. I am only twenty four years old so I am not that old but I have gone through many more things than people in my age group. Being in the situation that I am in I do not have any major responsabilities such as having any children or being married but I still have to work full time in order to support myself while attending school. While this can be overwhelming for some I have found a way to manage my time more wisely than I did while I was an undergraduate student. I have dreamed all my life of being a pediatrician and working in neighborhood of my peers in order to give back to my community. I received my bachelor's degree in 2005 and now realize that in today's society a college degree is becoming comparable to a high school diploma. Wanting to challenge myself for the high standards and expectations I have imposed upon myself, I realize that I must excel and go farther in life. Though I am proud of my accomplishments as well as my college degree, an inner need to compete in the world and be among the high achievers compels me to continue to pursue my education and ultimatly my doctoral degree as I now attend a post graduate program at Wayne State University. I will continue to pursue and attain the personal as well as educational goals, dreams and aspirations that I have set for myself. I was asked what it feels like to be an adult. Well, like a lot of young people today, I had to grow up and become a mature and working adult long before I was ready, or wanting to assume all the responsililities that come with being a full fledged adult. I got my first job as a baby sitter at a very young age, and then I tutored students at a middle school. I have alwyas been able to get and keep some sort of job to support myself and take some of the burden financially off my parents. It was just something that I not only had to do, but wanted to do,and fortunately it has been an integral part of why and who I am today the person that I am. I am a self disciplined, moral and responsible young woman who has taken care of herself since my teen years. By beginning to work so early in life I was a lot more prepared when I became an adult. If I had to sum things up as to my status as an adult, I would have to say that I am a productive adult and have been for a number of years. I know what it takes to make in in this world, and know what attributes and qualities I must possess to be successful in this cruel world. I know that despite the alternate routes that I have taken and been forced to take involuntarily, that I have the power to succeed. I will keep faith in God and my belief that I have a special place and purpose in this life to pursue. This gives me strength to continue to hold my head up and my values high. Life is a journey and everyday I am still growing and gaining more knowledge that molds me into a better person. I am blessed to have the support of family and friends that have been there for me during my transition from a child to the young adult that I have become. The trials and tribulations that I have endured are used as a catalyst for me to function and know that we all have to go through some rough spots and potholes in the route we travel in life. It may deter my route, it may even stop my travels in route me to a higher plane, but I know within myself that it will never hinder nor stop my quest that will be a vehicle to the next journey of my life and future endeavors.
Ashleigh
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