Robert E. Foster

Robert Elisha Foster was born on November 26, 1851, in Linden, Copiah County, Mississippi.{{Cite book|last=Rowland|first=Dunbar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b8sGAQAAIAAJ|title=The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi|date=1917|publisher=Department of Archives and History|pages=868|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=History|first=Mississippi Department of Archives and|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-MoGAQAAIAAJ&q=Robert+Elisha+Foster&pg=PA423|title=The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi|date=1912|publisher=Department of Archives and History|pages=423|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DpwKAQAAMAAJ&q=Robert+Elisha+Foster+1851|title=Mississippi Official and Statistical Register|date=1924|pages=221|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Rowland|first=Dunbar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pnejAAAAMAAJ&q=William+Hemingway+1869&pg=PA240|title=The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi|date=1923|publisher=Department of Archives and History|pages=246|language=en}} He was the son of Milton Hunter Foster ({{circa|1823}} – 1905), and his wife Hannah Elizabeth (Greenlee) Foster.

From 1884 to 1910, Robert was a member and president of the Board of Supervisors of Issaquena County, Mississippi. He was first elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives, representing that county as a Democrat, on November 5, 1911. He was re-elected in 1915. He was also elected in 1919, 1923, and 1927, serving until his death.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DpwKAQAAMAAJ&q=+Foster+re-elected|title=Mississippi Official and Statistical Register|date=1924|pages=222|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Mississippi Legislature House of Representatives|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j81MAQAAMAAJ&q=Foster+1851|title=Journal|date=1930|pages=5|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Mississippi Legislature House of Representatives|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BuRMAQAAMAAJ&q=Foster|title=Journal|date=1931|pages=9, 123|language=en}} Foster, while still a member of the House, died after a two-week illness on April 30, 1931, in Brandon, Mississippi."Mississippi, Death Certificate Index, 1912-1943", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:CL3N-PWPZ : 28 March 2020), Robert Foster, 1931.{{Cite web|title=Clarion-Ledger from Jackson, Mississippi on May 2, 1931 · Page 9|url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/202509666/?article=475e5ca5-bd3d-4ecb-a527-356765ff08ac|access-date=2021-04-19|website=Newspapers.com|language=en}} At 79 years old, he was the oldest serving member of the Legislature at the time of his death. He was succeeded in the House by J. C. Newman.

He married Nannie E. Heath in 1877.{{Cite book|last=Wright|first=Anne Julia Mims|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=81hPAAAAMAAJ&q=Robert+Elisha+Foster&pg=PA27|title=A Record of the Descendants of Isaac Ross and Jean Brown: And the Allied Families of Alexander, Conger, Harris, Hill, King, Killingworth, Mackey, Moores, Sims, Wade, Etc|date=1911|publisher=Consumers Stationery and Printing Company|isbn=978-0-598-43211-7|pages=27|language=en}} They had three children, Annie Eliza (Foster) Ellis (b. 1877), Robert Heath Foster (b. 1885), and Mary Lurline (Foster) Donald (b. 1887). After Nannie's death, he married Louise Lee White in 1917. He had at least two children with Louise: Nannie E. Foster and Louise Foster.

• [https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11385961 Robert Elisha Foster] at Find a Grave

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{{succession box

| title = Mississippi Representative from Issaquena County

| years = 1912–1931

| before = Livingston Peyton

| after = J. C. Newman

}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Robert E.}}

Category:1851 births

Category:1931 deaths

Category:Democratic Party members of the Mississippi House of Representatives

Category:People from Copiah County, Mississippi

Category:People from Issaquena County, Mississippi

Category:20th-century members of the Mississippi Legislature