Let's Begin - Again.

The prompt this week from No Story Too Small is 'commencement'. I've chosen to write about possibly THE biggest brick wall in my tree. My 4th great grandfather, Maize R. Foster. I have spent hours, along with many other cousins trying to find out more about the beginning of Maize's life. His last 15 years are pretty accountable, but it's his first 35 that are impossible to document it would seem.

The only evidence I have to the date and location of his birth, comes from the 1850 Collin County, TX census. Family #264 lists M R Foster, a farmer, (43) born in NC, wife Sarah (39) born in NC, daughter L J (20) born in IL, daughter N P (17) born in MO, son Wm H. (13) born in MO, daughter Mary (11) born in MO, son Jno T (9) born in MO, son M (3) born in TX, and son Jas (4/12) born in TX.  All children of age are attending school.



Don't you love the census records that didn't use names - only initials.

So from here, shall we work backwards or forwards?

Maybe I should start with his estate records, to prove this family is who I claim them to be.

The first page of his estate is from the Nov Term 1856, Collin County, where it states that Maize R. Foster, a citizen of said county died on or about the 10th day of January A.D. 1856 without leaving a legal will. John M. Salmons petitions the court to be the administrator of said estate.

On page 11 of the Estate, Maize's eldest son William is appointed guardian to the three youngest surviving children: Malcolm, James and Mary. Malcolm is my ancestor.



In January of 1857, the property of Maize Foster is appraised and several items are claimed by W H Foster and N P Foster (Wm and his sister - who you will soon find to be named Nancy).



Now as I dig further into the estate records one piece of paper tucked away inside the file has always left me curious. It's a written "receipt" for 3 coffins purchased in Feb 1856. If Maize died "on or around 10th of January" who are the other two coffins for? I suspect them to be for his wife and son, John T Foster. What kind of illness did they die from? Was it yellow fever? Influenza? Or as I later begin to wonder, maybe Maize is already buried and it could be for his oldest daughter as well?

 As I dig a little further I find a receipt dated 1856 to David Ford, Dr. Listed are dates and amounts for "pres med & cupping". According to Wikipedia cupping was used to treat respiratory diseases such as the common cold, pneumonia and bronchitis. He treated Mary on the 25th of January, Nancy on the 31st. On the 5th of February at night "visit to wife pres med & cupping". On the 5th "for self wife Mary and Nancy"

Enclosed in the estate file is also a receipt ledger for Dr. Henry Dye from Plano, TX. I have trouble making out a lot of what it says. But the date given is for the year 1857 and there is mention of cupping and treating blisters. Also for buying 8 loads of wood and 4 poles. From researching cupping therapy, I find that blisters are usually a terrible side-effect of the treatment. Were the 8 loads of wood for the heating process used in "cupping"? What are the 4 poles for?



Keep digging through the estate files and there's yet another receipt from a George H. Peguez, who was elected Justice of the Peace of Collin Co in 1857, where planks for a coffin for son are purchased in 1856 followed by planks for a coffin for self. What a surreal thing to know you and your loved ones are dying. I believe the son to be John T.



Nothing that provides any insight into what caused the death of Maize, his wife and his son, but it is interesting to note, was a receipt from Charles DeMorse for what appears to be newspapers subscriptions to The Standard. Specifically Vol. 10 #13 through Vol 13 #17.

I won't post the actual document, you'll just have to take my word for it, but by the Nov term of 1859 land is divided and distributed among the remaining heirs of Maize as follows - 33 acres to James Foster, 33 acres to Malcolm Foster, to Sanford Hosacks 33 acres, to Mary F. Dasson (Dawson) 33 acres, to Wm H. Foster 36 and 50/160 acres, to Nancy Stigal 31 and 125/160 acres



This leaves me asking, who was Sanford Hosack? Was he the widower of Maize's daughter L J born 1830 in ILL? There is no mention of her or John T or Maize's wife Sarah. After researching Sanford Hosack, I come up empty. I found a William Sanford Hosack, born in TX in 1856 who ends up in Merced CA in 1884 but that's as close as I get. *Follow-up* After going back to research this further, I find in the probate records of Collin County where William Sanford Hosack was the minor heir of Hosack and is entitled to an interest in the Estate of Maize R. Foster. Click here for the file. In this file it calls him the heir of L J Hosack... confirming my theory that Sanford Hosack was the widow of Maize's daughter.

So, here we are with a beginning to Maize's life-- 1807 in NC, and an end, 1856 in Collin County, TX. Now to fill in the gaps.

We know that Maize was in Collin County, TX because of the 1850 census and his estate files. In 1842 there is an M R Foster with 640 acres. In 1843 he is listed as Maise Foster. In 1844 Maze R Foster. In 1845 there is a "Mays Foster" all listed in the Fannin County Tax Rolls. Fannin and Collin are neighboring counties and according to a formation map of the state, Collin County was formed from Fannin County in 1846.

Maize R. Foster is still the name on the original abstracts in Collin County as abstract #332. In the online transcription of his land records it is listed in Fannin district as a 3rd class headright. 3rd class headrights were issued to those who arrived in Texas between October 1, 1837 and January 1, 1840. Heads of families received 640 acres, while single men received 320 acres.

I'm currently trying to verify if Maize was a member of the Peters Colony. There is an 1852 survey map that allegedly shows the EAST boundary of the Peters Colony. You can find that map here. The red line is extremely faded and runs through James Maxwell's plot, directly to the east of the plot surveyed for Maize. I haven't been able to find on the map where it is labeled as the East boundary - only in the description of the map. If you look at the above picture where Maize's land was divided between his heirs you can see Rowlett's Creek. This is a Peters Colony Grant Map circa 1842-44 where Rowlett's Creek is clearly marked. After contacting the Texas Land Grant office - I was told Maize was NOT a member of Peter's colony.

After looking at his birth year and his location during the time of the Mexican-American war I decided to search Fold3 for "Maize", hoping to find a service record. I came up empty. But after seeing his name listed as "Mays" in the tax records I decided to do a search spelling it that way and got a hit for a "May Foster" who was enlisted on 1 Nov 1847 and assigned to Belle's Reg't Texas Mounted Vols. Is this him? It's doubtful as his age is given as 21 in 1864.

About 10 years ago, when I first learned of Maize, thanks to my great aunt Dena, I began searching online and came across Terry Foster who was researching his ancestor, James Foster, in Benton County, MO.  On his page he me mentions Goodspeed's “History of Cole, Moniteau, Morgan, Benton, Miller, Maries and Osage Counties, Missouri.” where Maize R. Foster is mentioned as serving on a grand jury in Warsaw, Benton Co., MO in 1835 along side Terry's ancestor James. Are the two connected? We know from the 1850 census that 3 of Maize's children were born in MO between the years 1837-1841 (approx.) This must be him, yet there is no Maize or Maize R or M R Foster to be found in all the state of MO for the census year 1840. Today while going through the images on FamilySearch for the Court Minutes of Benton County, 1838-1846, Vol A; page 13, I found Maize R. Foster. The previous page (12) gives us the date of February 1835 when he was appointed as a commissioner along with Hugh M. Donaghe and Hugh C. Donaghe to "view and mark out" a road going from Rives County to Fristoe's Ferry on the Osage River. Hugh M and Hugh C. were first cousins.

**I recently (2016) discovered a little book on The Portal to Texas History called "Between The Creeks" that mentions "Maise" was a chainman under Daniel Rowlett and Daniel Montague and helped survey the lands of Fannin County, Texas. I wonder if surveying was a skill/trade of his?** To see the entire land record (bottom of page 6) where Maize is shown as a surveyor click here

Terry does make an interesting connection with Maize's son-in-law, George G. Dawson, in Rives, MO that same year, and a Malcolm Foster living next door. (Remember Maize's son and my ancestor was also named Malcolm - not him, but is it a namesake?)
We also know from the 1850 census that Maize's oldest child was born around 1830 in IL. Terry's ancestor James Foster, also hails from IL and in the 1830 STATE census there were 8 Foster families living in Morgan County. Again - No Maize is listed in the entire state of IL. The heads of families listed in the Morgan County census are: John Foster, Elizabeth Foster, James Foster, Mary Foster, Wm Foster, Wm F. Foster, James Foster (different from first) and John Foster (different from first). Is the Wm F. Foster listed the same Wm F Foster who shows up in the Fannin/Collin County Tax records the same year as Maize?

There is no luck searching the 1830 FEDERAL census either. More than likely because according to this website: "The 1820, 1855, and 1865 schedules have survived reasonably intact, but most returns for 1825, 1830, 1835, and 1845 are missing, and almost half of the 1840 state census has been lost."

Before 1830 Maize would be lumped in with his father's family in any census records, so this is where my trail runs cold.

To wrap things up, I don't know Maize's wife Sarah's maiden name or where they were even married. I know it would be sometime prior to 1830 if she were indeed the mother of his eldest child. Possibly in Illinois but I can't be certain.

The following children belonging to Maize I can document:

William H. Foster born about 1837 in MO, marries on 5 April 1866 Lucy Jane Stigall, the daughter of Peter Stigall and Mary "Polly" Edwards.

Nancy P. Foster born 5 Sept 1841 in MO (I'm not certain her birth date is correct - she was older than Mary and wasn't in need of a guardian appointed at the time of her father's death). She was the second wife of Peter Stigall, who again was the father of Lucy Jane Stigall. Nancy and Peter were married 27 Jan 1859 in Collin County.

Mary Foster born about 1839 in MO married first to George G. Dawson, Dec 1858. George died during the civil war. Mary then becomes the wife of David Smith 19 July 1865  she then marries again to James Nicholas Stigall, the son of Peter Stigall and Mary "Polly" Edwards on 2 Apr 1879.

My ancestor, Malcolm "Mack" Foster born in July of 1847 in Collin County, TX. He married Mary Knox 5 April 1866, the same day as his brother, William H. married his wife Lucy.

Then James Foster who was born in 1850, Collin County, TX. I don't have a spouse listed for him and I only know he and his brother Malcolm are buried side by side in Sims, TX, with two headstones splitting the word BRO-THERS.



In closing, if you're reading this and can make a connection this family, please reach out. I would love to connect with you. Also, I would love to find descendants of Malcom's siblings. Myself, and a few cousins of mine (descended from Malcolm) have tested with 23andMe and have uploaded our raw data to GEDMatch. We have compared our genomes with that of Terry Foster (descendant of James Foster) and there are no matches. I'm not sure that definitely means we're not related, possibly just that we didn't inherit the same genome as Terry may have. But then again, I really don't understand DNA well enough to make assumptions.

I hope you have enjoyed this wild goose chase. I hope we can eventually fill in all the missing pieces.

Until Next Week,
Becky



A cousin responded on FB and had this to say about Malcolm and his brother James: "My mother, Evie Foster Alexander, always referred to them as grandpa and uncle Jim. She told me that they were both widowers and lived together when she was little."