Joseph Asa Colby & Family

Mr Joseph Asa Colby Photo from Fins A Grave
Illustrated Album of Biography of the Famous Valley of the Red River of the North and the Park Regions of Minnesota and North Dakota: Containing Biographical Sketches of  Settlers and Representative Citizens
Mr. Colby’s parents were Jonathan and Hannah (Cooper) Colby. He was born 6 APR 1819 in Holland, Erie County, New York. He appeared in the census in 1850 in Holland, Erie County, New York. He appeared in the census in 1880 in Alexandria, Douglas County, Minnesota.

Census Place: Alexandria, Douglas, Minnesota Source: FHL Film 1254618 National Archives Film T9-0618 Page 491C
He died on 6 SEP 1892 at Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon. The Douglas County News, Alexandria, Minnesota Thursday, September 15 1892, page 4, col. 1. Last week just after going to press news came of the death of J. A. Colby at Portland, N.D. He was kicked and trampled by a stallion and lived only six hours after the injury was received. Mr. Colby was a well known resident of this county for about 24 years and removed to Portland a year ago last spring.
The Lake Review
Osakis, Douglas County, Minnesota
Thursday, September 15, 1892
Page 3, Col. 5.
Fatal Accident.
A sad and fatal accident happened to Mr. J. A. Colby, of this city, last Tuesday morning about 10 o’clock. It appears that Mr. Colby had just taken a horse belonging to J. J. Warley, from the stable with the intention of sending him around the track a few times as had been his usual practice, and when only a few rods from the barn the horse stopped, throwing the old gentleman between the shafts and against the horses feet and was so trampled upon and injured that he died in about three hours in spite of everything that could be done for him. Several of his ribs were broken and one leg was badly shattered besides which he was injured internally.
Mr. Colby, though only a resident of the town for about a year and a half, had come to be greatly respected by all our citizens. It is a very sad affliction for the family, following so closely, as it does, the death of the son, Frank H. Colby, last winter.—[Portland, N.D., Press].
This family has been noted for its loyalty to the country, indeed, every male member in every generation has served his country more or less in the wars which have been inflicted upon this land. Mr. Colby’s grandfather, Ezekial Colby, JR  was born in New Hampshire, and moved to Vermont, whence he came to the State of New York, settling in Erie county in 1808. He served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War. On coming to Erie county, New York, the country was wild, and they were among the very first pioneers who settled in and began the improvement of that county. Jonathan, the father of our subject, served in the War of 1812, and for honorable service attained the rank of lieutenant and finally received a colonel’s commission.

ADD INFO Centennial History of Erie County, NY  by Crisfield Johnson

From: Emigration began to roll into the future town of Holland.

Ezekiel Colby settled in the valley, and soon after came Jonathan Colby, who still survives, being well-known as “Old Colonel Colby." Nathan Colby located on the north part of Vermont Hill, and about the same time Jacob Farrington settled on the south part, east of the site of Holland village, where there was not as yet a single house—another instance of the curious readiness of many of the first comers to neglect the valleys for the hill-tops.

Hannah Cooper, the mother of the subject of this sketch, was the daughter of Joseph Cooper, who was born in New Hampshire, and came to Erie county where he settled in 1810.~ He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and was in the famous battle of Brandywine. He held a captain’s commission during the entire service. Jonathan Colby’s family numbered eight children, three of whom lived in Erie county, New York, and two in Douglas county, Minnesota.

Joseph A. Colby received his early training on a farm, remaining in that business until he was seventeen years of age. At that time he came west, spending a short period in Indiana, whence he went to Chicago. Here he remained three years, at the end of which time he returned to Aurora, Erie county, New York. Desiring to better prepare himself for life’s duties, be commenced a course at the Aurora academy, where he studied for two years. He then engaged in the study of law, entering the law office of his brother-in-law, P. M. Vosburgh. Then he engaged in the mercantile business, forming a partnership with C. J. Hamlin, running for a time what was known as the city store. His firm had three branch stores, also, and did a large business for a number of years. Mr. Colby continued in this line from 1844 to 1856, at which time he sold out and came west, settling in Hastings, Minnesota. Here he engaged in farming, and also in the wheat business. Still later he engaged in the grocery trade, until the breaking out of the war in 1861. At this time he turned his attention to raising volunteers to enter the union army. He helped to recruit a company of troops with Marshall, of St. Paul, and this company was finally consolidated and called Company K, Eighth Regiment Minnesota Volunteers. This company came west to Alexandria, Douglas county, and built a stockade, where they remained in the service until 1863.

In this year the company was disbanded, part of them going with General Sibley’s command and part with General Sully. During this time Mr. Colby was on duty at St. Paul, purchasing for the Government different supplies. He bought horses with saddles and bridles and necessary trappings He was in the service of the Government for four years. In 1856 Mr. Colby came to Alexandria, settling on a farm five miles south of the village on the shores of Lake Mary to organize the county in 1866, and for years engaged in farming until 1882. However, prior to this time, in 1875, he moved his family into Alexandria, where he engaged in the livery business, also running a stage line to Morris, Parker‘s Prairie and Pomme de Terre. During this time he worked up quite a. business, employing, continually, four or five men. The stage line business was kept up by him until he was virtually frozen out by the advent of the railroads. He has made considerable money in buying and selling horses. He bought the livery building,,which he now occupies, in 1880, keeps twenty horses, and supplies tourists with teams during the summer months. He owned a good residence on H street. 

Mr. Colby was married in the year 1843 to Miss Cyrena McKillips, of Erie county, New York. They had three children—Frank, Rosa Dwight, and Fred Frank Colby was married in 1865 to Lizzie Thomson, by whom he has had three daughters— Rosa, Lena and Abbie. Frank enlisted in the Third Minnesota Regiment of Volunteers in 1861 as a private, rising to the rank of corporal. He served in the war until its close, losing his health from exposure and hard service. He was a resident of Alexandria. Rosa, now Mrs. Truax, formerly Mrs. Stone, was first married to Mr. Stone, by whom she had one child—Archie. In 1876 she married Mr. Truax, by whom she has had two children—Joseph and Thura. Fred married Miss Anna Siples in 1867, by Whom he has had one child —Arthur. Fred Colby is a resident of Hastings, Minnesota, and is agent for the St. Paul and Milwaukee Railroad Company.

Joseph A. Colby has been identified with the interests of Douglas  county for many years, coming here in an early day, and becoming one of its first citizens. He helped in politics, and with his wife and family belonged to the Episcopal church of Alexandria. He took about 400 acres, and held the office of justice of the peace in Lake Mary township. He also held the office of town clerk for three years, and was connected with the board of school directors. Mr. Colby affiliates with the republican party .

Photo by Donna Ruhland Bonning

Birth	Sep. 29, 1788 Corinth Corners Orange County Vermont, USA
Death:	Apr. 1, 1880 Holland (Erie County) Erie County New York, USA
Ezekiel Colby (1763 - 1848)  Ruth Davis Colby (1767 - 1838)

Some Old Inns of Newburyport

Boston Gazette Monday January 2 1771
"William Lambert, from Yorkshire in England, begs Leave to inform the Publick that he has taken the Inn at Newburyort, formerly occupied by Mr. Choate, which is now completely repaired, and new furnished with convenient Furniture, and the greatest variety of excellent LIQUORS. He has also provided commodious Stabling for Horses and every Accommodation for Travellers and others. He humbly intreats Custom and will strive by his good Entertainment to merit the Publick Favour, at the Sign of the Wentworth Arms, near the Ferry, in Newburyport.

Six months later we find that Robert Calder (Pic above) from London, who writes himself down as " late servant to his excellency Governor Wentworth," has purchased William Lambert's lease and offers, in addition to the attractions of his predecessor's advertisement "best Entertainement with diligent attendance." Not for nothing had he bent to the imperious will of Governor Wentworth, it would appear.

Major Ezra Lunt was another of the late eighteenth century innkeepers in Newbury, adding the calling of publican quite easily to that of publisher, stagecoach proprietor and veteran of the Continental army. His inn was on the northwesterly side of Federal street, near the corner of Water street.

The splurge par excellence in the innkeeping way was made, however, by the enterprising landlord who advertised at the SIGN OF THE AMERICAN EAGLE in the summer of 1799. Under this patriotic headline "Samuel Richardson Informs his friends and the public in general that he has removed from Union Hall into that spacious and convenient building lately occupied by Captain Ebenezer Stocker, East Corner of the Ferryway Wharf, — which he has opened for public Entertainment and will make every exertion to gratify and please those who may visit his House. Every favor will be gratefully acknowledged, Good accommodation for a few Boarders: likewise Stabling for Horses."

It is interesting in this connection to note that the Newburyport selectmen had fixed by law the price of these various items of service. So, because the landlords could not underbid in price they overbade in attractions. The law placed "Dinners at taverns, for I travellers, of boiled or roast meat, with other articles equivalent, exclusive of wine at 1/16. Supper and breakfast 1/ each. Lodging 4/. Keeping a horse for one night, or for twenty-four hours, with English hay 2/—."

The Tracy house, which had accommodated Washington, became briefly the Sun Hotel, early in the eighteenth century, its proprietor, Jacob Coburn, informing the public (May 5, 1807), under a sign which quite effectively reflected the features of Old Sol, " that he has opened a spacious HOTEL in State street, Newburyport, the former mansion of the late Honorable Nathaniel Tracy Esq., and where Mr. James Prince last resided. Having at considerable pains and expense put the above in a situation suited to accommodate gentlemen he assures them with confidence that they will find every convenience and an unremitting attention to ensure the favor of the Traveller. Good horses and carriages to be had at all hours."  ad on L from Currier Old Newburyport

The dwelling-house of the eccentric "Lord" Timothy Dexter also descended temporarily to tavern uses, heralded by the following genial announcement: "The subscriber of Weare N. H. acquaints the public that he has taken the noted house on High Street, Newburyport, known by the name of Dexter House (where the Lion and the Lamb lie down together in peace and where the first characters in the land are known to make their stay) which he opened on the 20th ult. as a house of Entertainment for the weary traveller who may sojourn thither, and for the conviviality of the jovial citizens of the town who may wish to spend a social hour freed from the cares of busy life; and he respectfully solicits their company, fully persuaded that he shall be enabled to afford them satisfaction. Country people are informed that he will entertain them as reasonably and with as good cheer, both for man and beast, as any regular Innkeeper between M'Gregor's Bridge and Newburyport, having commodious and convenient stables with good attendance. He flatters himself they will call and see William Caldwell." This advertisement might have been written yesterday, so modern is its tone and so little archaic its spelling. Yet its date is April, 1810.

Prince Stetson, formerly of the Wolfe Tavern, returned to Newburyport in 1823 and assumed charge of the Washington hotel on the corner of State and Temple streets. He had the honor of serving Lafayette when the Marquis visited the town in 1824, and took the spacious apartments in the Tracy house which Washington had occupied during his visit in 1789. The landlord's son, Charles, then a lad of thirteen, had the honor of acting as valet de chambre to the liberty-lover who had done so much for America in her hour of need. From Newburyport Herald  May 31 1825

A tavern which is constantly mentioned in John Quincy Adams's account of his young manhood days in Newburyport is Sawyer's on the Bradford road at or near Brown's springs, and within the present limits of the town of West Newbury.

Picture by Southworth & Hawes

One interesting entry in the diary of this law student is that of May 21, 1788. "I walked," he says, "with Pickman in the evening to Sawyer's where we drank tea and made it almost ten o'clock before we got home. I then went up with my flute to Stacy's lodgings, our general headquarters. About a quarter before twelve Stacy, Thompson, Putnam with a couple of young lads by the name of Greenough and myself sallied forth upon a scheme of serenading. We paraded round town till almost four in the morning."

The charming home of Mrs. Harriett Prescott Spofford, near Newburyport's picturesque chain bridge, was once a tavern, also. It was then close to the public highway and its landlord, Ebenezer Pearson, was therefore not exempt from suspicion when Major Elijah P. Goodridge of Bangor, Maine, told, December 19, 1816, of having been assaulted about nine o'clock the previous evening, very near its doors, and robbed of a large sum of money. From Miner Descent

Pearson proved to be only one of the many who were subsequently accused, however, and, when Daniel Webster took the matter in hand he made Goodridge so contradict himself on the witness-stand that verdicts of " not guilty" were brought in for all the defendants. The whole thing appears to have emanated from the brain of the Major who, in order to escape financial trouble and at the same time account for the loss of his personal property, devised the scheme of a robbery and carried it into effect, firing with his own hand the pistol of the "assailant." Picture below Harriet  P  Spofford

One Newburyport tavern-keeper was a good deal more permanently embarrassed by the cleverness of one of his guests, as we shall see from the following papers on file at the State House in Boston and having to do with the escape of Bridget Phillips, who had been sent to Newburyport for safe keeping during the siege of Boston: "To the Honorable Provincial Congress at Watertown, June 22, 1775
"The petition of Bridget Philips humbly showeth that she hath lately arrived from Ireland and is desirous of going to her husband now in Boston. She therefore prays the Honorable Congress that they would give her a permit to go into the town of Boston & your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray. BRIDGET PHILIPS."

In answer to this petition the following resolution was adopted June 24, 1775: — "Resolved, that General Ward do not suffer or permit Bridget Phillips, wife to an officer under General Gage, to go into Boston, nor any other person whatever, without leave first obtained of this Congress, or some future house of representatives; and that an express be forthwith sent to the committee of safety for the town of Newburyport, to order them to take the most affectual measures to prevent the said Bridget from going out of this province, or to Boston." The lady got the better of the law-makers, however, as the following letter shows: —"Newburyport, 26th July, 1775. "Sir: —
"We received some time since a Resolve of the late Congress ordering that Bridget Phillips (who called herself the wife of a Captain Phillips in Gen. Gage's Army) should not leave the Province & that the Committee here be desired to attend to her. Upon the receipt of it we applied to the Tavern Keeper, at whose house she was, to keep an eye upon her movements & to inform us should she take any suspicious steps, at the same time informing her that she must not leave the Province. This she judged to be very harsh but appeared for a month past so to acquiesce in it as to elude any suspicion in us that she would take pains for her escape. Upon the arrival of the New General at Cambridge she seemed to flatter herself, her case might be more tenderly considered by them & that upon application they would permit her to go to her husband. This she mentioned to several of the committee but was told she must not go to Cambridge without consent of a majority of them. However that she never asked & the 18th Inst, she took place in a Chaise with Capt. John Blake (formerly of Boston) from hence to Salem, giving out that she was going to Head Quarters at Cambridge. The Tavern Keeper (Mr. Greenleaf) supposing it not beyond the limits by the Order & from a faulty Inattention never gave the Committee notice. It was not for a day or two known by us that she was gone. Upon enquiry we find that she hired a Chaise & Boy at Salem & in company with Benjamin Jenks (who is said to belong to Casco Bay) she went the next day to Haverhill & the next to Portsmouth & by the assistance of this Jenks procured herself to be put on board the Scarborough Man of War there. This Intelligence was bro't us by the said Mr. Greenleaf whom we sent in pursuit of her.
"As she was a Woman & appeared of Some Fashion we did not think it expedient to put her under close Confinement neither did we suppose by the Order it was intended.
She left here two Trunks supposed to contain valuable apparrell which might prevent in Mr. Greenleaf the apprehention of her intending to go off. We judged it proper to give you this information & as she wrote for her Trunks to be sent to Boston we beg your Order about the delivery of 'em. Upon this occasion give us leave to remark what we hinted formerly to the Committee of War at Cambridge the ease with which an escape may at any time be made to the stationed ship at Portsmh as things are now ordered. We are respectfully

"Your obedt servnts "JONA. TITCOMB. "p. order of the Committee. "To the Honb. James Warren, Esq., (pic above) speaker of the House of Representatives, to be communicated."

The result of all this was that, though Bridget did not get her trunks, Landlord Greenleaf was made pretty uncomfortable,— and what was of far greater importance,— the seaport towns were given leave to do whatever might seem to them wise in the way of preventing other such escapes.

The privileges of tavern-keeping were so great that often a man with every right to whatever his house might earn was made exceedingly uncomfortable by his rivals. Such was the case with the host of the Boynton Tavern on the road between Newburyport and Rowley. In March, 1811, the other landlords of Byfield protested against Boynton's tavern, stating that while it had been established for some time they doubted whether its continued existence was necessary. "The influence of this tavern is pernicious to the morals, the peace and comfort of some families in the vicinity," declares the protest; after which it goes on to allege that " the undersigned are credibly informed that people are there at very unreasonable hours in the night" and that " even the holy Sabbath is profaned by persons who there pass the Sacred hours in an idle and dissolute manner." Whereupon the petitioners humbly prayed "that the license of Mr. Boynton may not be renewed."

Somehow, though, the tavern lived on, and once it was even able to add to its capacity, thereby bestowing the name of Adding upon the latest scion of the family. Another child of this eccentric landlord had been called Tearing because tavern-repairs were in that stage of development at his birth. Verily, some of those old time publicans were men of decided originality.
Poore Tavern Newbury MA from David Allen Lambert

From September 2, 1854 Front page Newburyport Herald William Lambert's son

Taproom Furnishings of an Old Ordinary from Stage-coach and Tavern Days, by Alice Morse Earle

Skipper Lunt, Seaman
Mary Caroline Crawford on Old Inns in Newburyport,  
News Bank,
J J Currier History of Ould Newbury  

Foster-Spalding Family

A Share from UNH Special Collections & Thank You to Jessica McClain for permission  

This is an introduction to the Collection on Foster-Spalding Family Papers 

Joseph Foster, 1730-1804

Col. Joseph Foster was born in what is now the town of Essex, Massachusetts in June 19, 1730. Initially a fisherman and sailor, Col. Foster became a merchant and sea capatin, living in Gloucester, Massachusetts for much of his life. In 1756 Joseph married Lydia Giddings, one of the couple’s eight children was Joseph Foster (1764-1816).
Col. Foster’s sea travel brought him to the West Indies and to points in Europe. Col. Foster was one of the wealthier land holders in Gloucester during the second half of the eigteenth century. He was present in Gloucester during the British attack on the city in August of 1775. Col. Foster would serve in the House of Representatives of Massachusetts from 1775 to 1776. Elected as Colonel of the Sea-Coast Forces during the Revolution in 1776.
In 1782, Col. Foster was captured with the ship “Polly” by Britishforces and was detained in Nova Scotia. Col. Foster died in 1804 in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Joseph Foster, 1764-1816

Joseph Foster was the son of the previous Joseph Foster, and was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts May 27, 1764. Joseph was a sea captain, sailing to destinations in the West Indies and South America. In 1782 he married Rebecca Ingersoll and the couple had thirteen children, all born in Gloucester. One of Joseph and Rebecca’s children was Joseph Foster (1784-1843).
Joseph Foster was third mate on the ship “Polly,” with his father as captain when it was captured and detained in Nova Scotia by the British. Joseph was also involved in local government in Gloucester.
Joseph was lost at sea in 1816 near the Island of Guadaluope, West Indies, probably during a hurricane.

Dr. Lyman Spalding, M.D., 1775-1821

Lyman Spalding, M.D. was born June 5, 1775 in Cornish, New Hampshire. Following graduation from Harvard in 1797, he studied medicine with Nathan Smith, M.D., whom he assisted in establishing a medical school at Dartmouth College, teaching the first chemistry courses at the school. After receiving an honorary degree from Dartmouth in 1798, Spalding began to practice medicine in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1799.
On October 9, 1802, Dr. Spalding married Elizabeth Coues (1779-1838), daughter of Peter and Elizabeth (Jackson) Coues of Portsmouth. Ten years later, in 1812, he was elected president and professor of anatomy and surgery at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Western District of the State of New York. Spalding moved his family to New York City in 1814, but resigned his academic post after only a few years in order to better serve his profession and family. While in New York, Spalding served as a trustee of the city’s free schools and played a part in establishing the city’s first Sunday schools.
Dr. Spalding’s life ended unexpectedly in 1821, as described in “Tribute to Dr. Spalding” (1840): “Walking in a street [in New York], some ponderous body from aloft struck him a violent blow on the head, and the gigantic intellect no longer performed its functions. Removed to Portsmouth, NH where his lady’s friends resided, he expired at that place soon after [October 30, 1821]. Such was the end of Lyman Spalding, a man whom none could approach without respect, or leave without affection.”

Elizabeth Coues Spalding, 1779-1838

Elizabeth Coues was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, December 16, 1779. She was the only child born to Elizabeth (Jackson) and Peter Coues. Her father, Peter Coues, had two other wives with whom he had an additional twelve children. Elizabeth met her husband Lyman Spalding when he came to her home as a physician to treat her step-grandmother for burn wounds. Elizabeth married Lyman Spalding, October 9, 1802 in Portsmouth.
Elizabeth was in Portsmouth for the birth of her five children, and often lived apart from her husband who had accepted a position in New York. Elizabeth moved back and forth between Portsmouth and New York and died in Portsmouth in 1838.

Joseph Foster, 1784-1843

Joseph Foster, the husband of Adelaide Coues Spalding Foster (below) was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts August 2, 1784. He was a sea captain and married first in 1806, Lucy Elwell. His first wife died in 1837 and he married Adelaide in 1838.
After attending school in Boston for several years, in about 1799 Joseph decided to go to sea, like his father and grandfather, as a sea captain. Joseph died on the ship “Ventrosa” off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard in 1843. One of Joseph’s eleven children (three by Adelaide) was Joseph Foster (1841-1930).

Elizabeth Parkhurst Spalding, 1803-1878

Elizabeth Parkhurst Spalding, the first child born to Lyman and Elizabeth (Coues) Spalding, was born August 11, 1803 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It was she who began collecting the family papers and letters, later taken up by her nephew, Joseph Foster. Elizabeth’s education included several years at the Manhattan Female Seminary. She returned to Portsmouth sometime before 1830, where she operated a School for Young Ladies during the 1830s.
Elizabeth never married. She traveled extensively in her lateryears, including a trip to Europe, as well as living for periods of time in Northwood and Claremont, New Hampshire. Her letters are testament to her desire for staying in contact with her family, especially the family of her sister Adelaide Coues (Spalding) Foster. Elizabeth died July 16, 1878 in Portsmouth.

Adelaide Coues (Spalding) Foster (1805- ?)

Adelaide Coues (Spalding) Foster, the second child of Lyman and Elizabeth (Coues) Spalding, was born in Portsmouth on December 3, 1805. She, like her sister, Elizabeth, was educated at the Manhattan Female Seminary.
On September 2, 1838 she married Joseph Foster III (1784-1843), a sea captain, in Portsmouth. Following her marriage, Adelaide lived in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where her three children were born. She was living there at the time of her husband’s death, on December 19, 1843, while serving on board the brig Ventrosa near Holmes’ Hole (now Vineyard Haven). Adelaide moved back to Portsmouth in 1850 with her two surviving children, Joseph Foster IV and Lyman Spalding Foster (her first child, who bore the same name as her mother, had died aged one year old in 1840). The date of Adelaide’s death is unknown, although it occurred sometime after the death of her sister in 1878.

Alfred Peter Spalding, 1815-1844

Alfred Peter Spalding was the fourth child born to Lyman and Elizabeth (Coues) Spalding. Born in Portsmouth December 15, 1815, Alfred became a sea captain, like many other men in his family. The close relationship that Alfred had with his two sisters Elizabeth and Adelaide is evident from the many letters he exchanged with them.
Alfred was the master of the ship “Normandie” of New York and in 1844, was lost at sea during a return trip from England.

Edwin Stewart, 1837-1933

Edwin Stewart was the father of Laurance Sprague Stewart, the husband of Dorothy Foster (Dorothy Foster was the third child of Joseph Foster (1841-1930). Edwin Stewart was born in New York, New York May 5, 1837 and graduated from Williams College in 1862. During the Civil War, he was appointed Assistant Paymaster in the U.S. Navy.
His naval career included service on the USS Pembina during the capture of Fort Royal, on the USS Richmond during the battles of Port Huron and Mobile Bay, on the USS Michigan in the Great Lakes, on the USS Hartford in China and Japan and on the USS Lancaster to Japan to represent the United States at the coronation of the Czar. In 1889 Edwin was appointed Paymaster General and was responsible for reorganizing the navy’s purchasing and accounting system, creating the US Navy Supply Corps. He retired from the navy in 1899 as a Rear Admiral.
Edwin Stewart was married twice, first to Laura Sprague Tufts in 1865 and second to Susan Maria Estabrook in 1877. He had a total of four children, the last of which was Laurence Sprague Stewart who married Dorothy Foster in 1919. Edwin Stewart died in 1933.

Joseph Foster, IV (1841-1930)

Joseph Foster, IV, the second child of Joseph, III, and Adelaide Coues (Spalding) Foster, was born June 17, 1841 in Gloucester, Massachusetts. In November of 1850 he returned to Portsmouth with his mother and brother. He was educated at the Portsmouth Academy, and from 1857- 1862 worked as a clerk for Edward F. Sise, a dealer in coal, salt and crockery in Portsmouth.
On October 3, 1862 Joseph entered the navy as a Captain’s Clerk on the USS Augusta under Commander E. G. Parrott. In 1863 he was part of the convoy of General Bank’s Expedition from Hampton Roads, Virginia to Ship Island, Mississippi. On October 19, 1863 Joseph was appointed Acting Assistant Paymaster in the volunteer navy. He was present for the fall of Charlestown on February 10, 1865. While attached to the Commodore McDonough in 1865, he was able to save the public money, as well as his official books and papers from the wreck of that vessel. He was commissioned as Past Assistant Paymaster in 1867, Paymaster in 1877, Pay Inspector in 1898, and Pay Director in 1901, serving as the General Storekeeper at the Portsmouth Navy Yard. His duties brought him to many areas of the country and world, including Asia and the Caribbean.
On October 7, 1875 Joseph married, Helen Dickey (1853-1904), daughter of David and Lois Leverett (Nelson) Dickey. The couple had four children, the first two born during Joseph’s service in China. After his first wife’s death in 1904, Joseph married Josephine Hunt in 1906 in London. Joseph died May 17, 1930 in Portsmouth.

          Foster and Spalding Family
             (partial genealogy)

Joseph Foster
 (1730-1804)
      |     Lyman Spalding m. Elizabeth Coues
      |             (1775-1821)  |    (1779-1838)
Joseph Foster             |
 (1764-1816)   ______________________|_______________________
      |    |    |       |    |      |
      |    |          |       |    |      |
Joseph Foster      m.    Adelaide C.  Elizabeth P.  Edward J.   Alfred P.    Lyman
 (1784-1843)    |   (1805-1898)   (1803-1879)  (1819-1833) (1815-1844) (1810-1892)
                   |                       m.
      _____________|_______________________________________       Susan Parker Parrott
      |          |     |           (1815-1889)
      |           |                         |
   Adelaide    Joseph Foster           Lyman Foster
 (1839-1840)              (1841-1930)              (1843-1904)
                        m.            m.
            Helen Dickey               Elima Hallet
     (1853-1904)       (1839-1899)
                               |
          |          Edwin Stewart
     __________________________|__________________________           (1837-1933)
     |      |        |    |         |
     |      |               |           |         |
   Joseph       Beatrice    Isabel        Dorothy    m.   Laurence Stewart
(1880-1947)    (1882-1900)       (1892-1937)         (1886-1970)   |   (1886-1980)
     m.                  |
Jane Holmes      ___________|______________
     |             |    |
    _|____________________                         Mary        Lawrence
    |       |   |                m2.
    |       |   |           David Welch
 Joseph     John     Mary Jane

Biographical information was primarily found in:

• Foster, Joseph. Colonel Joseph and His Children and Grandchildren. Cleveland, Ohio, 1947.
• Welch, David. Unpublished genealogical information on the Foster, Spalding, Coues, Stewart-Aikman and Estabrook families.