Abel Lawrence Foster (September 17, 1802 – May 21, 1877) was an American lawyer who was a United States representative from New York for one term, from 1841 to 1843.
Biography A. Lawrence Foster was born on September 17, 1802, in Littleton, Massachusetts.Town of Littleton, Records of Littleton, Massachusetts, 1900, page 159 He studied law in Vernon, New York, was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Morrisville, New York, in 1827.James Hadden Smith, History of Chenango and Madison Counties, New York, Part 2, 1880, page 631
Congress Foster ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1838.Benjamin Perley Poore, The Political Register and Congressional Directory, 1878, page 379 In 1840, he was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1841, to March 3, 1843).Nathaniel Hickman, editor, The Politician's Register, 1840, page 20 During his term, Foster was Chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Treasury.Niles' National Register, House of Representatives, Volume 61, December 25, 1841, page 269 He did not run for reelection in 1842.
Later career
In 1844, he moved to a farm in Fairfax, Virginia, which included the land that is now Tysons Corner.Dr. Donald J. Senese, Historians Tackled History of Tysons Corner , July 28, 2004American Agriculturist, Letters from Virginia -- No. 5, Volume 61, 1848, pages 122-123 In the 1850s, he served as a Fairfax County Commissioner.Virginia General Assembly, Acts of the General Assembly of Virginia, Passed in 1852, 1852, page 40
During the Civil War Foster supported the Union, and relocated temporarily to Washington, D.C. In 1862, he was appointed U.S. Indian Agent for the Chippewa of the Mississippi in Minnesota.Family Search.org, Chippewa Indian Agency (Minnesota), retrieved November 29, 2013
After the Civil War he returned to Fairfax, and was appointed one of three U.S. Tax Commissioners for the northern part of the state after Virginia was readmitted to the Union.United States Congress, Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States, 1887, page 387 In this capacity he was responsible for the sale to the federal government of the Robert E. Lee estate, which is now Arlington National Cemetery.U.S. Government Printing Office, Congressional Serial Set, 1874, page 141
Death and burial Foster's health began to fail in the 1870s, after which he resided in Washington, D.C. He died there on May 21, 1877, and was buried in Glenwood Cemetery.United States Congress, United States Congressional Serial Set, 1894, pages 119-120
Legacy In the 1890s, his heirs petitioned Congress to compensate them nearly $29,000 (over $712,000 in 2009) for Foster's property and supplies that were used by the Union Army or destroyed by the Confederacy. In the early 1900s the United States Court of Claims authorized partial payment to resolve the case.U.S. Government Printing Office, Congressional Serial Set, page 412
References
External links
A. Lawrence Foster biography at the Political Graveyard Foster Genealogy on Google Books