Edward A. Foster

Edward was born in Machias, Maine on August 10, 1830. His parents were Edward Foster and Fannie (Cilley) Foster. While growing up he spent most of his youth as a helper in his father's sawmills instead of going to a public school for formal training. Edward stayed with his parents until he was twenty years old.[1][2]

Edward went to Boston in 1850 and became employed as a crew member on a vessel heading to Puget Sound, Washington. The ship had sawmill machinery purchased by the lumber firm Pope & Talbot. The trip took six months and ended at Port Gamble, Washington. The equipment that the vessel carried was unloaded and set up as a sawmill. Edward, as an employee of the lumber firm, helped set up this sawmill as the first on the Pacific coast of the United States.[3][4]

Edward left Pop & Talbot in 1853 and traveled back east to Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He ran a lumber business there with his brother Luther starting around 1855 and continued that until 1857. They then moved to Stiles, Wisconsin at Green Bay. There they worked as foremen for Holt & Balcom, Iverson & Whitcomb, and the Holt Lumber Company for seven years.[5][6]

Edward with his brother Luther crossed Lake Michigan in 1865 and went to Muskegon, Michigan where they worked for S. N. Wilcox as foremen for about a year. They then went north to the village of Pere Marquette in northwestern Michigan. The village later became the town of Ludington, Michigan. Edward bought into the Pere Marquette Lumber Company with his brother when it was organized in 1866. Other partners of the new lumber company were D.L. Filer, John Mason Loomis, John McLaren, and James Ludington. Edward sold his part in the Pere Marquette Lumber Company in 1872 and formed the company Foster & Stanchfield. He sold his ownership part in this firm in 1876 and in 1877 started a new company called E.A. Foster & Company and manufactured shingles. Edward left the field in 1881 for about a year due to poor health. Then in 1883 he purchased T.H. Sheppard's interest in the lumber firm A.R. Gray & Company in Chicago. He was associated with that firm with his son Harry through 1884.[7]

Edward with his son Harry bought into the McDonald Lumber Company at Wausau, Wisconsin in 1885 and sold it 1886. Then he formed the Merrill Lumber Company. This company took over the sawmill ownership of the Lincoln Lumber Company at Merrill, Wisconsin. It included a large tract of white pine timber. They began to produce lumber with the sawmill. Edward was president of the company they formed in 1888 and a manager in the Merrill Boom Company. Edward was one of the partners and original managers of the Red Cliff Lumber Company. They manufactured lumber at Redcliff, Wisconsin.[8]

Edward had married a childhood friend in 1856, Laura Helen. They raised six children. Laura died in 1898. Edward died December 21, 1902. At that time he had ownership in the Arkansas Land & Lumber Company, the Wisconsin & Arkansas Lumber Company, and the Wausau Everett Investment Company in Washington.[9]