Frederic de Peyster Foster

Frederic de Peyster Foster
36th President of the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York
In office
1900–1907
Preceded byStiles Franklin Stanton
Succeeded byStuyvesant Fish
Personal details
Born(1849-02-20)February 20, 1849
Manhattan, New York, U.S.
DiedMay 25, 1929(1929-05-25) (aged 80)
Tuxedo Park, New York, U.S.
Resting placeSt. Mary's-in-Tuxedo Episcopal Church Cemetery, Tuxedo Park, New York, U.S.
Spouse
Julia Marshall Talbot
​
​
(m. 1893)​
Children1
Alma materColumbia University
Columbia Law School

Frederic de Peyster Foster (February 20, 1849 – May 25, 1929) was a prominent American lawyer and philanthropist.

Early life

Foster was born in Manhattan on February 20, 1849. He was the eldest surviving son of Frederic Giraud Foster (1809–1879) and Emily (née Hone) Foster (1818–1875) who married in 1844.[1] Among his siblings was Clara Foster (wife of Richard Delafield),[2] Giraud Foster (who accumulated a large fortune from coal and shipping), Marie Antoinette Foster (sister-in-law of William Watts Sherman), Emily Hone Foster (wife of Charles de Rham), and Albert Edward Foster.[1] His father was a successful merchant with Foster & Giraud, later Andrew Foster & Sons.[3]

His paternal grandparents were Ann (née Giraud) Foster and Andrew Foster, one of New York's foremost merchants.[3] His maternal grandparents were John Hone Jr. and Maria Antoinette (née Kane) Hone (a direct descendant of Gerardus Beekman and Wilhelmus Beekman).[4] After his grandfather's death in 1829, his grandmother remarried to Frederic de Peyster, his namesake, in 1839.[5]

Foster attended Columbia University, earning an A.B. degree in 1868.[6] Following his graduation from Columbia, he studied law in Paris from 1869 to 1870. He returned to the United States and obtained an A.M. degree from Columbia in 1871, and an LL.B. degree from Columbia Law School in 1872.[7]

Career

After being admitted to the bar in New York, Foster began practicing law in 1872,[7] with an office at 44 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan.[8] He later went into partnership with his brother-in-law, George Herbert Carey, under the name Carey & Foster.[2] He was a trustee of White Deer Lands in Carson County, Texas, a company created after the foreclosure of the Francklyn Land and Cattle Company.[9] Along with Cornelius C. Cuyler, he hired George Tyng to manage the lands (who hired Timothy Dwight Hobart).[10] He also served as a trustee of the Central Hanover Bank & Trust Company.[11]

He was elected a member of the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York, an organization in New York City of men descended from early inhabitants of the State of New York, and,[4] in 1900, served two terms as the Society's 42nd President.[7] He also served as a chairman of the Board of Trustees of the New York Society Library in 1907 (and Treasurer in 1899).[12]

Personal life

In 1893, Foster was married to Julia Marshall Talbot (1849–1937).[1] They lived at 721 Fifth Avenue, were listed on the Social Register, and together, were the parents of one son:[13] Richmond Talbot Foster, who died in 1932.[14]

Foster died on May 25, 1929, in Tuxedo Park, New York, where he maintained a home. He was buried at St. Mary's-in-Tuxedo Church Cemetery in Tuxedo Park.[15] His wife died in September 1937.[16]

References

  1. ^ a b c Aitken, William Benford (1912). Distinguished Families in America, Descended from Wilhelmus Beekman and Jan Thomasse Van Dyke. Knickerbocker Press. p. 126. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Obituary". The Churchman (18). Churchman Company: 347. March 30, 1878. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  3. ^ a b Bradley, David (1977). South Street. Ardent Media. p. 194. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  4. ^ a b Genealogical Record of the Saint Nicholas Society: Advanced Sheets, First Series. Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York. 1902. p. 26. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  5. ^ "Frederic De Peyster Dead.; the End of a Useful and Honorable Career". The New York Times. August 19, 1882. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  6. ^ Officers and Graduates of Columbia College: Originally the College of the Province of New York Known as King's College. General Catalogue, 1754-1894. Columbia University. 1894. p. 486. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  7. ^ a b c Youngs, Florence Evelyn Pratt; Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York (1914). Portraits of the Presidents of The Society, 1835-1914. New York, NY: Order of the Society. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  8. ^ Fraternity, Psi Upsilon (1917). Catalogue of the Psi Upsilon Fraternity. p. 345. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  9. ^ Adair, Cornelia (2014). My Diary: August 30th to November 5th, 1874. University of Texas Press. ISBN 9781477300602. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  10. ^ Davidson, Anne; Chambers, Deborah (2010). Images of America | Pampa. Arcadia Publishing. p. 19. ISBN 9780738585550. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  11. ^ "Central Hanover Bank and Trust Company". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. May 16, 1929. p. 44. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  12. ^ "Trustees Past and Present". www.nysoclib.org. New York Society Library. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  13. ^ Social Register, New York. Social Register Association. 1908. p. 198. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  14. ^ "SERVANTS KEEP TUXEDO HOUSE PENDING ORDER". Middletown Times Herald. September 14, 1937. p. 3. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  15. ^ Sonne, Christian R.; Hempel, Chiu Yin (2007). Tuxedo Park: The Historic Houses. Black Dome Press. ISBN 9781883789589. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  16. ^ "Butler Wins 1st Estate Battle". New York Daily News. September 16, 1937. Retrieved May 14, 2019.