Foster, Francis Apthorp, 1872-1966

Francis A. Foster, 1872-1966, was the son of Francis Charles Foster, 1829-1915, and Caroline Padelford Foster, 1833-1923 (see collection Mss 27). Francis grew up in Cambridge and attended Noble and Greenough then the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard in 1891-2. From about 1900 to 1915, he was an active member of Boston patriotic and historical societies. He became interested in his own family genealogy and compiled genealogical information and paid for professionals to research his ancestors in England. In the 1920's he was an active member of the town government of Edgertown, but then moved to Vineyard Haven and over thirty years gradually withdrew from his various public commitments. An ardent ornithologist, in 1927 he gave 600 acres of land on the island to be kept open as a bird sanctuary; his last avocation was bird watching. Francis died in 1966 at the age of 94.