Robert Cole Foster, Jr.
Constitutional Delegate. Born: September 10, 1834, Logan County Kentucky. Married: Amanda M. Harrelson, October 18, 1871. Died: January 6, 1910, Dennison, Texas.
Born in Logan County, Kentucky, on September 10, 1834, Robert C. Foster, Jr., moved to Kansas in 1856 with his parents and siblings, and Robert, Sr., established what became a "prosperous" farm near Leavenworth-he also served for several years on the county commission. Robert, Jr., received a public school education in Kentucky and briefly attended the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, before beginning the study of law back in Kentucky; he subsequently graduated in the spring of 1856 with a degree in law from Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee, just prior to his move to Kansas Territory. He was admitted to the Leavenworth County bar and practiced law there prior to his election as delegate to the 1859 convention. In 1862 and again in 1864, Robert, Jr., was elected to the state House of Representatives, and in 1866 he won a term in the state Senate. Foster was the Democratic Party's unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. Congress in 1870. He married Amanda M. Harrelson of Leavenworth on October 18, 1871, and during the 1870s continued the practice of law in Leavenworth, and was, according to an 1879 biographer, "recognized as among the popular and influential members of the Democratic party of the State." Robert C. Foster, Jr., died at Dennison, Texas, on January 6, 1910. 28
Entry: Foster, Jr., Robert Cole
Author: Kansas Historical Society
Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.
Date Created: June 2011
Date Modified: January 2013
The author of this article is solely responsible for its content.
