Pueblo County Biographies

Pueblo County, Colorado
HON. CHARLES A. FOSTER

Contributed by Karen Mitchell.

The Pueblo district has called upon Charles A. Foster to act as its representative in the state legislature and he is serving in that office at the present time, his record being creditable by reason of his marked devotion to duty and his high standards of citizenship. In business circles he is known as a representative of the Arkansas Valley Railroad Company and makes his home in Pueblo, where he has an extensive circle of warm friends. Arkansas numbers him among her native sons, his birth having occurred at Salem, that state, on the 1st of February, 1880, his parents being James N. and Elizabeth (Taylor) Foster. His father was a prominent and influential resident of Arkansas, where he served as a member of the state senate. He was of English lineage, while his wife was of Irish descent. He was graduated from De Pauw University at Greencastle, Indiana. He took up the occupation of farming as a life work and after his removal to Arkansas became actively and prominently identified with agricultural interests in that state, where he reared his family, numbering six sons and two daughters. Charles A. Foster, the youngest member of his father's household, spent his youthful days under the parental roof and began his education in the public schools. The father provided his children with excellent educational opportunities and after he left the high school Charles A. Foster became a student in the Southwestern State Normal School at Weatherford, Oklahoma, of which he is a graduate. In early manhood he took up the profession of teaching, which he followed through the winter seasons, and the money thus earned enabled him largely to meet the expenses of his Normal course. He also spent two years in the position of cashier in a state bank in Oklahoma and in 1910 he removed to New Mexico, where he engaged in ranching until 1912, when he determined to become a resident of Pueblo. Here he has made his home for the past six years and is now active in business as a representative of the Arkansas Valley Railroad Company. He is also associated with the People's Coal & Supply Company, a cooperative association, and is assistant stock manager. On the 25th of November, 1903, Mr. Foster was united in marriage to Miss Nancy R. Sutton and to them has been born a son. Charles Stanton. The religions faith of Mr. and Mrs. Foster is that of the Methodist church, to which they loyally adhere, and Mr. Foster is identified with the Knights of Pythias, the Knights of Malta and the Modern Woodmen of America and also with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, his membership in the last named being in Oklahoma. His political allegiance has always been given to the republican party, of which he is a stalwart supporter. He was elected to the state legislature for a two years' term and became a stanch champion of the bill to change the name of the State Asylum to the Colorado State Hospital and have it put upon the mill levy basis. He was also an advocate of the adult prohibition bill, which was defeated, and of the six days' work bill, which also met defeat. He has been the champion of many railway measures and stands loyally at all times for a cause in which he believes. Neither fear nor favor can swerve him from a course which he believes to be right, and his position upon any vital question is clearly defined, as he does not hesitate to express his honest convictions. History Of Colorado Illustrated Volume III Chicago The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company 1918

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