California Biographies

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin 
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from 
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176


EARL POWERS FOSTER. Within the limits of the San Joaquin valley the entire life 
of Mr. Foster has been passed, and here he has achieved a degree of success both gratifying and 
well deserved. For a considerable period he has had charge of two thousand acres of land, 
two and one-half miles from Tulare, the property being owned by James Turner. Of this 
large tract one hundred acres are under alfalfa and twelve hundred acres under grain, in the 
sowing and harvesting of which two eight-horse teams are utilized. A specialty is made of rais- 
ing beef cattle of high-grade Short-horn breeds. In all of his work Mr. Foster employs modern 
methods and machinery. Practical, resourceful and energetic, he manages the large acreage with 
wise judgment. 

In the county of Tulare, where he now lives, Earl Powers Foster was born November 4, 1867, 
being the eldest among six children, four of whom are living. His father, Leander P. Foster, 
a native of Vermont, came to the Pacific coast in early life and settled on a stock ranch in Tu- 
lare county, but later moved to San Joaquin county and bought three hundred and twenty acres 
near Atlanta, where he engaged in grain farming until his death in 1875. After coming west 
he married Hattie Munson. who was born in Maine and now makes her home in Pacific Grove. 
During girlhood she came to California with her father, Nathan Munson, who remained in this 
state until his death in Humboldt county. 

At the time of his father's death Earl Powers Foster was a boy eight years of age. After- 
ward he remained on the home farm near Atlanta and early acquired a thorough knowledge 
of agriculture, besides having the advantage of attendance at Woodbridge College. After com- 
ing to Tulare county in 1894 he took up grain and stock farming, and has given his attention 
closely to this work. He votes the Republican ticket. His marriage, in 1892, solemnized at 
French Camp, San Joaquin county, united him with Sarah, daughter of James Turner, and a 
native of San Joaquin county. They have three sons : James, Powers and Forest Frederic. 

The Turner family was founded in America by John Turner, an Englishman, who settled in 
San Joaquin county, thence removed to Stanislaus county, and died in Tulare county when 
ninety-two years of age. James, son of John Turner, was a pioneer of 1850 in California, 
whither he came with ox-teams across the plains. During the first winter in the state he made 
$400 in the mines, later he took up teaming, and in the spring of 1852 settled eight miles from 
Stockton, where he bought a quarter section of land. At this writing he owns two thousand 
acres of tillable land in the same locality and there makes his home, being still at the head 
of his large interests, and hale and robust for a man who has passed seventy-three busy years. 
In politics he is a Republican and in religion holds membership with the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Hannah Blosser, was born in Penn- 
sylvania and died at the California homestead in 1882. She was a daughter of Jacob Blosser, 
a pioneer of 1850, who crossed the plains with oxen and settled on a large tract of raw land 
in San Joaquin county, later removing to Mendocino county, where the last years of his life 
were passed.