James Heron Foster (18 April 1822 – 21 April 1868) was a journalist and politician of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. He was the founding editor of three Pittsburgh newspapers, most notably the ''

Pittsburgh Dispatch The ''Pittsburgh Dispatch'' was a leading newspaper in Pittsburgh, operating from 1846 to 1923. After being enlarged by publisher Daniel O'Neill (editor), Daniel O'Neill it was reportedly one of the largest and most prosperous newspapers in the Un ...

''.

Biography

Born in

Greensburg, Pennsylvania Greensburg is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. The population was 14,976 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located southeast of Pittsburgh, Greensburg is a part of the Greater Pittsbu ...

on 18 April 1822, Foster became a resident of Pittsburgh in the spring of 1831. He was the youngest son of Alexander W. Foster, for many years a prominent attorney in Western Pennsylvania. As a youth Foster worked as an apprentice in the printing business. At the age of only nineteen years, he became the initial editor of the Pittsburgh ''Morning Chronicle'' in company with publisher Richard G. Berford. Foster was a social and moral crusader from his earliest editorials, targeting such vices as drunkenness, corner loafing, and desecration of the Sabbath. Subsequent to his time at the ''Chronicle'', he co-founded and edited the ''Spirit of the Age'', which, after he left it, became the ''

Commercial Journal __NOTOC__ The ''Commercial Journal'' was a mid-19th century newspaper in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Beginnings The paper was founded as the ''Spirit of the Age'' by J. Heron Foster, J. McMillin and J. B. Kennedy on 19 April 1843, wi ...

''. In 1846 he put out the first issue of the ''Dispatch'', the paper with which he was connected in editorial and ownership roles for the rest of his life. A staunch opponent of slavery, Foster was nominated by a

Free Soil Party The Free Soil Party, also called the Free Democratic Party or the Free Democracy, was a political party in the United States from 1848 to 1854, when it merged into the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party. The party was focused o ...

convention in late 1852 for

Mayor of Pittsburgh The mayor of Pittsburgh is the chief executive of the government of the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, as stipulated by the Charter of the City of Pittsburgh. Prior to the 1816 city charter, the Borough of Pittsburgh had its c ...

. He ran a distant third for that office behind the two main-party candidates. By 1855 he had aligned himself with the

Know Nothing The American Party, known as the Native American Party before 1855 and colloquially referred to as the Know Nothings, or the Know Nothing Party, was an Old Stock Americans, Old Stock Nativism in United States politics, nativist political movem ...

s; historian Michael F. Holt called him "the city's leading Know Nothing editor." Foster was elected to the

Pennsylvania House of Representatives The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts. It ...

for the 1858 session and again for the 1859 session, each time on a fusion ticket comprising

Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

and allies. Foster served as an officer in the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, eventually attaining the post of district

Provost Marshal Provost marshal is a title given to a person in charge of a group of Military Police (MP). The title originated with an older term for MPs, '' provosts'', from the Old French (Modern French ). While a provost marshal is now usually a senior c ...

. After the war, he was brevetted from captain to colonel for meritorious service. He had been known as "Colonel" even before the war, from his rank in the state militia. After a lengthy struggle with lung disease, Foster died on 21 April 1868 at his home in Allegheny City. A funeral procession more than a mile long escorted the remains to

Allegheny Cemetery Allegheny Cemetery is one of the largest and oldest burial grounds in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is a historic rural cemetery. The non-sectarian, wooded hillside park is located at 4734 Butler Street in the Lawrenceville neighborhood, and b ...

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...

, in his travelogue '' The Innocents Abroad'' (1869), noted with sadness the loss of the man he called "a most estimable gentleman." The two had met on the overseas voyage on which the book was based. Foster's three children with wife Julia Manuel Foster included suffragist

Rachel Foster Avery Rachel Foster Avery (December 30, 1858 – October 26, 1919) was active in the American women's suffrage movement during the late 19th century, working closely with Susan B. Anthony and other movement leaders. She rose to be corresponding se ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, J. Heron 1822 births 1868 deaths 19th-century American newspaper editors American male journalists 19th-century American newspaper founders Journalists from Pennsylvania Editors of Pennsylvania newspapers Politicians from Pittsburgh Republican Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Pennsylvania Free Soilers Pennsylvania Know Nothings Burials at Allegheny Cemetery 19th-century American male writers Union army officers American militia officers 19th-century members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly