JOHN G. FOOTE was born at Middlebury, Vermont, April 21, 1814. He came to Iowa in 1843, locating at Burlington where for thirty-three years he was engaged in the hardware business. He was one of the influential promoters of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad and treasurer of the company for several years, also serving as director of the Peoria, Carthage & Burlington Railroad and of the first telegraph company which built a line to Burlington. Mr. Foote was one of the organizers and a director of the First National Bank of Burlington. In 1861 be was elected on the Republican ticket State Senator, serving in the Ninth and Tenth General Assemblies. He ranked high in financial legislation. In 1872 he was chosen one of the commissioners to superintend the erection of the new State House and had charge of the finances until the building was completed in 1886. Under his administration $2,876,300 were disbursed and not a dollar was misappropriated during the fourteen years in which the work was in progress. He was a man of fine business ability and of stern integrity. He died on the 4th of March, 1896.
SIDNEY A. FOSTER was born May 17, 1849, in Allegany County, New York. His education was obtained in the schools of that section and the printing office. He came to Iowa in 1874 and was employed in writing county histories for the Andreas Historical Atlas, and later was one of the authors of the histories of the counties of Dubuque, Fayette, Howard, Mitchell and Floyd. Later he was engaged in conducting the Mitchell County News and the Worth County Eagle. In 1884 he was elected chief clerk of the House of the Twentieth General Assembly. In 1886 he was one of the organizers of the Royal Union Mutual Insurance Company of which he has since been secretary. He is a notable public speaker and in one of his addresses acquired more than State-wide reputation as the author of the following remark: “Of all that is good, Iowa affords the best.”
SUEL FOSTER was one of the pioneer horticulturists of Iowa. He was born at Hillsboro, New Hampshire, on the 26th of August, 1811, and on his mother's side was related to George Bancroft the historian. He was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools. In 1836 he made the journey to Rock Island. Mr. Foster and his brother purchased a sixth interest in the town of Bloomington for $500, which then consisted of one hundred sixty acres of land upon which were two log cabins. Here Mr. Foster made his permanent home and here the city of Muscatine grew up. In 1852 he began to plant a nursery and to give his attention to experimental work in horticulture. He became a well-known writer on fruit and forest growing, contributing to the principal journals of agriculture and horticulture in the West. Mr. Foster was one of the founders of the Iowa Horticultural Society and a life-long member. As early as 1847 he
