Foster, Alexander

From "History of Armstrong County", Chapter 24, Sugar Creek: "Adjoining the Campbell-Blaney-Porterfield tract on the east and the depreciation line on the south, is another of the same shape, 356 acres and 37 perches, March 1, 1794, which was conveyed to Charles Campbell, June 15, 1814, for $200. The early settler on it was Alexander Foster, who was assessed with 100 acres, 1 horse and 1 cow in 1805 at $91. Campbell conveyed to him 100 acres and 25 perches, June 14, 1821, for $10. Foster acquired title to the rest of this tract, except about 90 acres in the northwestern part, which constituted the farm on which he lived at the time of his death, and which by his will, dated April 17, 1828, and registered May 19, 1838, he devised to his sons, Christopher, Thomas and William, which he directed to be divided in three equal parts as to quantity, and allotted the part on which was the house, in which he then lived, to Christopher, the west end to Thomas, and the northeastern part to William." This division explains why his wife Elizabeth lived with son Christopher until her death.

Donegal Irish in Butler Co., PA by Linda Merle, http://www.ulsterheritage.com/history/donegal_irish.htm
"I briefly researched a group of Irish of mixed religions who migrated to the Butler County area of Western Pennsylvania quite early. ...I found a book in the Butler Co. Library on the history of the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese that had much about this group. Some information was also published by the Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society in an article entitled: 100 YEARS of the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese 1843 - 1943." WPGS Q 17 no. 1 (Summer 1990).

The community was named Sugar Creek or originally the 'Buffalo Mission.' It is the oldest Catholic community in western Pennsylvania.It began with the emigration of a group of Catholics and Presbyterians from the banks of Loch Erne in County Donegal, Ireland, in 1790. Some first settled for a time in "the Neck" in the northwestern section of Fayette County. Later, they came in groups to the western part of Armstrong and the northern part of Butler County. The Donegal colony gave its name to Donegal Township in Butler County in 1795. It was the focal point of a Catholic settlement extending over 20 square miles numbering approx. 90 families."

The Fosters may have also come with this group. They were known to be presbyterians and in the Sugar Creek area by 1805 and probably earlier (see "History of Armstrong County".