Catherine Foster

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Catherine "Kitty" Foster (c. 1790–1863) was a free Black woman who owned property on the south side of what is now Jefferson Park Avenue. Her house was the subject of an archaeological dig after construction workers were excavating the future site of the University of Virginia's South Lawn in 1993 and unearthed the remains of a coffin.[1][2] Foster was a landlady, seamstress, and laundress.


Biography

Very little is known about Foster's early life, including the names of her parents and other family members. It is likely that she was enslaved by Henry Foster, a white man in the Charlottesville area whose will included reference to an enslaved girl named "Cati." Following his death, Foster was enslaved by his widow, Elizabeth. It is possible that her father was a white man, as she was recorded as white in the 1830 Census.[3]

In 1816, Foster's first child, a girl named Sarah was born in Albemarle. Her first son, German, was born in 1817, and her second son, Burwell, was born in 1820. The father of these children is unknown, but all three lived with Kitty as free Blacks just south of the University of Virginia in the African American community referred to as Canada by the time of the 1820 Census. In the 1830 Census that listed her as white, Foster had another child, a daughter named Ann.[4] At this time, her sons were indentured to unnamed local craftsmen.

It was in 1833 that Kitty Foster established herself as a land-owning single woman. She purchased just over 2 acres of land in Canada from a white man named John Winn. Owning property meant that Foster could better protect herself and her children from the wave of anti-Black laws passed in the aftermath of Nat Turner's rebellion. In the years that followed, Foster appears more often in the records of the University and county. In 1834, she was harassed by students who threatened her home and tried to break in.[3]. Her eldest child, Sarah, married Christopher Smith in 1835, while her son German married Agnes Isaacs, daughter of Nancy West in 1836. German and Agnes had moved to Ohio by 1840, ensuring that enslavement could not be threatened upon them or any children they might have.

Foster's first grandchild, Harriet Smith, was born to Sarah in 1839, though Sarah unfortunately passed that same year. Harriet continued to live with her grandmother.

In the 1840 Census, Foster's property was noted to have been improved by $150, and she is recorded as the head of the household.[4] The first time the entire household was listed by age and name was in the 1850 Census, when Ann and Foster's three grandchildren all lived with her. The entire family was recorded as "mulatto," lending credence to the idea that Catherine had a white father. The property itself was worth $450.

In 1857, two of those grandchildren, twelve-year-old Susan and nine-year-old Clayton, appealed to the county to change their legal standing to "free persons of mixed blood." This categorization would mean they could avoid the post-Nat Turner laws that heavily restricted Black movement. During their court appearance, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, then a member of the University's Board of Visitors, personally testified on behalf of the children, stating that they were "not negroes."[3]

The final Census that Catherine Foster appears in was taken in 1860. The real estate value of her land was $4000, and her personal property was worth an additional $300. When Foster died three years later, the land was left to her oldest living daughter, Ann, and she was buried on her property.


Legacy

Although Foster's life ended in 1863, the land she had purchased in 1833 remained in her family for two more generations, as Ann inherited it and later passed it on to her daughter Susan when she died in 1881. Susan sold the land to two local businessmen in 1906, and although she retained the right to move the family cemetery, this never happened, and the presence of the Foster family was largely forgotten.[4]

The Foster Site as it appears today

In 1993, when the University sought to expand south of Jefferson Park Avenue, the Foster family cemetery was rediscovered. The graves of four adults and eight children were found, forcing the University to halt all construction in the area as archaeologists and researchers sought to find records that could identify everyone.[5]

In 2011, the University dedicated a memorial to Foster and her family, preserving the original cemetery and featuring the outline of her home.[3]

References

  1. Web. History of African-Americans at UVA, Kiera Givens, October 14, 2015, retrieved November 4, 2015.
  2. Web. Out of the Shadows: Event to Commemorate Kitty Foster and Canada Community, Carolyn Dillard, UVA Today, March 31, 2011, retrieved May 16, 2022.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Web. Kitty Foster (ca. 1790–1863), Brendan Wolfe
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Web. "The Foster Family-Venable Lane Site: Report of Archaeological Investigations"
  5. Web. Catherine's Ghost