Notes for ELIZABETH EMMONS FOSTER:

Daughter of Joel and Phebe (Stratton) Emmons.
Born: December 24, 1826 in Columbiana County, Ohio.
Died: January 22, 1902 in Fairfield, Wayne County, Illinois.
Buried: About January 22, 1902 in Maple Hill Cemetery, Fairfield, Wayne County, Illinois.
Married: David Hayden Foster June 2, 1847 in Allen County, Ohio.

After Phebe died, Joel was obliged to farm some of his children out to other families. He later lamented that some of them seemed not to care about him, and never wrote. By 1859, he had lost track of Rachel. He wrote several times to her last address and finally found out who she was living with. He passed this information on to Elizabeth, and a trunk of Elizabeth's belongings held by her descendants includes letters from Rachel.

Joel's last letters to Elizabeth told of a lingering illness from which he seldom got relief. He had a plan come to live with her, traveling "by the cars." When the railway was destroyed, perhaps by Confederate operatives, he wrote to ask if she could send a sturdy wagon for him. Before this could be accomplished, he died.