The Foster Family

According to his death notice in the Red Cloud Weekly Advertiser, John Foster (1855–1924) came to Red Cloud in 1878; he was born and formerly enslaved in Washington County, Virginia, according to the newspaper. In 1880, he returned to Virginia to marry Sarah "Sallie" Thornton (1857–1901), who had also been born into slavery. 

Sallie owned the couple's home on Red Cloud's Elm Street; she sometimes worked out of town as a nurse-companion. John worked as a laborer, a janitor, and occasionally ran a shoe shine stand; he reported that he could neither read nor write, though this didn't stop him from remaining a regular subscriber to the city's newspapers, which frequently reported John's enterprises and interesting happenings.

John and Sallie had three children—Eva, Samuel, and Blanch. By all accounts, the family was beloved among Red Cloud's townspeople. Early photos show that black and white children were educated together in Red Cloud's schools. Newspaper accounts of the family's social engagements indicate that John Foster had many good friends among Red Cloud's early settlers and professional class, including attorney James S. Gilham, and the editors of the newspapers.

After Sallie Foster's untimely death, Eva Foster (1882–1941) remained in the home with her father, as well as doing domestic work outside the home. After her father John died, Eva went to Hastings, then Omaha, where she continued domestic work. She did not marry. On the back of the portrait of Eva taken during her time in Red Cloud, an unknown person has written, "Eva Foster, my nanny & best friend."

John and Sallie Foster's other children also left Red Cloud. Sam Foster (1883–1944) was a talented musician while in school in Red Cloud, playing guitar and mandolin. After taking work as a Pullman porter in 1911, he moved to Omaha and spent some time playing with Dan Desdunes Omaha band. Desdunes was an innovator in jazz and ragtime music, as well as a civil rights leader. In 1910, he and his band began touring with the Omaha Chamber of Commerce as they traveled across the region to promote Omaha. In 1920, the tour stopped in Red Cloud with Sam Foster as a member of the band. Sam Foster was the second oldest porter working in the Omaha District of the Burlington Railroad in 1944, when he suffered a heart attack on the Omaha-Casper, Wyoming run. He died while aboard, just outside Ravenna, Nebraska.

Blanch Foster (1886–?) married Oran Goens of Denver in 1917 and joined him in a successful barbershop and bath house. Oran died between 1924 and 1930, leaving Blanch to raise their daughters and run the business. She was listed as a survivor of her brother in his 1944 obituary, but nothing further is known.