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From: "Dane Coefer" <>
Subject: [NJHUNTER] Andrew Foster in Lequear's
Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2001 23:32:46 -0700


Andrew Foster, Blacksmith from Ireland (pp.30-40)

Andrew Foster, Judge Foster's grandfather came from Ireland to Philadelphia in 1767. The first dinner he
ever ate in this country was at the Black Horse Hotel, 2nd Street. He was a blacksmith by trade, and the
first day he obtained work he set fifty shoes in one afternoon. It was just such men as this, who by their
brawny muscles and corresponding strong ideas of right and justice, who afterwards welded together
the links of a great commonwealth. They made the history of their adopted country, and their descendants
have written it out---sometimes with the bayonet---sometimes with the pen. Some of Andrew Foster's
descendants now wield the latter as gracefully as he wielded the hammer.

The people for miles around this section went to worship in the old church at Bethlehem. In these days
there were no stoves; and how do you think the building was heated? They had, in the centre, a pit, 2 1/2
by by 8 feet, in which was thrown about two bushels of charcoal, obtained, probably, from Andrew Foster's
blacksmith shop. This was ignited (we mean the charcoal---not the shop) in very cold weather. When it
was only cool, they sat without any fire. But then, the spirit of the Lord warmed their hearts, and in their
deep piety, these old fashioned people were ready to endure cold, hunger, toil, war and its horrors for the
sake of their civil and religious liberty.

Not much more than sixty-five years ago, a small boy might have been seen, early on a Sunday morning depositing hot, glowing coals from a fire shovel into the pit, and stooping down carefully arranged the fire. This was Judge Foster. About a hundred years ago, on a summer morning, you might have seen assembled here, a number of genteely dressed men and women. The men wore clean, white, home-spun linen shirts, no coats, and breeches buckled at the knee. Among these were James Wilson, Elder Dunham, Capt. Hope, Andrew Foster, the Apgars, Capt. Bonnell and many others, whose names are equally familiar. Mr. Harosin would take his place in the old fashioned pulpit, and the simple earnest service began. Though the building was rude and no costly, cushioned pews were there, yet the spirit of that other Bethlehem was there in that temple of the wilderness and moulded the thoughts of its people.<br clear=all><hr>Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at <a href="http://explorer.msn.co!
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