Randolph Foster

Randolph Foster Born in the Natchez District of Spanish West Florida on March 12, 1790, Randolph Foster was the son of John and Rachel (Gibson) Foster. After service in Captain Randal Jones' Company during the War of 1812, Randolph hunted and explored throughout what was then the southwest, including stops in this part of Texas.

When he heard that Moses Austin had permission to settle 300 families in Texas, he headed back to the area. Foster arrived in Texas with Stephen F. Austin in 1821 as an "old three hundred" colonist. In 1824, he received title to 4,400 acres in present-day Fort Bend and Waller Counties. He served as an Indian scout for the colony.

In 1829, he married Lucy Ruffin Hunter (1804-1872). They made their home on the John Foster Grant and had seven children. During the War for Texas' Independence from Mexico in 1836, Foster helped procure munitions for the Texian army, then joined Captain Wyly Martin's Company. In April 1836, when Santa Anna and his vanguard troops sought to cross the Brazos at present-day Richmond, Foster and his outnumbered comrades delayed them long enough to prevent them from reaching Harrisburg in time to capture the Texian government.

A prominent planter and rancher, Foster signed the petition to create Fort Bend County and supported the Foster Community School. In 1856, he was appointed a trustee of the Frost Institute, a private school, by the Texas Legislature. He died at the home of one of his daughters, near the later established Foster Community, on August 18, 1878.

(2002)