Randolph Sinks Foster
Randolph Sinks Foster was an American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, elected in 1872.
Early life
Foster was born on February 22, 1820, at Williamsburg, Ohio. He was the son of Israel Foster and Mary "Polly" Kain. His father was the youngest son of Nancy Foster an dThomas Foster, an English emigrant to Virginia. His mother was the only daughter of Daniel Kain and Mary Kain.Foster attended Augusta College in Kentucky, but left to become a Preacher in the Ohio Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church when he was only seventeen.
Career
Foster was ordained to the Traveling Ministry by Bishops Waugh and Hedding. He went on to become the pastor of the Mulberry Street M.E. Church in New York City, where he met Daniel Drew, the financier who provided the original funding for the Drew Theological Seminary in Madison, New Jersey.Prior to his election to the episcopacy, Foster served in pastoral appointments and in educational work. He was president of Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, 1857–1860. He also accepted John McClintock's invitation to become Professor of Systematic Theology at Drew. After the death of Drew's first President in 1870, Foster was elected to that post, remaining there until becoming a bishop in 1872, when he was assigned to the Cincinnati, Ohio area.
Works
Foster wrote the book in 1849. Also "Christian Purity or the Heritage of Faith" in 1872Personal life
In 1840, Foster was married to Sarah Ann Miley. Together, they were the parents of:- Anna Florence Foster, who died unmarried.
- John Miley Foster
- Randolph Israel Foster, who married Helms Pitman.
- Tallmadge W. Foster, who married Minnie Pritchard.
- Sarah Miley "Sallie" Foster
- Elizabeth Foster, who married William Austin Tucker, in 1876.
- Eva Kilbreth Foster