Fannie P. Foster,

Widow and Relic of

Charles M. Foster, Clerk of Courts

Ghosts, Town of Blakeley

First published in the Alabama Genealogical Society Quarterly

Fannie Foster, widow and relic of Charles M. Foster, Clerk of Courts of Baldwin County, Alabama,¹ and Charles Foster were free persons of color from Mobile. Charles M. Foster was the Clerk of Courts of Baldwin County, at Blakeley, before it was moved to Daphne, in 1868.² Charles W. Wilkins was the Clerk of Circuit Courts for Baldwin, in 1850.³ Charles Foster died in 1866. Foster’s dower interest in her huband’s estate, a thirty-acre parcel of land, was valued at $500.00. She sold five of the 30 acres to George Ficklin for $20.00, in 1870.⁴ Both were married to other people at the time of the transaction. What was Foster’s relationship to Ficklin? Thomas Ficklin, George Ficklin’s presumptive father, was Charles Foster’s next-door neighbor in Baldwin County, for the 1840 enumeration.⁵ At that time, Ficklin had a household of 11 and Foster was evidently a bachelor.⁶ Was Fannie Foster previously Fannie Ficklin? By 1850, Charles Foster had a small family; and by 1860 he was a widower. The challenge was to reconstruct the identity of Fannie P. Foster.

Charles Foster was born in 1808, in New York. He first married “Mary,” [name variants: Sincere/Sendser/St. Cyre], a free woman of color, circa 1830.⁷

1. Mary Foster, born in 1821, in Florida,

2. Died in November, 1849, in Baldwin County,⁸

3. Margarette S. Foster owned land in Mobile, Washington County, Authority: April 24, 1820: Sale-Cash Entry (3 Stat. 566), Purchase date: September 1, 1845.⁹

4. Mary Foster presumably died in childbirth delivering their daughter, Mary [Blanche].¹⁰

Charles Foster did not immediately take custody of his children, as they were boarded with his mother-in-law, Lucy Sendser [St. Cyre], for the 1850 enumeration.¹¹ There were two slaves and four free persons of color in the Charles Foster household, in the 1850 Alabama Census. No whites were enumerated.¹² Lucy Sincere [sic], a free woman of color, resided in Baldwin for the 1840 Census; and, in her household of seven free colored inhabitants were two males between 10 and 23, two females under 10, two females between10 and 23, and one female between 36 and 54.¹³ Lucy St. Cyre resided in Baldwin County, for the 1855 enumeration, as well.¹⁴

1850

Baldwin County, Alabama

Lucy Sendser [St. Cyre] ____ m. _____ deceased [St. Cyre]

______________________52 SC_________________|__________________________________

|                                                 |                    |                               |                                       |                         |

Lewey [Louis]¹⁵            Henry          Cornelia            Colbert   Camellia [?]daughter, et al.¹⁶

32 FL 22 FL 20 FL Roberts Parmen |

(22) (12) (10) 19 (9) 14 (4) | ____________________________|

|                                             |                                         |                                      |

Emma Foster                           Richard                               Lucy                         Mary

12                                                 5                                                 8                                  1

Others in the household were Robert, 9, and Octavia Brantly.12. William Brantly, 18, lodged with the McMillans, was likely their brother.¹⁷ Octavia married Robt. J. White.^{18 19} She died before 1901. White’s Will did not name Octavia as an heir.

1855

Baldwin County, Alabama

Chas Foster, bachelor (?)²⁰

Lucy St. Cyre

After the death of his first wife, Charles Foster married another free woman of color, Mrs. Fannie P. Handee [Hardee], of Mobile.²¹ Fannie P. Foster was likely a St. Cyre family member. Foster was appointed guardian of his minor children April 25, 1857. If the deceased Mary [Marguerette S.] Foster was in fact Charles Foster’s wife, why did it take so long to probate her Estate and acquire guardianship over his own children? Charles Foster acknowledged his children of color, by the 1860s enumeration. As executor of their mother’s estate, Foster administered his children’s considerable wealth.

1860

Baldwin County, Alabama²²

Charles Foster ___ m. __ deceased [Mary St. Cyre] Foster

(net worth over $12,000)

____52___________________|________________________

|                               |                               |                       |

Emma                   Richard                     Lucy             Blanche [Marie]

   20                             15                                18                                 12

Marriage Bond and License [title and emphasis added]

Know all men by these presents, that we, Charles Foster and John Wilson are held and firmly bound to the State of Alabama, in the penal sum of Two Hundred Dollars, for the payment whereof, we bind ourselves, our heirs, executors, and administrators, jointly and severally, firmly by these presents. Sealed with our seals and dated this 4th day of October A.D. 1864.

The Condition of the above Obligation is such, That whereas the above bound Charles Foster has obtained license to intermarry and be joined together in the Bonds of Matrimony with Mrs. Fannie Handee [Hardee]. Now, if there be no lawful cause to obstruct said marriage, then this obligation to be void, otherwise to be and remain in full force and effect.

Charles Foster {rubric seal}

by

John Wilson {rubric seal}

John Wilson

The State of Alabama )

Baldwin County )

To any one of the State Judges, or to any Ordained Minister of the Gospel, or to any Justice of the Peace of said County:—

Know Ye, that you are hereby authorized and Licensed to join together in the bonds of Matrimony, Charles Foster and Mrs. Fanny Handee [Hardee]

Given under my hand and seal, the fourth day of October, 1864.

C. W. Wilkins

Judge of Probate {rubric seal}

The State of Alabama )

Baldwin County )

To the Judge of Probate of said County,

I certify that I, this day certified the rites of matrimony between Charles Foster and Fanny Handee [Hardee] who, are within named, at the residence of Charles Foster, in said County.

Witness my hand, this the 5th day of October 1864.

John Wilson, Justice of Peace, B.C.²³

John Wilson of the Marriage Bond was the Postmaster of Daphne, Alabama, until his death in 1888. He married Benjamin Brumley’s [Bromley] widow, Matilda E. McConnell, in 1860, at Baldwin. C.W. Wilkins, Judge of Probate officiated, at the residence of James Stanmyers, at Blakely.²⁴ John Wilson registered to vote in 1867, from Baldwin.” Matilda E. Wilson survived her husband, in 1888; and, she was the administratrix of his estate.²⁵ Benjamin Brumley [Bromley] died without real or personal property, in 1832.²⁶

Fannie’s marriage to Foster was not her maiden voyage. An affidavit to support an interracial marriage was not required. Interracial marriages were lawful, in Alabama, at that time. Since Charles Foster, was himself, a free person of color, there was no impediment. Foster’s eldest son, Richard, always self identified as “black.”

Fannie P. Handee [Hardee] was the widow of John Q. Hardee, deceased.²⁷ John Hardee died intestate, in Georgia, in March 1860. There was no mention of an infant daughter [Alice], as heir. His widow declined to  administer the estate. No letters of administration existed in the State of Georgia. Had this man ever existed? Yes. John Hardee owned an 11-year-old female slave in 1850.²⁸ John Hardee registered to vote in 1867, in Monroe County.²⁹ John Hardee purchased land in Monroe County, in 1853 and 1854.³⁰ Two men held notes against his estate, Dr. C. L. Anderson, now of Texas, formerly of Monroe County, Alabama, and L.[uke] C. Lane, Esquire of Baldwin County. Hardee predeceased the Civil War. A literate woman, Fannie Hardee, wrote to the Court, in her own hand, relinquishing her administratrix duties to G.[erald] B. Hall, Sheriff. Fannie Hardee wrote from Blakeley, then a flourishing competitor to Mobile; once a ghost town; now a State Park.³¹

Petition of

Fannie P. Hardee³²

that the Administration

of the Estate of

John Q. Hardee, deceased

may be cast upon

G. B. Hall, Sheriff of

Baldwin County,

in his capacity of

general administration of

this County.

* * * * *

Filed

5 February, 1861

C.W. Wilkins, Judge

Fanny Foster was enumerated in 1866, with her new husband, Charles.³³

1866

Township 3, Baldwin County, Alabama³⁴

Charles Foster ___ m.___ Fannie P. [Hardee] Foster

____________________|_________________

| | | |

Allis Emma E. Richard Blanchy

[Alice Hardee] [Emmeline]

Charles Foster died in 1866, and his estate was probated in Baldwin County, in 1867. The land held by Foster’s estate was transcribed below.

Inventory of the effects Personal and Real

Charles Foster, deceased³⁵

[title and emphasis added]

The following is an Inventory of the effects Personal and Real belonging to the Estate of Charles Foster, deceased. that have come to my hands as the Administrator of said Estate. To wit,

1 Certificate No. 842 of 11 shares in the Capital or

Joint stock in the Alabama Insurance and Trust Company,

$100.00 ea. $1100.00

Certificate 81 of 10 shares in the Capital stock

in the Mobile Southern Insurance Company of $50.00 ea 500.00

Certificate No. 3691 of two shares of the Capital stock

of the Mobile & Ohio Railroad Company for $100.00 per

share 200.00

$1,800.00

30 acres of land with improvements thereon situated near Montrose

4 acres of land situated within the boundaries of the Joshua Kennedy tract, adjoining Blakely [sic], sold by J. M. Stannard to Sarah A. Keithley, and by her to Martha J. Stanmyers, and by her to Mary C. Doyle, and by her to Charles Foster.

1/2 acre of land situated on Washington Street, in the Town of Blakely, formerly owned by James Conway, and his administratrix conveyed to Charles Foster by deed, dated 14 day of November, 1848.

1 Bewling [sic] house, kitchen, garden, etc. located West of the Courthouse, and known as the former residence of J. H. Stanmyers, and sold by said J. Stanmyers to said Charles Foster.

Sworn and subscribed to ) J. H. Stanmyers

this 12 day of April, 1867 ) Admins.

C.W. Wilkins

Judge Probate

Stanmyers acquired his former property!

What about the deceased former wife’s Estate, and her children’s property? What did they inherit?

Foster’s children hired Attorneys Posey and Tompkins, in 1867. Their attorneys argued that their mother’s Estate had been conflated with that of their father, and that they never received a final settlement of their father’s estate from Stanmyers. Stanmeyer advised the Court, that the estate of Charles Foster was insolvent,

as Administrator of the Estate of Charles Foster aforesaid deceased, that said Estate is insolvent and no assets sufficient to pay said claim in said petition set forth has come to his hands as such Administrator.³⁶

and therefore, the Court’s judgment to pay the heirs was impossible to effectuate.³⁷ Stanmeyers rushed to sell $1800 in stock certificates from the estate, in the Mobile Daily Tribune. The sale netted only $112.00.

Judge of Probate, C. W. Wilkins, awarded the petitioners, the sum of $1196.00. J. H. Stanmyers appealed to Alabama’s highest court. Stanmyers won the case, but was reversed on appeal, in 1868.

THE STATE OF ALABAMA³⁸

To the Judge of the Probate Court of Baldwin County, Greetings:

WHEREAS, the records and proceedings of said Court in a cause between Emma Foster, Richard Foster, and John M. Worden, Guardian ad litem of Blanche Foster, Plaintiffs, and James H. Stanmyers, admin. of Charles Foster, deceased, defendant,

Wherein by said Court on 24th September 1867, it was considered and decreed adversely to said James H. Stanmyers, admins. etc. (as it is said), (For the said decree in full see your Records),

were brought before our SUPREME COURT, by appeal taken, pursuant to law, on behalf of said defendant.

NOW IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED, That it was thereupon considered by our SUPREME COURT, on the 9th day of July 1868 that said judgement and decree of said PROBATE COURT be affirmed, and that said appellees receive of said appellant and of John Vidal, surety, the costs accruing of said appeal on said SUPREME COURT and in the Court below.

Witness —-JOHN D. PHELAN, Clerk of said SUPREME COURT

the 14th day of July 1868

{signature} CLERK

John Vidal was required to pay the surety bond. Vidal was in the Stanmyers household in 1860.³⁹ Had he already spent their inheritance? Further, the legatees pointed out to the Probate Court, that there remained unliquidated parcels of land. Moreover, the inventory revealed five slaves viz: Tom, aged 45, Tom, aged 60, Milly, aged 20, daughter of Milly unknown, aged five, and Caty, aged 50, from 1857.⁴⁰ The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, made moot slaves as property. They were unrecoverable.

Charles Foster’s minor children were as enumerated: Emma Elizabeth, Lucy Judia [sic], Richard and Blanche Foster. The minor children owned property valued at upwards of $3000. Their attorneys were Wm. J. S. Kitchens and Zebulon Hubbard. These men prevailed at Court for the minor children:

the above described lands 758 & 78/100 acres, together with all the appurtenances thereunto belonging; and returned by operation of law April 3, 1868. R. Z. Barlow

Sheriff, B.C. [Baldwin County]⁴¹

Fannie P. Foster petitioned the Court on behalf of herself and minor child to sell a parcel of land, held by J. H. Stanmyers, to be sold for no more than $500. Stanmyers selected the following described parcel:

Charles Foster, deceased,

Estate of

Petition for Sale of Land

Filed May 19, 1867⁴²

All that certain tract of land in Baldwin County, ___ and bounded as follows, beginning at the Southwest corner of the section of land entered at the land office at St. Stephens, Ala. by Thomas and Francis Cypert, and running thence South 9. 48/100 chains to a point, thence East 31.60/100 chains to a point, thence North 9.48/100 chains to the South line of said Cypert tract, and thence West on the Section line to the place of beginning and containing thirty acres of land, and now states that the true value of said land and improvements does not exceed the sum of Five Hundred Dollars, according to their best judgement, after obtaining the fullest information on the subject, which was accessible to them.

Subscribed and sworn to )

before me, this 20th day of ) John Vidal ) A

April 1868 ) Patrick Shea ) p

) John P. Miles ) P

C.W. Wilkins ) R

Judge of Probate ) A

I

S

E

R

S

Fannie P. Foster, widow and relic of Charles Foster, married her cousin, Dick [sic] Foster in 1869, at their home in Mobile,⁴³ one year following their Supreme Court victory over James Stanmyers. C.E.D. Taylor, M.G. officiated. Dick Foster made his “mark.” Wm. Boyd, a “mulatto,” was his witness.⁴⁴

1870

Township 3, Baldwin County, Alabama⁴⁵

Richard Foster ___ m.⁴⁶ ___ Fanny P. Foster w.⁴⁷ = Charles Foster

|__1843_____________________1841______________|

| |

Alice [Handee] Escene Eugene

16 1 3

What became of Fannie Foster’s children?

1. Daughter, Alice [Hardee] Johnson resided with husband Abram Johnson, Deputy Sheriff, for the 1880 Census, of Baldwin County.⁴⁸ Younger brother, Charles Foster, was in the household. Henry St. Cyre, Jr. and Harriet Fountain were their neighbors. Sister Emma was a neighbor, too.

2. Fannie and Charles Foster’s son, Charles Eugene, born November, 1866, married older woman, Augusta McCall, May 6, 1900,⁴⁹ and resided at Montgomery Hill, Baldwin County, for the 1900 Census.⁵⁰ Charles E. [he switched first and middle names] was enumerated in 1920.⁵¹ Widower E. C. Foster [sic] still lived at Blacksher, in 1930.⁵²

3. Infant daughter, Escena Foster, was not found beyond the 1870 Census.

What became of Charles Foster’s children?

1. Daughter and heiress Emma [Emmeline] Elizabeth resided with her new husband, Thomas Johnson, for the 1880 enumeration.⁵³

2. Son and heir Richard Foster, married Fannie [Brantly/Brumley/Bromley] Hardee Foster. She died eight years later. Richard Foster then married cousin, Mary St. Cyr, in Mobile, in 1879.⁵⁴ Mollie [Mary] St. Cyre Foster declared that her mother was born in Indian Territory.⁵⁵

3. Daughter Blanche Foster resided in the household of relative John Platt, in Mobile, for the 1870 Census.⁵⁶ John Platt was the father of John Brantley.⁵⁷ Blanche Foster married Joseph Andry, in Mobile, in 1882.⁵⁸

4. Daughter Lucy Julia [Lucinda] Foster married John Coe, in 1859, at Mobile.^{59 60}

The St. Cyre Connection: Charles Foster’s mother-in-law, Lucy St. Cyre, owned slaves in antebellum Alabama. In the 1870 enumeration, Henry Cencien [Sincere/St. Cyre], resided in the Foster household. Henry was previously enumerated in the household of his mother Lucy, in 1850.⁶¹ He was Richard’s maternal uncle, born in Florida, in 1822.⁶² Henry Cyre, born in Florida, was enumerated in Baldwin County, for the 1860 Census.⁶³

Henry St. Cyre, John A. Hammack, Charles McConnell, and Eleanor Wilkins, resided in the same household, in 1860.⁶⁴ Fountain resided in Wilkins’ 1870 household with her three minor daughters.⁶⁵ Harriet Fountain married Henry St. Cyre, in 1866, in Baldwin County.⁶⁶ Judge C. W. Wilkins officiated the ceremony at his home. Interestingly, four years later, she still lived with William Wilkins.⁶⁷ Fountain never used her married name of St. Cyre, nor it appears, resided with her legal husband. Wilkins left Fountain, $100.00, in his Will.⁶⁸

Richard [Dick] Foster, resided with his second wife Mary [St. Cyre] Foster, in Baldwin County with their two daughters, Victoria, and Wicksy, in 1880.⁶⁹ Richard Foster’s daughter, Marie Foster Crooks died in 1971, at Bay Minette, Baldwin County, Alabama.⁷⁰ Another daughter, Sarah Foster, died in 1923, at Mobile, Mobile County.⁷¹

1900

Baldwin County, Alabama⁷²

Richard Foster = Mary Foster

___________________________|________________________

| | | | |

Sarah Victoria Warren Emma J. Mattie [Marie]

24 20 17 14 9

Colbert Roberts [Robinson] and Henry Cyre [St. Cyre] resided in the mixed-race household, the Bonifays, for the 1860 enumeration.⁷³ Richard H. Bonifay married Caroline White in 1853, at Baldwin County.⁷⁴ G[eorge] Bonifay married Sarah Ann Keithley, in 1857, Baldwin County.⁷⁵ The Bonifays and some Vidals relocated to Mobile, by 1880.⁷⁶ C. W. Wilkins, Judge of Probate officiated. Henry St. Cyre, his wife Sarah, and son, Charles, resided at Sibleys Mill, Baldwin County, in 1880.⁷⁷ The Charles Foster of Mobile County, lived in a seven member-all white household.⁷⁸

Richard Foster, a literate boatman, in 1900, resided with his family at Sibley’s Mills.⁷⁹ Henry, Jr. and Angeline’s daughter, Mary St. Cyre, born 1879, in Alabama, married Frank Williams, Baldwin County. Rev. S.B. Bracy officiated.^{80 81} Angeline was enumerated as a widow with child Vinson [Winston] in 1900.⁸²

Henry Cyr [sic] was a neighbor of James H. Stanmyers, the Postmaster, in the 1860 Census for Baldwin County.⁸³ Charles McConnell, son of Benjamin McConnell, uncle of James H. Stanmyres, resided in the same mixed-race household.⁸⁴ Stanmyers resided with and was related to free persons of color in antebellum Baldwin County. He was, undoubtedly, well acquainted with their inner circle. James H. Stanmyers married Martha Jane Brumley [Bromley], in 1846, in Baldwin County, by ordained Minister A.B. Couch.⁸⁵ Stanmyres was intimately positioned to know who was whom in Creole society, as his wife was one of those.

The following slaveholders were neighbors: Eleanor Wilkins, Lucy Cincere [sic], J. A. Hammack, and William Wilkins, in the 1850 Slave Schedule for Baldwin County.⁸⁶ John Hammack resided in the Bonifay household, in 1860.⁸⁷ Charles Wilkins, later Judge of Probate and Michael Bonifay, both attempted to register to vote in 1867, but were “excluded without prejudice.”⁸⁸ Did they decline to take the “oath of allegiance to the United States?”

Fannie P. Foster was a member of Creole society of Mobile and Baldwin Counties, where members crossed the color line at will, and ignored the rule of hypodescent. The “one-drop” dictum did not apply to those with white skin; and, did not prevent them or their children from owning slaves or other property. Propertied creoles married whites.

Octavia Brantley, born 1832, in Alabama, died before 1901, Baldwin County, married Robert J. White. Their children were named Robert, Julia, Alice and Blanche.⁸⁹ Julia, Alice and Blanche were family names and were the same as the Foster daughters. Fannie P. and Octavia were sisters, and Lucinda St. Cyre was their grandmother.

Further, Foster’s creole associations included members of the following families:

the Bonifays, the Wilkins, the Wilsons, the Hardees, the Hammacks, the St. Cyres, the Brantlys, or Brumleys [Bromleys], the Parmens, the McConnells, and the Stanmyers. All save Richard Foster crossed the color line by 1900; and even his children were white by 1920.

Notwithstanding,  Fannie Foster’s creole associations, both in Mobile and Baldwin Counties, she was not Fannie P. Brantley [Bromley], prior to her marriage to Hardee. Other than a land deal, no other association with George Ficklin was established. The land sold to Ficklin of Montrose was in Montrose, Baldwin County. Based on the reconstruction of Lucy [Lucinda] St. Cyre’s family, Fannie P. [Hardee] Foster was likely a granddaughter of Lucy St. Cyre, child of an unnamed St. Cyre daughter.

Possible Reconstruction of

Lucinda St. Cyre’s Family

Lucinda St. Cyre = unknown St. Cyre

_______________________________________________|_______________________________

| | | | | | |

Louis Henry daughter daughter daughter daughter Cornelia

= = = =

Roberts Parmen Brantley Foster

or Robinson | | |

| Camellia Octavia, Lucy,

Mercelle, Robert, Richard,

Colbert Wm. T., Emma,

Fannie P., Blanche [Marie]

Alternatively, the ‘P’ in Fannie P. might have referred to her maiden name of “Parmen,” still a granddaughter of Lucinda St. Cyre, and first cousin to Richard Foster.

An historical and genealogical gap between the events at Fort Mims and the populations of towns like Blakeley and Mobile, was bridged. Many flocked to newly “opened” areas of commerce, after suppression of the Indians, and displacement of the Spaniards in West Florida. Fannie P. Foster was among the early citizens of Baldwin County. Although enumerated variously as white or black, in the racial dichotomy of the times, we may count her as a beautiful, educated, vivacious woman of color (ethnicity uncertain), in antebellum Alabama. Fannie P. Foster, widow and relic of Charles M. Foster, puts one in mind of a balmy stroll along the once proud promenade of Washington Street, in ghostly Blakeley.

by

Carolyn E. Hood-Kourdache

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