In reality my “mysterious” Fosters aren’t that much of a mystery. Not much was known about them simply because the work of hunting back and finding and promoting the records hasn’t been done – at least by anyone we in Canada have been in touch with. The Fosters of Grindal Shoals, Union County, South Carolina had great neighbors like Moseley, Jasper, Sims, Hamse, Chesney, Fowler, Guildelock, Littlejohn, and Hodge. They had great neighbors and they were great neighbors. What I have found is that they participated fully in the community. They were there, and it seems they were known and respected by their community.

It feels good to dust them off a bit. We are never bound by the past, it does not control us. Rather, for me, there is simply a respect and admiration for the life, love, work, hopes, fears, daring, sadness that went into forwarding the genes I inhabit.

Perhaps had my dad gotten along better with his dad, and had grandpa Foster gotten along better with his dad (although then probably he wouldn’t have come to Canada), the story of the Fosters in South Carolina would simply be old tales we had all grown up with. Maybe then they would have less magnetism for me. Whatever the case I am exceedingly pleased with myself for having taken the chance to rejoin the line so that these things can be known by us and those Fosters that are related or even come after us.