Frank Wilder Foster

Son of Wilder D. Foster and Fannie Lovell Foster, he was adopted by Noyes Latham Avery after his marriage to the widowed Fannie Lovell Foster.

No children.

Round the World Voyage

According to family oral history Frank Wilder Foster became interested in a romantic pursuit that his family was not in support of. As a means of dissuading this interest he was sent on a "round the world" voyage from New York City to Yokohama, Japan, accompanied by his step brother Noyes Frederick Avery. The voyage departed December 12, 1882 on the 3-masted sailing schooner the "Jacob E. Ridgway", arriving in Yokohama 162 days later after rounding the Cape of Good Hope and sailing on through the Indian Ocean, through the Sunda Straight and onwards across the Java Sea then north through the China Sea finally setting anchor in Yokohama harbor at 4pm, May 22, 1883. Two hand written log books of this journey exist and remain through descent in the family and provided detailed daily entries of the voyage and subsequent return voyage to San Francisco on the steamer "SS City of Rio de Janeiro" which later sank after hitting a shoal at the entry to San Francisco Bay. 220 passengers and crew were lost. A third volume describing their exploits while in Japan is lost.

Frank married Clara Jones shortly after his return from his round-the-world travels. They resided in Newaygo, MI in1914 according to passport application for travel to Cuba and Brazil. Frank is listed in the 1873 City of Grand Rapids directory as being associated with Foster, Stevens & Co. (hardware, and mfrs. of galvanized sheet iron cornice, 14 and 16 Monroe) along with his father Wilder D. Foster and his cousin Wilder D. Stevens.