Governor Murphy James Foster, Sr.

• Sources:
  • https://www.sos.la.gov/HistoricalResources/AboutLouisiana/Louisiana...

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Murphy J. Foster personified Bourbonism: paternalistic and protective of the Democratic Party. Foster was part of the codification of "Jim Crow" to separate blacks and whites in daily life. He was partly responsible for limiting voting rights in the Constitution of 1898 to literate men who owned property and to men whose grand- father or father had been registered in 1867.

Foster called out the state militia in New Orleans to break a labor union strike with military force. He passed legislation establishing the forerunner to Louisiana Tech and built temporary camps to house flood victims.

Foster was re-elected in 1896 with the help of somewhat questionable returns from north Louisiana but to his credit, the Governor ended the prison lease system and regulated railroads whose practices hurt agriculture in Louisiana. Foster faced the beginnings of the Populist revolt against the Democrats, but joined the Populists in opposing the Louisiana Lottery which finally abandoned the state during his term.

The Louisiana Legislature elected Foster to the U. S. Senate the day after his term as Governor ended. Woodrow Wilson later appointed him Collector of Customs in New Orleans.

Foster died on his plantation near Franklin in 1921.

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the following is excerpted from: http://www.lib.lsu.edu/special/findaid/f4710.html
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Murphy James Foster (1849-1921) was an attorney, Louisiana state senator (1880-1892), Governor (1892-1900), and United States Senator (1900-1912). He was born near Franklin, La., the son of Thomas Foster and Martha P. Murphy. He attended college at Washington and Lee University and Cumberland University in Tennessee, where he graduated in 1870. Subsequently, he studied law at the University of Louisiana (now Tulane University) and passed the Louisiana bar examination in 1871. He was married briefly to Florence Daisy Hine, then remarried in 1881 to Rose Routh Ker, daughter of John Ker and Rose Routh at Ouida Plantation in West Feliciana Parish, La.

They produced ten children, nine of whom reached maturity: Rose Routh Foster (1882-1972) Elizabeth Ratliff Foster (1883-1974) Lucy Price Foster (1885-1886) Mary Lucy Foster (1886-1984) Willia Ker Foster (c.1889-1993) William Prescott Foster (1890-1947) Louisiana Navarro Foster (1894-1984) Martha DeMari Foster (1896-1991) Murphy James Foster, Jr. (1898-1981) Sarah Ker Foster (1903-1992)

Murphy J. Foster was elected Governor with the assistance of the Farmer's Alliance in 1892, and re-elected in 1896. After his tenure as Governor and then as a U. S. Senator, he was appointed as a collector of customs in New Orleans. Some of Foster's main political concerns during his career were the issue of black suffrage, outlawing the Louisiana Lottery Company, efforts to protect sugar growers, flood control, and the regulation of railway rates. Many of these issues gained national attention, in part thanks to his efforts. He died at his home on Dixie Plantation in 1921.

Rose Routh Ker was the youngest of five children. She was born in 1861 on a plantation owned by her grandfather in Catahoula Parish, La. Both of her parents died before she was four years old, so she was raised by her cousins, Alice Wade and Elizabeth Ratliff of Ellerslie Plantation outside St. Francisville.

Rose was sent to the Sacred Heart Convent in St. James Parish for an education at the age of eleven. She later was sent to a finishing school at Afton Villa. She met Murphy J. Foster in 1880, when he was already a State Senator. They married in 1881. In 1883, they purchased an abandoned plantation near Franklin, La., and named it "Dixie."

When Murphy Foster was elected Governor in 1892, the family moved to Baton Rouge, and left Dixie Plantation in the hands of a caretaker. Rose Ker Foster and her husband were active hosts, and entertained parties for groups such as the Association of Firemen regularly.

During Murphy Foster's residence in Washington D.C., Rose managed Dixie Plantation. She and her husband lived at Dixie until his death in 1921. Rose remained in the family home until her death at the age of 97, in 1959. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------