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Thomas F. Foster

American politician (1790–1848)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ2423926 ↗
Source-derived summary

Thomas Flournoy Foster (November 23, 1790 – September 14, 1848) was an American politician and lawyer.

Foster was born in Greensboro, Georgia. He attended Franklin College, the founding college of the University of Georgia in Athens, and graduated in 1812 with a Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) degree. He studied at the Litchfield Law School, gained admittance to the state bar in 1816 and became a practicing attorney in Greensboro.

Foster was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1822 and was reelected through 1825. In 1828, he won election to the 23rd United States Congress as a Jacksonian and served two additional terms before losing his reelection bid in 1834. He moved to Columbus, Georgia, the following year. In 1840, he returned to the U.S. House as a Whig in the 27th Congress. He only served one term in that position. He died in Columbus on September 14, 1848, and was buried in that city's Linwood Cemetery.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Thomas F. Foster” is american politician (1790–1848). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Thomas, Foster and American, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1790, 1848, 1812, 1816—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1790-11-23. For this dossier, Thomas, Foster and American is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “american politician (1790–1848)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2423926. VIAF identifies the subject as 2328814. The Library of Congress control number is nr92005757. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1790, 1848, 1812 and 1816.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Thomas F. Foster”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Thomas F. Foster primary sources, Thomas F. Foster archive and Thomas research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Thomas F. Foster”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Thomas F. Foster” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.