James Foster, 1651-1732, stone carver
The subjects of this stone are James Foster (1651-1732) and Anna (Lane) Foster (1664-17320. Anna was James’ second wife.
Three generations of the Foster family, all named James, were stone carvers in Dorchester.
The first James married first Mary Capen on September 22, 1674. Mary died Feb. 8, 1678-9. He married Anna on October 7, 1680. She died Sept. 29, 1732, and James died a few days later on October 4, 1732. She was 68, and he was 81 in the “82nd year of his age”.
No. 23715 photo from Farber Collection
The carving is attributed to James’s son James (1698-1771). The coat of arms and the acanthus leaves seem to be unusual for him. Acanthus leaves are a symbol of enduring life.
The stone has suffered a great amount of damage with attempts at repair. Some of the pieces are lost. In 2024, the stone was again repaired and re-installed in the cemetery in October 2024.
Inscriptions:
Here lyes Buried the
Body of Mr. James Foster,
Who Departed this Life Octr. the
4th, 1732; in the 82d
Year of His Age.
He was a member in full Commu
nion with the Church of Christ
in Dorchester About 60ty
Years
Here Lyes Buried the
Body of Mrs Anna Foster
the Consort of Mr. James Fos-
ter. She Departed this life the
29th of Septr 1732 in
the 68th Year of Her age
The text below is from the following source, which cites statements in the Forbes book, the second reference below.
David R. Mould and Missy Loewe. Historic Gravestone Art of Charleston, South Caroline, 1695-1802. (Jefferson, NC, 2006), 220
Forbes, Harriette Merrifield. Gravestones of Early New England and the Men Who Made Them, 1653-1800. (Boston, 1927)
The elder James Foster, who lived from 1651 until 1732, is credited with a number of the oldest tombstones in many Boston-area burial grounds. James Foster II lived from 1698 until 1763. The third James Foster was born in 1732 and died in 1771.
Forbes describes the Foster style as having “a certain definiteness of line, as if he always kept his tools well-sharpened, a broad, flat manner of portraying scrolls, and deeply incised rosettes.””
“There was much talent in the Foster family and they all seemed to do some kind of handiwork,” Forbes writes. “The most interesting work of this first James was his very original and complicated scrolls,” and “the second James followed so closely in his father’s footsteps that it is not possible to differentiate their work.”
But it was the second James Foster “who dared to inaugurate a radical change in the well-established death symbol, by placing eyeballs in the empty sockets,” Forbes says of Foster’s skull designs. “It gives you a curious feeling, accustomed as you are to these hollow-eyed, impassive heads, to catch sight of one which is looking at you with a semblance of life and interest.”
No. 22831 photo from the Farber Collection
see The Farber Gravestone Collection at the American Antiquarian Society