ORA C. FOSTER and his brother, MELVIN M. FOSTER moved to Crook County in 1903. Their father, C H. FOSTER was born in Williamstown, Dodge County, Wisconsin, on Nov. 1854. His family came to Oregon in 1872, and settled near Oregon City.
CHARLIE H. FOSTER married MARTHA L. CRITESER at Milwaukie, Oregon in 1880. They moved to Idaho in 1901, with their three sons, TERRELL J., MELVIN M., ORA C., and their daughter RUTH. From there they came to Crook County in 1903. They took up dry land farming long before irrigation came to Central Oregon.
Their oldest son, TERRELL, spent most of his life in Idaho, staying with friends and going to school. He married DORA SHOWALTER, and later went to work for the irrigation company at King Hill, Idaho. After his wife died, he married CARRIE THEBO, and they were together until his death on Feb. 28, 1963.
MELVIN M. FOSTER worked for the Central Oregon Irrigation District for years. He married LUCY SHORBERT in 1915, and had two daughters, HELEN MARIE and LOLA LOUISE. MELVIN and LUCY were divorced in 1927. MELVIN never married again but lived with his brother ORA and his family until his death in 1959.
RUTH MAY FOSTER married JAMES BRUNO, living in Los Angeles, California until 1962. They had one son RICKY, who stayed with his mother when she and his father were divorced. They later left California and finally settled in Tampa, Florida.
ORA C. FOSTER worked with his father threshing for neighbors during threshing season and took over the business after his father's death. their first threshing machine was a horse drawn affair, and took twelve horses to operate. this was followed by three steam engine threshers, one of which was purchased in Shaniko when Cow Canyon road was just a narrow cow trail, not nearly wide enough for the cumbersome machine. The hauled the machine up the mountain, and let the engine and separator down into the valley with a block and tackle.
On Dec. 13, 1915 Ora was appointed Rural Carrier at Powell Butte, and he started delivering mail on the 21 mile long route, at a salary of $625 dollars a year. He first tried using a horse-drawn rig, but soon swithched to a car. He continued delivering mail until he was seriously injured while on the route, in May of 1952. During the years he delivered the mail, he used 38 cars and covered over 900,000 miles.
ORA married JESSIE FRANCIS OSBORN in 1913 and to this marriage were born 5 children; WALLACE C. and WINNIE C. FOSTER, twins; FAY LOUISE, FRANCIS MAY and ORA KENNETH. FRANCIS, WALLACE and FAY preceded ORA in death and O.K, FOSTER died one year after ORA. ORA and JESSIE were divorced in 1933 and in 1934 ORA married DORIS KESTER. They had one son, TERRELL HARRISON, born in 1936.
ORA passed away in April of 1972, and six years later DORIS married DARREL HARVE ESLICK.
"History of Crook County Oregon" written by the Crook County Historical Society in 1981
Ora Clair Foster married Jessie F. Osborn on 12 Feb 1913 in Crook County
Melvin M. Foster married Lucy Helen Shobert on 11 Oct 1915 in Crook County
UNCLE ORIE HAD MANY TALENTS, THE BEST BEING WOOD TURNING. HE MADE BEAUTIFUL ITEMS OUT OF JUNIPER. JUNIPER SPLITS SO EASILY AS IT DRIES THAT IT IS VERY HARD TO WORK WITH BUT STILL UNCLE ORIE MADE MANY LAMPS, ASHTRAYS AND OTHER USEFUL ITEMS WITH THIS CENTRAL OREGON PRODUCT.
