FOSTER, KITTY
by Julia Munro
JUEL ID/KEY: P44031
Kitty (Catherine) Foster, adult female. Born between 1790 and 1795, Kitty (as she was known as) was a free black woman who purchased property in 1833 in the community south of the University known as "Canada" (PL8529). Her name appears sporadically in University documents; she was paid for washing clothing and, more often, her name comes up in references to student misconduct (that is, students frequenting Kitty Foster's neighborhood).
For example, the Faculty Minutes record an incident on May 31, 1834 when, on the 22nd, "four or five [students] had visited several houses in the neighbourhood, where they had conducted themselves in a disorderly manner. They had thrown down several flower pots at Kitty Foster's, and then proceeded to the house of Mr. Vandergriff (P44032), where they threw stones at a dog tied in the yard." Mr. Vandergriff was white, as indicated by the use of "Mr." when he is referred to in the Faculty Minutes, Chairman's Journals, and other offical documentation. He was involved in relaying the student misconduct to the Faculty during meetings (as was recorded in the Faculty Minutes and Chairman's Journals for 1834).
Kitty was also mentioned in another instance of student misconduct, in the Chairman's Journals for Session 13 (Vol. 6, September 3, 1836 - February 17, 1837). The journals report that students were caught:
"firing pistols across the road south of the University, & just out of the precincts, which pistols they allege that they keep out of the precincts. The reports are so distinctly heard in the University as to be somewhat annoying, besides the appearance of the thing to passersby & visitors. But these students on being sent, say that they violate no law - that they neither introduce, keep, nor use pistols within the precincts. The place of deposits is, I understand, the house of Kitty Foster (P44031). Under the law, as it stands, the students may have a magazine of pistols & fire arms across the road, & use them out of the precincts as much as they please. It appears to me that the law is defective on this subject; and ought to prohibit students from using pistols or practicing pistol firing anywhere; and lest for the mere purpose annoyance, they shd. substitute rifles or guns, kept out of the precincts, for pistols, in firing at marks, near the University, that ought also to be guarded against."
Kitty's involvement with students is typical of other formal/informal arrangements that other businesses/persons made to make money in these neighborhoods surrounding the University.
Kitty Foster's property remained in family hands until 1906; today, a memorial/ commemorative site "shadow catcher" stands at the location of her home in Charlottesville (below). Details of her property and descendents can be read in her 1859 Will (see "Catherine Foster's Will," pages 32 and 33: four images total).
See Additional Sources below for more information about Kitty Foster, "Canada," and the present-day commemorative site (in particular, the National Parks Service report, below).
PRIMARY SOURCE INFORMATION
1. References to the Individual in the JUEL Digitized Transcripts
(Links below are to JUEL's full-text digital transcripts of primary sources that refer to the individual. If no links display, this indicates that either the JUEL digitized texts have not yet been tagged with the individual's ID/Key, or, that no reference is made to the individual in any JUEL digitized texts, or, that the primary source has not yet been digitized).
Faculty Minutes, May 31, 1834, Session 10
Journals of the Chairman of the Faculty for Session 10, 1833 - 1834
Journals of the Chairman of the Faculty for Session 13, 1836 - 1837
2. Library Call Numbers/Bibliographic Records
ADDITIONAL SOURCES
Kitty Foster Homestead and Cemetery - AfroVirginia - African American Historic Sites Database
African American Historic Sites Database: Kitty Foster's Homestead and Cemetary