James Foster

James Foster was an early leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On April 6, 1837, he was ordained to serve as one of the Seven Presidents of the Seventy, which was also designated as the First Council of the Seventy at that time. Later it would be called the Presidency of the Seventy.[1]. He served simultaneously as a temporary member of the Kirtland High Council.

Foster was part of Zion's Camp and participated in the solemn assembly in the Kirtland Temple.

He was born on April 1, 1786, in Hillsborough, New Hampshire. He married Abigail Glidden in 1811 in Vienna, Maine. They moved to Lyons, New York by 1824. He was baptized in 1834.

James was tried for impropriety at April 1841 general conference in Nauvoo. Based on the charges and testimony, it was initially decided to remove him from Church rolls. Brother Foster requested the right to speak in his own behalf which right was granted. The History of the Church does not record the extent or content of his remarks nor whether they involved confession or denial, but they must have been convincing and persuasive for the Council reversed its decision and he retained his positions in the Church.[2]

Foster stayed in Jacksonville, Illinois, instead of gathering to Nauvoo with the Saints. He took ill and died on December 21, 1841. (The Joseph Smith Papers list his death occurring on December 12, 1846.)[3]