Benjamin Foltz Papers

Benjamin Foltz (1810‑1886) was born in Frankfort, Herkimer County, New York to Jacob C (1775-1831) and Elizabeth Steele Folts (1776-1851). He had numerous siblings - Lana (1796-1873), Anna (1806-1806), Dorothea (1802-1866), Mary (1807-1854), Daniel V (1816-1889), James (1817-1896), and David (1822-1897), Benjamin was educated at Oneida Seminary. He went to Lane Seminary at Cincinnati to prepare for the ministry but instead joined the "Lane Rebels" at Cumminsville. Foltz came to Oberlin with the Rebels, graduated from the Seminary in 1836, and served as a Presbyterian minister and anti‑slavery preacher in New York, northern Ohio and Wisconsin. His last pastorate was at Burlington, Wisconsin, where following ill health he entered into the dry goods business with a son. The final twenty or twenty‑five years of his life Foltz spent at Rockford, Illinois. His interests included collecting books and coins. Among his gifts to Oberlin College was the Foltz Tract Fund, the income of which was used to pay for publications.  Many of President Henry C. King's sermons and baccalaureate addresses were published due to the proceeds of this fund. His first marriage was to Jane Harwood (816-1851), with whom he had five children: Charles G (1837-1921), Asenath Elizabeth (1838-1916), Mary Sophia (1840-1913), Harriet Theresa (1842-1902), and Harwood (1845-1903). After Jane's death, he married Louisa Judson (1818-1909), and they had four children: Judson Jay (1855-1924), Edward Emerson (1857-1906), Irving E (1860-1909), and Louisa F (1862-1946).