Joseph Foster's parents were John W. Foster and Nancy McMurry who were married on either 13 July 1835 or 13 Dec. 1836 in Wilson Co., Tennessee (two dates listed). John W. Foster was the son of Alexander Foster and Elizabeth(?) Harris or Harrison. Alexander Foster remarried Martha Doak in Wilson Co., TN after the death of his first wife. Martha Doak Foster can be found on the 1850/60 Hickory Co., MO censuses with a number of her children and step-children. John W. Foster appears to have died around 1859, possibly in Independence Co., Arkansas. His widow Nancy Foster and children can be found on the 1850 Searcy Co., census living in the household of Henry Foster (Forrester), 59, b. in VA. John Foster's relationship to Henry is unknown. It's possible he was an uncle, i.e. a brother of his father Alexander Foster. Alexander Foster is believed by most researchers to have been the son of John Alexander Foster of Lancaster Co., PA and Martha Donnell. (His father was Alexander Foster of Londonderry, Ireland). Some people believe that Martha Donnell was of the Donnells of Guilford Co., NC and this has led them to state that John Alexander Foster was also from NC. This seems unlikely to me. I suspect that he came from PA or VA and married Martha there or in TN. I'm currently looking at the possibility that this branch of the PA Fosters went to Berkeley Co., WV (VA before the Civil War) prior to migrating south. By 1850 many of Alexander's children had migrated to Missouri (Hickory Co.) and AR (Independence Co.). At this point not all of his children have been identified or accounted for. The widow Nancy Foster can be found on the 1860 & 1870 Madison Co., AR censuses and the 1880 Carroll Co., AR census where she is listed as Nancy Foister. The whereabouts of her eldest sons Alfred and William are unknown. It is not known who her daughters Mary Ann and Elizabeth married. Daughter Milly appears to have had a number of children out of wedlock and retained the name Foster and lived in Madison and Carroll Co's. at least until 1910. In 1860 Joseph Foster was bound to the carpenter David Haines Garrett in Carroll Co., AR. He removed to Denton Co., Texas about 1867 and married Martha Ann Baugh 12 Jan 1868. His brother Harrison Foster married Elizabeth Harvison in Madison Co., AR about 1881. Another brother Henry Foster married Mary Reed in Missouri about 1876 and moved to Pope Co., AR by 1880.