Campaign card, 1916, Collection of U.S. House of Representatives

FOSTER, Martin David, a Representative from Illinois; born near West Salem, Edwards County, Ill., September 3, 1861; attended the public schools and Eureka (Ill.) College; was graduated from the Eclectic Medical Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1882 and from the Hahnemann Medical College, Chicago, Ill., in 1884; commenced the practice of medicine in Olney, Richland County, Ill., in 1884; served as a member of a board of United States examining surgeons in 1885-1889, and again from 1893 to 1897; mayor of Olney, Ill., in 1895 and 1902; elected as a Democrat to the Sixtieth and to the five succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1907-March 3, 1919); chairman, Committee on Mines and Mining (Sixty-second through Sixty-fifth Congresses); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1918; engaged in the practice of medicine until his death in Olney, Ill., October 20, 1919; interment in Haven Hill Cemetery.