Resting place of the Jedediah Foster Family
Jedediah Foster Home. Built 1735. Burned Nov. 1901
Jedediah Foster's Stone is the second from the left. He died October 17, 1779 at the age of 53. The third stone from the left was used as the model for the new sign at the entrance to the Old Indian Cemetery on Cottage Street. The stone is his daughter Abigail's and one can still decipher the words and carvings on this old stone. The first stone on the left belongs to his wife Dorothy, the daughter of Brigadier General Joseph Dwight.
"Of all the men who lived in our Quaboag area, the one who had the most influence on the future of his country was Judge Jedediah Foster whose name is carried by Foster Hill in West Brookfield. For it was he who in 1779, wrote the first draft of the Constitution of the State of Massachusetts in his office at his home. This draft was copied by the Federal Convention in framing the Constitution of the United States."
Source: The above statement was published in an article in the Tri-Town Weekly of October 22, 1953.
The site of the Foster Homestead on Foster Hill became the property of the Quaboag Historical Society in 1902. It was given to the Society by Alfred D. Foster of Milton, Roger Foster of New York, N.Y., and Reginald Foster of Boston, who made the following conditions: "no building shall at any time be erected thereon and the same shall be forever kept open as a place of historic interest as the site of the Old Foster House, the home of Brigadier General Joseph Dwight, Jedediah Foster and Dwight Foster, citizens of Brookfield in Colonial and Revolutionary times". The Foster Home Site is waiting final approval for placing on the National Register of Historic Places.