Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources: Robert D. Foster, Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources (2025)
Robert D. Foster, Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources (2025)
Robert D. Foster
(1811–78)
Robert D. Foster was born in Braunston, Northamptonshire, England, in 1811. He married Sarah Phinney in Medina County, Ohio, in 1837. Foster was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sometime before October 1839, when he was ordained an elder in Commerce, Illinois, which was later renamed Nauvoo. From October 1839 to February 1840, he accompanied Joseph Smith and others to Washington, D.C., to seek redress for the Saints’ Missouri grievances. A January 1841 revelation instructed Foster to build a house for Joseph Smith and to buy stock for the building of the Nauvoo House (Doctrine and Covenants 124:115–117). In the spring of 1844, Foster was excommunicated. He then became one of the publishers of the antagonistic Nauvoo Expositor newspaper and was appointed an apostle in a new church founded by William Law. He actively worked against Joseph Smith until the prophet was martyred in June 1844.
References in the Doctrine and Covenants