Our history dates back to the 1800s. Our recorded beginnings started with Thornton and Annie Foster and Joe Thomas Wiley and Louvenia Rachel Wiley. The Fosters were Baptist and the Wileys were Methodist. Thornton Foster married Annie and they had nine children. Joe Thomas Wiley married Rachel and they had 13 children.
The Foster-Wiley family connection: Rachel Wiley married James Foster and Frank Wiley married Gertrude Foster. Sister and Brother marred Sister and Brother. According to history, reunions began in Hempstead, New York with the first one organized by John “Jay” Foster, Sr. 1980 was the beginning of the joint Foster-Wiley Family Reunions and were held in Philadelphia, PA. In 1981, it was decided that the combined reunions would be held every two years with family members serving as Hostess an Host in different cities and states.
The 2017 Reunion was held in Houston, Texas July 20-23.
The 2019 Reunion was held in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The 2021 Reunion was to be held in Metropolitan Washington, DC and hosted by Jerome “Duke” and Paige Haggins, Ronald and Eveline McLendon and Doris Lisa Thompson. to Due COVID-19, the reunion was postponed until July 21-24, 2022. Finally, the reunion was in fact held from July21-24, 2022.
Our goals are simple:
- To promote the Foster-Wiley Family structure.
- To ensure our family legacy by creating opportunities for family gatherings such as the Bi-annual family reunions.
- Along the way, we are bound and determined to plan and execute first class family reunions with pride and dignity.