A Life of Service: Remembering the Tombs Angel, a Heroine of the Gilded Age

F. About the Authors

John F. Werner, Esq. was the Chief Clerk and Executive Officer (1989-2019) of the Supreme Court, Civil Branch, New York County. Robert C. Meade, Jr., Esq. served as his deputy. A much-abbreviated version of this article appeared in Judicial Notice, the journal of the Historical Society of the New York State Courts (No. 16, 2021), and is posted on the Society’s website.[285]

Table of Contents

A. Introduction

B. The Life and Work of Rebecca Salome Foster

1. The Backgrounds of Rebecca and John A. Foster
2. New York City in the Late 19th Century
3. How Mrs. Foster’s Work Began
4. What Mrs. Foster Did for Prisoners, Their Families, the Courts, and Others
5. Mrs. Foster’s Work in Her Own Words
6. Funding the Work
7. Providing Legal Assistance
8. Traveling Throughout the City and Elsewhere
9. The Tombs and “Five Points”
10. How Mrs. Foster’s Work Came to an End

C. The Foster Memorial

D. What Happened to the Memorial

E. The Foster Family and a Home for the Marble Relief

F. About the Authors

G. Endnotes