ERNEST LE
NEVE FOSTER, superintendent of the Saratoga mine for the Saratoga
and Cyclops Gold and Silver Consolidated Mining Company, is ex-state geologist
and a man who thoroughly understands mining, having attended the best schools
of mines in England and Germany and had thirty years' experience.
He was born in London, England, the son of Peter Le Neve and Georgiana Elizabeth
(Chevallier) Le Neve Foster. His great-grandfather was named Peter Le Neve,
but in the next generation the name Foster was added, and since then the family
has been known as Le Neve Foster. The Le Neves are of Norman descent and trace
their ancestry back prior to the year 1400, at which time and for a long time
afterward they were owners of large estates in Norfolk. Peter Foster, the grandfather
of our subject, was born in Norfolk, and was a miller of that place, where his
son, Peter Le Neve Foster, was born. This son was a barrister by profession
but afterward became secretary of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts
and Sciences, in London, which position he filled for more than twenty-five
years. He died there when sixty-nine years of age. He married Georgiana Elizabeth
Chevallier, of Suffolk, England, whose father, Dr. Clement Chevallier, of French-Huguenot
extraction, was in his time eleventh wrangler of Cambridge University, a fellow
of his college, and was tutor to Wordsworth. She died in London, leaving ten
children, of whom nine are living.
The only member of this family residing in America is Ernest Le Neve Foster,
who reached manhood in London, having attended the private schools of that city,
and later the Royal School of Mines, of the same place, from which he graduated
in 1868. He then went to Freiburg, where he entered the King's and Emperor's
Mining Academy, where he took a special course during the year of 1868-69. Immediately
upon leaving this academy he went to Italy and was assistant in some gold mines
in the Alps for eighteen months. He returned to England at the end of that time
and stayed nine months, and in 1872 came to America as the superintendent of
the Snow Drift Silver Mining and Reduction Company, and located near Georgetown,
Clear Creek County. He continued there and also had charge of other mines in
Georgetown district, several of which he developed. He was manager of the Colorado
Central mine for five years, and developed mines in Summit County, near Rathbone.
The latter he is still interested in and operating. In 1893 he became superintendent
of the Saratoga mine, which is nine hundred feet deep and one of the heaviest
producers in this section.
He was married in Central City in 1875 to Miss Charlotte Teal, who was a native
of Manchester, England, a daughter of George Teal, of Boulder, this state, and
a sister of George W, Teal, an extensive mine owner of that city. They have
one child, Oscar Le Neve Foster, a graduate of Jarvis Hall, Denver, and a student
of Princeton, of the class of 1902. In 1893 our subject moved his family to
Denver, where they reside on LaFayette street. While in Georgetown he was county
commissioner for Clear Creek for six years, during which time he was chairman
of the board. He was also surveyor of the same county one term. In 1883 he was
appointed by Gov. J. B. Grant, as geologist for the state, serving one term.
He is a member of Denver Lodge No. 84, A. F. & A. M., Colorado Chapter No.
29, Denver Commandery No. 25 and Denver Consistory, A. & A. S. R.; also
the El Jebel Temple, N. M. S. He is a member of the Episcopal Church, and in
national politics he usually votes with the Republican party. He belongs to
the American Institute of Mining Engineers, and is second vice-president of
the Colorado Scientific Society, to which he has belonged since its organization.
He is a fellow of the Geological Society of London.
Extract taken from http://www.memoriallibrary.com/CO/1898DenverPB/pages/pbrd1018.htm