Ricardo Foster Marcial (Funchal, Madeira, Portugal; October 5, 1808 - Rosario, Santa Fe province, Argentina; December 5, 1865) was a Portuguese colonizer, businessman, landowner, surveyor and politician.

Founder of San Jeronimo Norte and meritorious in the founding of the city of Esperanza in the Province of Santa Fe, Argentina. [1]

Family

Ricardo Foster was the son of Ricardo Foster Clerisseau (1750-1811), English consul in the Portuguese region of Funchal, and Ana Eufrosina Marcial (c. 1756-?), Portuguese of French descent who in turn was the daughter of Ana Joaquina Clerisseau, who possessed some noble titles and he had fled from Paris to Funchal escaping from the sans-culottes. [2]

Ricardo Foster's parents were married on September 28, 1806 in Madeira, Portugal and together they had 2 children: Ricardo Foster (1808-1865) and Ana Foster (1807-?).

It should be noted that his father Ricardo Foster (1750-1811) secretly married Teresa Margarida Flora (1757-c.1806) about 4 years earlier, on October 31, 1802, in São Vicente, Madeira, Portugal but they had no children.

After the death of his wife in 1805, he married Ricardo's mother, Ana Eufrosina Marcial (c. 1782-?) on September 28, 1806.

In turn, Ricardo Foster's mother, Ana Eufrosina Marcial (c.1782-?) remarried after the death of her husband with Francisco Joao Moniz, on August 27, 1812 in Funchal, Madeira, and together they had 3 children: João Cyrillo Moniz (1819-1871), Ana Casemira Moniz (c.1824-1890) and José Ricardo Moniz.

Ricardo Foster (1808-1865) married in Lisbon with Ana Amalia Kagel (c.1819-?), Portuguese of German descent, around 1830 and together they had 3 children: Isabel Foster (1835-1932), Ana Adelina Foster (c.1840-?) and Enrique Foster (1842-1916).

For many years they lived in Madeira but as a consequence of the Liberal Wars (1828-1834), also known as the Portuguese Civil War, they emigrated to Rio de Janeiro where their three children were born. Later, due to the yellow fever epidemic (1849), the family moved to the Eastern Republic of Uruguay, where they stayed for a while but then settled in the Argentine Republic, precisely in the province of Santa Fe, formerly Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz.

One of the sons, Enrique Foster (1842-1916) had a natural child with Isabel Llames (1845-?), daughter of the Spanish attorney José Manuel Llames y Roldán (c.1815-?) and great-great-granddaughter of Melchor Maciel del Aguila (1583-1633), a rich landowner and merchant of Portuguese origin who during the dynastic union of his country with the Spanish crown was one of the first settlers of Buenos Aires. However, Enrique Foster (1842-1916) later married Adelaida Ponsati Vidal (1847-1916) and was a colonizer and surveyor, founder of Monte Oscuridad and co-founder of the city of Resistencia, Province of Chaco, Argentina.

Isabel Foster (1835-1932) married Máximo Fernando de Elía Álzaga (1811-1865), a landowner of a prominent family and cousin of Justo José de Urquiza (1801-1870), the first president of the Argentine Confederation from 1854 to 1860.

Ana Adelina Foster (c.1840-?) was single, or at least retained that status in 1888, the year in which the succession trial of her father Ricardo Foster (1808-1865) began in the province of Santa Fe, when she he was almost 50 years old.

As for Ana Amalia Kagel's father, he was João Henrique Kagel, a German merchant from Hamburg who had two children in Portugal, one of them Ana Amalia. Then he settled in Rio de Janeiro where he was a translator of many languages ​​and an intermediary for the German community and the Emperor of Brazil, Pedro I of Brazil and IV of Portugal (1798-1834).

On November 18, 1846, he arrived in the Brazilian municipality of Santa Helena in charge of Henry Alexander Dewar, gunner of the Kingfisher sailboat.

João Henrique Kagel was a sworn translator and interpreter for the Empire of Brazil, according to an account of the consul of the United States, Mr. Gorham Parks (1794-1877), written in Portuguese. By 1859, he was translating French, Portuguese, English, Spanish, German, and Dutch.

To understand how to locate the family nucleus of Ricardo Foster (1808-1865) with more certainty, rescuing their daily relationship, perhaps these data may be of interest: on July 26, 1860, Foster donated to Juana and Agueda Santuchos and Carolina Foster (c.1846-1884) a farm for them to live in, and rescued them as captives of the natives, educated and cared for them like his daughters.

Carolina Foster (c.1846-1884) married Clodomiro Balquín Sarmiento on June 4, 1886 and together they had 2 children: Ricarda Foster (1864-1887), who died at 22 years of Tisis and Pedro Ángel Foster (1883-1884) who died with almost 15 months of life of whooping cough in the Province of Santa Fe, Argentina.

Another document shows Ricardo Foster caring for two minors, children of a wasteful father.

It's an agreement with João Henrique Kagel on June 1, 1861, in which he intervenes on behalf of his son-in-law Máximo Fernando de Elía Álzaga (1811-1865). Said agreement stipulates that Foster, for Elía, will pay $ 3,555 in debts contracted by Kagel, on the condition that he renounces the properties he owned in the Colastiné establishment and whose rights belonged to the children of the aforementioned Kagel.

It was agreed that the parents were obliged to properly manage their interests and that the administration was subject to the inspection of Ricardo Foster (1808-1865), in whose field on the other side of the Salado River they could establish themselves and take there everything necessary for their subsistence, and that of minors, until they reach the necessary age to be administered directly.

It should be noted that the Foster family was definitively rooted in the Argentine Republic, where their descendants are currently found, especially in Buenos Aires and the Province of Santa Fe.

Biography

Ricardo Foster was born on October 5, 1808 on the Portuguese island of Madera, in Funchal, the center of it's capital city, and obtained British citizenship as his father was the consul of the United Kingdom. This island, which is the largest of an archipelago, is located about 870 kilometers southwest of Portugal, in the Atlantic Ocean and since before the discovery of America it was an obligatory stopover for sailors who dared to venture into the Atlantic Ocean.

It was discovered in the early 1420s. Some historians affirm that the father-in-law of the navigator Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) lived on this island, called Bartolomeu Perestrelo (1400-1457), at the time the owner of a supply store for sailors , and who presented his illustrious son-in-law to undertake the gigantic journey, since his permanent contact with the navigators made him inform of the existence of "other Indies".

According to traditions, Columbus himself lived for a time in Madeira.

Although Ricardo Foster also studied in England, the land of his parents, he later married Ana Amalia Kagel (c.1819-?) in Lisbon. The marriage settled in Funchal, although they emigrated quickly to Rio de Janeiro, due to the Liberal Wars (1828-1834), also known as the Portuguese Civil War.

Not satisfied with the endemic diseases of the time in the region, such as yellow fever, they settled first in Montevideo, then in the province of Corrientes, places where Foster owned real estate, to settle around 1848 in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina.

The English origin of his surname does not require further explanation and in Madeira many English people settled taking advantage of the historic alliance between the British and the Portuguese.

In the documents that have him as a protagonist in that Argentine province, there are wording twists that denote both his Portuguese culture and his English culture. However, he did not stop taking advantage of the benefit of living in that region at that time.

Thus, in a document dated 1861, in which he claims compensation for the damage suffered in his rural establishment by the troops of the National Army under the command of Juan Pablo López (1792-1886), Foster appears before a judge and declares to be "British subject, landowner and rancher".

It should be noted that Ricardo Foster (1808-1865) was a member of the Colonization Commission, a member of the Consulate Court and president of the Club del Orden, in the Province of Santa Fe, Argentina. [3]

In 1852, in partnership with Ángel de Arrarte, it acquired a vast extension of land belonging to the San Antonio chaplaincy, located north of Santo Tomé on the western fringe of the Salado River. In 1854 he bought the land from his partner. Realizing the revaluation of the land in Santa Fe, he acquired two ranches, and over time, he bought more land with livestock as the main activity.

Some time later he was Justice of the Peace and Deputy in the Province of Santa Fe, although the date is unknown. [4]

He was president of the Club del Orden from March 2, 1856 to August 27, 1857, where he actively participated.

In 1856 he was appointed by the government of the province of Buenos Aires, president of the commission that would guarantee the fulfillment of the colonization contract of the city of Esperanza in the province of Santa Fe. [5]

He was tasked with pinpointing the lands where colonization would take place; prepare and have the houses built in which the settlers would stay, receive them with their families upon arrival in the respective province, transfer them to the colony after crossing the fords of the Salado River, defending them from possible attacks by the natives, and then monitor during the first years the fulfillment of the conditions and obligations of the colonization contracts.

In those times, this is how the Justice of the Peace of the city of Esperanza spoke about Ricardo Foster (1808-1865): [6]

"The undersigned is aware that, being Ricardo Foster, president of the colonization commission, he has rendered in the formation of this colony and even later, notable services that highly recommend him to the considerations of His Excellency, and that also the colonists they have received and continue to receive from her, valuable aid of various kinds, finding in the field an establishment that has in the vicinity, great facilities to provide domesticated animals".

Some time later, it acquired the Las Tunas field, which stretched from the north of it's fields in Paso Santo Tomé, to El Sauce. Las Tunas and San Jerónimo Norte are there today.

In 1859 he had these lands delineated and there it was the first colony in Argentina to settle on privately owned lands, since the previous ones had been on ceded public lands. In fact, the San Jerónimo Norte land was founded on land donated to the inhabitants, without pursuing any lucrative purpose, as had happened in the previous ones mentioned. [7]

In 1862 he bought the Caja Forense de Santa Fe house from Fortunata Morcillo de Echagüe, which was later inherited by his wife and children. [8]

Meeting with Bernardino Rivadavia in 1842

An unexpected eventuality provided details about Ricardo Foster's (1808-1865) visit to Bernardino Rivadavia's (1780-1845) estate in Botafogo. Sometimes historical clues appear in the most unexpected places.

At the end of 1840, General Juan Lavalle (1797-1841) in war against Juan Manuel Rosas (1793-1877) invaded the province of Santa Fe in the Argentine Republic. Finally, defeated by federal forces, he died in 1841 in San Salvador de Jujuy. Among the officers of his army was Brigadier General Tomás de Iriarte (1794-1876), who later wrote his extensive Memoirs. Accompanying Juan Lavalle, Iriarte finally went to Chile and from there he emigrated to Rio de Janeiro where he arrived in 1842.

In Rio, he related to exiled emigrants who opposed Juan Manuel de Rosas, among them the first president of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, Bernardino Rivadavia (1780-1845), whom he visited at his residence in Botafogo with the Portuguese colonizer Ricardo Foster (1808-1865).

Writes: "On the 12th (Sunday) I visited Mr. Bernardino Rivadavia, who has his residence in Botafogo on a well-cultivated farm that serves as great recreation, Mr. Margariños provided me with his carriage and I was accompanied by Dr. Varela, his brother Toribio and the Portuguese merchant Ricardo Foster. I will say in passing that this excellent colleague for whom I brought a letter of introduction from Valparaíso, made so many requests for me to stay at his house that, out of a duty of care and courtesy, I was forced to accept; and I have not had reason to regret it, because the treatment and the frankness and its kind and young companion have enchanted me." (Memorias Del General Iriarte, Volume II - Page 330).

And later: "The third day we did a water tour with Mr. Foster, to Playa de Barreto, north of Playa Grande." (Memorias del General Iriarte, Volume II - Page 342).

And finally, ready to embark for Montevideo, Iriarte says: "On the eighth day after noon I was on board with my little luggage: I returned to land and said goodbye to my esteemed superiors, Mr. Ricardo Foster and his wife, Mrs. Ana, who by their attentions and delicacies have made my stay in Rio de Janeiro more bearable: I will never forget the kindness this interesting family has had for me."

"At eight o'clock at night Mr. Foster and Mr. Ceijas accompanied me to the Largo do Passo pier, and after saying goodbye with the most sincere demonstrations of friendship, I boarded a boat." (Memorias del General Iriarte, Volume II - Page 342).

Returning to the invasion of Juan Lavalle (1797-1841) to the Province of Santa Fe, he and his diminished army, from November 24 to 25, 1840, in the direction of Córdoba, passed through the north of what 18 years later would be the city of San Jerónimo and El Sauce, an obligatory road to Córdoba.

Lavalle says in a military report "... On the afternoon of the 24th (the army) marched in the direction of El Sauce .. on the twenty-fifth, upon reaching the Willow, a body of a thousand cavalry men appeared and left a moment later." (Memorias del General Iriarte, Volume II - Page 166)

Tomás de Iriarte (1794-1876), who marched alongside Juan Lavalle (1797-1841), would not imagine that his companion in Rio de Janeiro would found a city in the places where he had traveled in times of his hectic life of participation in the civil wars of Juan Manuel de Rosas (1793-1877).

Performance

From an economic point of view, Ricardo Foster (1808-1865) quickly became an influential landowner in the region. He will have taken advantage of the little value that the land had in those times to acquire it in considerable quantity.

On February 23, 1855, a Commercial Court was created in the capital and its jurisdiction. It was a court of legal justice, of equity, made up of members who were not lawyers at a time when lawyers were scarce, and it was made up of a prior, two consuls, a trustee, and their respective lieutenants or secretaries.

They were chosen from among those who made up the so-called "Guild of Merchants and Owners of the departments of La Capital, San Jerónimo and San José".

On May 27 of that year, at the Club del Orden, the union meets according to the summons of the government and to elect it's authorities.

In the election, in which Caracciolo de Larrechea (1815-?), Miguel Rouvier, Javier Latorre, Tomás Puig, Triburcio Aldao (1816-1871), Domingo Cullen (1791-?), Bartolomé Moreno, Ignacio Crespo (1831-1929), Domingo Crespo (1791-1871) participated, almost unanimously Ricardo Foster (1808-1865) was elected prior of the Tribunal, who by means of a note accepts the position and thanks:

".. I promise to add to my desire to be useful in the country where I reside all my efforts to fill the void left by my little knowledge .."

Ricardo Foster was a member of the newly created Club del Orden de Santa Fe, and for a period served as president. He was elected on March 2, 1856, integrating the directive commission with José de la Quintana (1810-1881), Pedro Galisteo, Juan Manuel Zavalla (1828-1906), Álvaro José de Alzogaray (1809-1879), Jonás Larguía (1832 -1891), among others.

The Club del Orden, recently founded, brought together people full of concerns about the new times that were approaching, and the statute gives an idea of ​​the mobility and permanent renewal of it's promoters, which prescribes a mandate for each quarterly renewal steering committee.

His desire for progress shows Ricardo Foster interested in the construction of a bridge over the Salado River, which would link San Jerónimo Norte with Santo Tomé, so as not to hinder navigation. Having interests on the western bank of the river, he would have experienced the inconvenience and difficulties that his passage brought. But the work would also be significant for common progress.

To this end, on September 13, 1856, it addressed the Minister of Government Juan Francisco Seguí (1822-1863), stating that its construction would be of enormous utility for commerce, the treasury and other branches of public administration.

As a businessman, he offers to build it within two years and for this he proposes the formation of a capital of $ 35,000.- to integrate with resident shareholders, most of them in the Province, issuing shares of $ 100 pesos each.

As compensation and considering that he would have to make additional disbursements that would not be included in the aforementioned budget, he asks the Government to grant him the property "... 8 square leagues to the north of this city and on the coast of the Paraná River, or in it's arms, for a cattle and sheep farm; and ten square leagues in the vicinity of the bridge and on this side of the Salado River on publicly owned land".

In the note, written in his hand, he also says that despite the difficulties, he wishes to see this city progress, "... that I chose to live".

How would the investment be recovered and where would the profits come from? Request that a toll be collected for a period of twenty years.

It accompanies a technical report where it's indicated that the bridge would be built in the place called "The Santo Tomé oratory, it's stakes would be made of strong wood and stone pillars, also detailing measurements and other technical characteristics."

He affirms that he accompanies a work plan, a plan that unfortunately is not among the documentation in the file. It's unknown what happened to this proposal by Ricardo Foster because in the administrative process there is no other procedure than the government's response.

But on the subject, the English traveler Tomás Hutchinson in his work "Description of various Argentine provinces", when speaking of Santa Fe says: "... on it's western side is the Salado river lagoon, near which the river empties into the Paraná river. Sometimes it's just a swamp, and often almost dry: when I saw it in December 1862 it was a large sheet of water. Between these two lagoons is the road to the colonies of Esperanza, San Jerónimo, San Carlos and San Pedro, and passing a bridge that crosses the Salado, and which was built by Messrs. Foster and company".

In 1856, there is a road that goes from Coronda to Rosario, and it's built of wood, with a raised portcullis to allow boats to go up and down. It's thirty meters long and twenty-four wide, the passage of the porthole is thirty-five feet wide, enough for any steam that can be used in the navigation of the Salado.

During the stay in Santa Fe, it was said that this bridge was completely under water, and that the horses had to swim part of the way, even when crossing it. Far from this being true, the entire bridge is more than two meters from the water, and Gregorio Lisiño, who collects the toll, said that it was learned that it had not been flooded in three years.

In consideration of his condition as owner, on September 7, 1857, the Government appoints him to integrate a commission of the department of La Capital whose task would be "the regulation of capital, real estate and livestock, and the collection of the rate that each one corresponds to him, "that is, in charge of setting appraisals and property and tax rates. However, not all of it's functions should be financially related.

By decree of Governor Juan Pablo López (1792-1886), on December 16, 1857, he was appointed a member of a commission that will receive subscriptions to erect a monument to Brigadier General Estanislao López (1786-1838).

Finally, the last actions of Ricardo Foster in the public function in the province of Santa Fe, consist of his performance as Justice of the Peace of the capital city, as of January 5, 1859 and in a commission commissioned by the Chief of Police , Carlos B. Seguí, who had to study the formation of a body of watchmen.

Ricardo Foster & it's importance in the History of the Province of Santa Fe, Argentina

The great colonizing movement began in the Argentine Republic with the establishment of the Esperanza colony in 1855 and 1856, the second and immediate agricultural colony in the center of the Santa Fe Province was San Jerónimo, erected between September 1857 and August 1858, the time when the first five Swiss families arrived.

Much has been written about the origin and other vicissitudes and tribulations of Esperanza and about it's promoter, the businessman Aarón Castellanos (1799-1880), who must be recognized for his arduous propaganda efforts in Europe to get immigrants. But we understand that justice has not yet been done to the prominent colonizer, Ricardo Foster (1808-1865), who acted in this first stage of colonization in Santa Fe, Esperanza and San Jerónimo, for a period of about ten years, and until his early death.

Ricardo Foster was an advanced precursor, in a time that is located around thirty-five years before the famous decade of the 80', and his seated generation, paradigms of the beginning of modern Argentina.

It has had to act at the end of the pastoral society prior to the Battle of Caseros (1852), with it's inveterate customs still in force, although already in rapid transformation towards the new economic and political systems that were expected in the country of emerging liberal capitalism.

The government of the province where he lived and worked, was still attached to the previous forms, we would almost say to the colonial society and therefore lacked the adequate administrative structure to face the new conditions. In such a way, he had to resort to continuous improvisations with all the errors inherent in the new situation, which did not prevent the rulers of the time from realizing the three or four clear and different ideas they had about the stage that began in Argentina.

Partnership between Ricardo Foster & Máximo Fernando de Elía Álzaga

Ricardo Foster achieved good friendships and a vertiginous social and economic rise, joining the Club del Orden along with other prestigious personalities such as Juan Francisco Seguí (1822-1863), at that time vice president of the Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Confederation. [9]

He was appointed superior of the Commercial Court, vice president and later president of the Club del Orden, president of the Special Commission for the preparations of the Esperanza colony, in the province of Santa Fe, and numerous other public positions.

In reference to Máximo Fernando de Elía Álzaga (1811-1865), he was born in Buenos Aires in 1811 into an outstanding family, his parents being Ángel Mariano Roque de Elía García de Zúñiga (1771-?), an outstanding jurist who was a member of the Assembly of the Year XIII, and María Isabel Eugenia de Álzaga Cabrera (1786-1858), one of the most powerful landowners on the coast of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay.

With Ricardo Foster he maintained a commercial partnership until September 28, 1863, when they dissolved it and proceeded to distribute the numerous common properties, including the field called "Tunas" where the San Jerónimo colony was installed, and which has remained since then for Elía Álzaga.

A few months earlier, on January 7, 1863, Máximo had married Isabel Foster (1835-1932), daughter of Ricardo Foster, and died two years later, on June 24, 1865 at the age of 54.

It's not easy to track the purchases and sales of public land made by these partners, as many of these operations were carried out through third parties. However, in the short period between February and September 1857, Máximo Fernando de Elía Álzaga and Ricardo Foster completed the acquisition from the Government of Santa Fe of at least seven fiscal fields with an area of ​​more than eighty leagues of public land (about 216,000 hectares), including the aforementioned Las Tunas field in the Province of Santa Fe. [10]

Memories of a Landowner

We have already pointed out that Ricardo Foster with his family had settled in Montevideo and Corrientes, places where he acquired land. But he was also a proprietor in Misiones and Buenos Aires, although already in 1858 he had begun to dispose of these assets, either because he wanted to make Santa Fe the center of his interests, or because from a distance it was practically impossible to serve them.

On September 25, 1858, Foster, "a native of the island of Madera", ratified in Santa Fe a deed granted in Buenos Aires by his attorney, partner and son-in-law Máximo de Elía Alzaga (1811-1865). According to the document, he sells to Juan and Nicolás Anchorena (1785-1856) a field called "Quiñones", located in the department of San Jerónimo, suitable for grazing and five leagues in front by three leagues deep.

In the Province of Santa Fe, its main field establishment was located in Santo Tomé and was part of the old farm of the Jesuits. This property was acquired in partnership with Ángel de Arrarte who, in turn, had acquired it in 1852 from the priest José María Gelabert y Crespo (1820-1897), bishop of Paraná whose jurisdiction included Santa Fe, and by dissolution of this society, it was left to Ricardo Foster (1808-1865) who was expanding it through successive purchases made to small neighboring landowners.

After the Jesuits, most of the field had been acquired by Francisco Socano Frutos in 1772 and by Gabriel de Lassaga (1726-1791) in 1774, from the Board of Temporalities, in charge of the liquidation of the property of the expelled. The land had an area of ​​about two square leagues and its southeast end was at the confluence of the El Vado stream with the Salado river.

On February 12, 1857, Ricardo Foster denounced the acquisition of a fiscal land on the San Javier River for $ 600, a proposal that was accepted by the Province. It had three leagues in front by six in depth according to the note presenting the complaint and the Province delivered it as part of the payment of the greater amount that it owed.

This land then passed to his son-in-law and partner Máximo de Elia and surely there were later acquisitions that increased its extension, since when it was judicially completed in Elía's probate in 1869, it was designated with an area of ​​47 square leagues.

On July 3, 1857 he also denounced the acquisition of a fiscal land in the western fringe of Salado, northwest of Santa Fe, known as "Las Prusianas" and "Cañada de las Palomas", located outside the cantons or military detachments that in that time must have been "El Sauce" or that of "Capitán Reyes or Iriondo".

It formed a square four leagues on a side and for its price of $ 800 it is also discounting "... said sum of the amounts that the petitioner is creditor for the great losses that he had just suffered in the cattle that recently introduced into the province ..." Elía also passed through this field but this was finished in succession next to the field located on the San Javier river.

It was measured in August 1865 and with it's 16 square leagues it would cover part of the current districts of Santa María, Humboldt and Pilar.

On September 17, 1857, Ricardo Foster acquired a fiscal field located to the west of his establishment in Santo Tomé, a road at the western end of which the concessions destined for the city of San Jerónimo would be measured. He bought it for $ 400 and had two leagues on a side. In part of this field, the Las Tunas colony was also established, which takes it's name from this field, since one of it's promoters, Tomás Cullen, on July 13, 1865, acquired it judicially from the testamentary of the late Máximo de Elía Alzaga (1811- 1865).

Let us conclude that Ricardo Foster, as a landowner, was a supplier of livestock for the military detachments of the Northern Border of Argentina and on November 30, 1858 the National Government for the moment could not meet his payment, which to date constituted the sum of $ 1,355. And in a document dated September 1864, reference is made to a deviation to the order of Ricardo Foster (1808-1865), of July 12, 1861 and for $ 200, value of the meat provided for the watchmen and the music of the colony, money that was paid to his son Enrique Foster (1842-1916), on December 26, 1866, at the age of 24 and when his father had already died.

Properties acquired between February & September 1857

Field over the San Javier River

On February 11, 1857, Colonel Rosendo María Fraga, lending his name to Máximo Fernando de Elía Álzaga, as will be seen below, asked the Government to sell him a 4-hectare fiscal land in front of the San Javier River and funds to Saladillo.
He justified his request in which he wished to "... form an establishment for the rearing of cattle in the northern campaign of this city, on the coast of the river called San Javier, and find vacant lands on the coast of Paraná that at that height It has the denomination indicated on that arm of him, which has its front to the Islería that forms the aforementioned arm and the main crossing of the river; composed of four leagues to the north of the Isleta where it had chacras, years ago, the individual Ramón Isidro Rojas, having to complete four leagues to the North with their funds to the Saladillo. "He proposed to buy it at an equitable value, which was set by the Government of Juan Pablo López at 200 pesos for each of the four leagues of his front, that is 800 pesos [8], ordering the deed in the name of Rosendo María Fraga.Years later, and already dissolved the Society of Foster and Elía, the testamentary of the latter revalidates the title of said field, "... bought by Rosendo María Fraga as agent of Máximo Fernando de Elía Álzaga". [11]

Field over the San Javier River

The next day, on February 12, 1857, Ricardo Foster appeared before the Government asking that a neighboring fiscal land be sold to the one recently denounced by Rosendo María Fraga, "... taking into account, as soon as possible to form an establishment of breeding of cattle in the campaign to the North of the City ". This publicly owned land had 18 square leagues (an extension of 48,600 hectares) "... on the coast of the Paraná River, which is titled Rio de San Javier, in front of the Isleria that forms said River, giving this three leagues from the front, starting these from the Isleta in the mainland where Ramón Isidro Rojas had farms years ago, towards the South until completing these three leagues, with six in the background to the West, bordering the North with lands that he bought from the Government of the Colonel D. Rosendo María Fraga."He offered 600 pesos (as offered by Fraga, 200 pesos for each front league), and requested that they be deducted from the amount owed by the Provincial Treasury. [12]When the Treasury Collector was consulted, it turned out that Foster was a creditor of the Public Treasury at 3,282 pesos for his performance as Chairman of the Special Commission for the Esperanza Colony, and 1,187 as a private creditor, both of which amount to 4,870 pesos.

After receiving said report, Juan Pablo López approved the sale under the requested conditions.When the Society of Foster and Elía dissolved in September 1863, the 18 leagues of that field were left for the latter. [13]

Field over the San Javier River

On April 21, 1857 Ricardo Foster, mentioning in his note that he was acting as the representative of Máximo Fernando de Elía Álzaga, requested to purchase a fiscal land of 3 leagues from the front by 4 in the background, boundary to the north with the lands acquired by him two months ago.

Omitting that on February 11, Fraga had already acquired land for Elía himself, he expressed that "... having its [Elía's] power in view of establishing in this Province a cattle and sheep farm establishment, and not having a field in it (sic) ", he denounced a land" ... on the coast of the Paraná River, which they title Río de San Javier in front of the Islería that forms said River, bordering on the part of the North with land of which [Foster], South and West with publicly owned land, giving said land a front of three leagues and four in the background, for which I offer the Government the sum of six hundred pesos ", that is again 200 pesos for each front leg, offer accepted Governor Juan Pablo López. [14]

Quiñones Field 

On June 5, 1857 Ángel de Arrarte, on behalf of Ricardo Foster and "... intending to establish in this Province an establishment of cattle and sheep, and not having in it field (sic), and being the Government authorized to sell those of public property, I denounce an area of ​​four leagues in front and many others in the background, either in the Corralitos gorge, or to the west of the lands that remain on the Salted gorge in the Department of San Jerónimo; land being very outside and very exposed and without the quality of the land that is on the coast, I offer the area to the Government the amount of eight hundred pesos ", as in the previous purchases, 200 pesos for each front league.

The Government approved the sale of this land called Quiñones, with the condition that in the following twelve months it would be populated with hacienda.
When paying the 800 pesos, Angel of Arrate clarified that "... it is not more than the representative of the mentioned Foster", in the name of who later extended the writing. [15]Shortly thereafter in September 1859, Máximo Fernando de Elía Álzaga and Ricardo Foster sold in Buenos Aires the "Quiñones" field purchased from the Treasury for eight hundred pesos ($ 800), in the sum of fourteen thousand forty-nine pesos ($ 14,049) at Mr. Juan and Mariano Nicolás de Anchorena (300,000 pesos of current paper money of Buenos Aires, at the change of 21.45 pesos) obtaining with this real estate operation 1,600% of the capital invested (14,049 - 800 = 13,400 pesos), perhaps the real estate operation most important in the history of the Province of Santa Fe. [16]

Field of the Prussians and Cañada de las Palomas 

On July 3, 1857 Ricardo Foster appeared before the Government saying "That being established in this Province with an establishment of cattle and horse grazing in the Western Band of the Rio Salado the nature of the field does not favor the promotion of the breeding of Lanar cattle, and since the supplicant has the best proportions (sic) of introducing to the Province that quality of cattle of the best breed, he begs VE to sell him one of the realengos fields that can fill his object, and to the effect considering good one that is outside cantons to the Northwest of this City, to the western part of the Salado River, known by Las Pursianas (sic) and Cañada de las Palomas, make the same formal complaint."

He requested 4 leagues from the East for another 4 leagues from the West, and following the behavior of offering 200 pesos for each front leg, he offered for those 32,400 hectares the amount of 800 pesos, again "... asking V. E. for the grace to deduct the sum of the amounts that the supplicant is entitled to the Treasury of the Province in view of the great losses he has just suffered in the cattle that he has just introduced to the Province."
The Government accepts its offer, the buyer being obliged to populate it in 12 months with a grazing farm. [17]
In 1863, Ricardo Foster also transferred that property to his partner Máximo Fernando de Elía Álzaga. [18]

Colastiné Field 

On July 23, 1857 Ricardo Foster stating that he wished "... to form a pastoral establishment in the fields of this Province, and finding himself as a wasteland in the place called Colastiné, composed of two leagues in front and four in the background", he requested the Government to sell said publicly owned land. [19]

Two years later, on September 27, 1859, Mr. Foster paid the sum of 1,200 pesos for the 8 leagues of the Colastiné at the General Treasury Collection.

On October 24, 1867, the testamentary of Máximo Fernando de Elía Álzaga revalidated the titles of this property assigned to him on September 23, 1863 by dissolution of the Company between Foster and Elía. [20]

Unnamed field 

In 1857, Rosendo María Fraga denounced a fiscal field in the San Jerónimo Department of 5,800 rods in front of 24,000 deep (about 20,000 hectares), bordering the north with the heirs of Brigadier Estanislao López, to the east with land from the coast, and to the south and west with more fiscal land.On April 27, 1860, being Governor Rosendo María Fraga ordered the measurement and deed in his name, although those lands had previously been sold to Tte. Colonel Juan Basualdo. [21]

On October 24, 1867, the heir of De Elía presented the corresponding titles before the Topographic Department demonstrating that by an arrangement made on October 20, 1863, Rosendo María Fraga had transmitted the property to her father Máximo de Elía. [22]
Years later, the same Topographic Department reported that "... after being recognized as the sole and universal heir, Dr. Nicanor Zenón Carlos de Elía by declaration of heirs dated November 22, 1883, of the Judge of the City of Buenos Aires, Dr. Miguel Fernández, and having verified this heir that said land did not exist because the Government had sold it to Mr. José Basualdo, Dr. Elía presented himself to the Government asking for the corresponding compensation, and after his rights were recognized he transferred them to Dr. José L. Tuells by deed of December 16, 1896 before the notary of Rosario Ricardo Rivarola ". [23]

The report continued by saying "On December 22, 1896, the Government paid Dr. Tuells for the amount of land that was missing, the sum of 470,000 pesos, of which 400,000 in consolidated debt securities, and 70,000 in three-letter bills, six, nine and twelve months term." [24]

Las Tunas Field 

On September 17, 1857 Ricardo Foster acquired 4 leagues of public property located at the bottom of his field on the other side of the Salado river. [27] Once this new purchase request is made, it offers the measure of 50 concessions to assign them to spontaneous settlers, in what was later called San Jerónimo.

The purchase price was the same as in previous transactions, 200 pesos per league in front. [28]

Foundation of San Jeronimo Norte

In the formal sense, the founding of this city is due to the activity of a commission and, consequently, to the government of the province itself.

The Spontaneous Immigrants Commission, which dealt with it, was created in July 1857 during the government of General Juan Pablo López (1792-1886) and was made up of Álvaro José de Alzogaray (1809-1879), Luis Parma and Ricardo Foster (1808-1865), who was appointed president.

It's purpose was, and it's name indicates it, to achieve locations for the settlers who went to acquaintances and relatives.

Here, then, San Jerónimo was born or, in a certain sense, is the result of the expansion of Esperanza itself, revealing one of the fallacies of this colony: the lack of land.

The government prevented the legal bases for the operation of the Spontaneous Immigrants Commission through the promulgation, on August 2, 1857, of the Land Donation Law, which authorized the Executive Branch to donate land to the families of spontaneous settlers in concessions that they should not exceed twenty blocks "... without demanding compensation of any kind", a law that was later extended to citizens of Argentina and especially to newcomers to the Province of Santa Fe.

The performance of Ricardo Foster (1808-1865) as president of the Commission is of interest, given the pressing problem of the arrival of spontaneous settlers. On September 5, 1857, the Government proposed, in a private capacity, to buy him a public land located in the vicinity of the indigenous stronghold of San Jerónimo del Sauce, for $ 400 and from this land, at it's western end, to donate fifty concessions to the treasury to install settlers. The project prospered and was accepted.

Before the notification of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Juan María Gutiérrez (1809-1878), that Juan José Vanderest would send 200 immigrants to Rosario from the Port of Dunkerque free of any commitment to colonizing companies, who would leave Europe at the beginning of March 1856, [29] the provincial government appointed a commission in Rosario to receive them, welcome them and get them prompt placement and work. [30]

Vanderest, as consul of the Argentine Confederation in Dunkirk, continued to send spontaneous immigrants, such as the 150 young people who arrived in Paraná in August 1856, who were quickly employed as artisans or for agricultural tasks. [31]

The Beck and Herzog society, known as Carlos Beck Bernard (1819-1900) and Aquiles Herzog, had also brought immigrant families, some of which were able to settle in the city of Esperanza in the province of Santa Fe, when the Government granted them concessions 5 and 6, [32] which generated an energetic protest from the administrators of said colony.

On July 28, 1857, "... when the immigration of European peasant families began to flow towards the territory of the Province, and the Government hoped that they would find all the facilities for their early establishment and the suitable lands for the exercise of their industry" Juan Pablo López (1792-1886) appointed an Immigration Commission in the capital to receive and locate European agricultural families who spontaneously arrived in the province. [33]

The Immigration Commission was chaired by Álvaro José de Alzogaray (1809-1879), accompanied by Ricardo Foster (1808-1865) and Luis Parma, whose function would consist of electing "... the lands of the State that are most apparent for agriculture and that have the other essential qualities for the establishment of agricultural colonies of spontaneous immigrants."

In it's session on August 11, the Legislative Assembly sanctioned that "the Executive Power is authorized to donate land to spontaneous immigrant families, in concessions that do not exceed twenty square blocks, without demanding compensation of any kind." [34]

In compliance with the decree of July 28, on August 24 with the signature of its president Álvaro José de Alzogaray (1809-1879), and that of Luis Parma and Ricardo Foster (1808-1865), the Immigration Commission informed the Government that "... after having acquired the necessary knowledge to investigate the most apparent place to welcome the first families that are already in it, and those that continue to arrive from Europe, today he is able to establish the most immediate place to this colony where there are enough publicly owned land and today completely unoccupied: This terrain is the one that is shown to the north of this city, at the end of the privately owned farms and which is limited to the East by the road to Ascochingas, to the West by the road to Duarte, and to the North by the road to Aguiar.

But for the commission to proceed as soon as possible to place in said lands the families that are in it, in number of seven, and those that come from now on, it is essential that the Higher Government order the measurement of the aforementioned plot measuring the outer perimeter of the same and subdividing the entire land into sections of twenty square blocks composing said subdivisions in a different way to be able to give possession to immigrant families, immediately, to be able to fulfill the beneficial purposes of the government without delay, also filling the commission that subscribes such a grateful duty.

The commission also believes it appropriate on this occasion to respectfully indicate to the Higher Government that it considers it very convenient that a group of fifty families be placed in the indicated place, and that the next group, also of fifty families, be placed in the colony of El Sauce and another in San Pedro." [35]

Three days later they were answered that "... the government accepts the indications of the Immigration Commission, and authorizes it to carry out the measurement and demarcation of the chosen lands, the government being responsible for the fees of the Public Surveyor who takes charge of said operation." [36]

Thus, on August 27, 1857, the founding of the colony that would later be called San Jerónimo Norte was officially approved. [37]

Possibly to avoid complaints from peasants for not receiving the same treatment as European settlers, on August 28 the Legislature passed another law where "... the grace granted to the families of spontaneous immigrants in the law of the 11 of the current one, will be extended to all Argentines, and especially to the children of this province." [38]

Measurement of the Las Tunas field

On September 19, 1857, Minister Carlos Seguí informed the Commissioner of the 2nd District, 2nd Section, Manuel Godoy, that "In order to comply with the superior decree of the Government of September 17, by which four leagues of field have been sold to Ricardo Foster demarcated in the request that he will have in view, it's necessary to appear to witness the orderly measurement, that the public surveyor Eduardo Saint Remy will practice, after the citation of the corresponding limits, reporting compliance in a timely manner." [39]

On September 22 the surveyor Saint Remy "... authorized by superior order on the 20th of the same month to measure and delimit a patriotic land that Ricardo Foster had bought from the State on September 17 of this year, which consists of two leagues oriented to the East with the same background to the West, limiting to the West, North and South with lands of the State and to the East with other lands owned by the buyer," began the measurement of the aforementioned land.

For contradicting the terms of the decree of September 17 [40], the surveyor Eduardo Saint Remy clarified that "at the request of Mr. Ricardo Foster, sixty-four lots of fields to the west of this land were measured and marked, destined for spontaneous settlers, four leagues in front and five leagues in depth, and between these the eight central estates of four leagues in front of equal depth, as evidenced by the plan whose original is attached". [41]

Ricardo Foster (1808-1865) reserved for his association with Máximo Fernando de Elía Álzaga (1811-1865) the 14 most valuable concessions located in the center of the colony, which were later divided by them into two sectors of 25 concessions each located at the southern and northern ends of that terrain. [42]

Dissolution of the Association

On September 28, 1863, Ricardo Foster (1808-1865) and Máximo Fernando de Elía Álzaga (1811-1865) resolved to dissolve the association they maintained and divide the assets acquired between them, leaving de Elía Álzaga among many other properties with the Las Tunas field, bought by both on September 17, 1857, and with 12 of the 14 concessions that they had measured in the center of San Jerónimo Norte. [43]

The other 2 concessions had been previously donated to the surveyor Eduardo Saint Remy, who had measured them at the express request of Ricardo Foster and which were later sold to Messrs. Lorenzo Acosta and Juan B. Vigo. [44]

According to the Topographic Department, of the 144,000,000 square rods (10,800 hectares) that made up this land, 23,180,300 square rods had to be deducted for the 50 concessions corresponding to San Jerónimo Norte, and the 835,000 rods donated to the Saint Remy surveyor, remaining for the partner Máximo Fernando de Elía Álzaga 119,984,300 varas (3 and ¼ square leagues, equivalent to 8,800 hectares).

By decrees of December 12, 1863 and August 25, 1865, the government of the province of Buenos Aires ordered the expansion of the limits of San Jerónimo to the east, occupying another 28,184,300 square yards of the Las Tunas field with concessions belonging to to Máximo Fernando de Elía Álzaga (1811-1865). After his death in June 1865, his heirs sold the field to Mr. Tomás Cullen, who according to the Topographic Department "... they did a judicial survey in 1868, which turned out to be missing the area that has been mentioned, of 28,184,300 square yards," requesting the corresponding compensation from the Government, which was awarded to them for the improper occupation of their field. [45]

Meritorious in the Foundation of Esperanza

With the establishment of Esperanza and then San Jerónimo, the first stage of Argentine colonization begins and perhaps the happiest, since the low value of the land in the 1850s favored the system of granting it or delivering it in "concessions" to the residents. These concessions consisted of an area of ​​20 square leagues, equivalent to 33 hectares; generally they were given to each family and after five years of cultivation and settlement, four in the case of San Jerónimo, the State extended the title of the domain.

In other words, there was a flat and simple donation of the land, but the progressive revaluation of agricultural lands led to the abandonment of this system.

Now the land was ceded to the famous colonizing companies that did not defend the public interest as was done until then, nor were they a charity society, but acted for purely lucrative purposes, getting to fleece the settlers.

Ricardo Foster (1808-1865) has the merit of the patrimony made in that initial and ephemeral stage, and being a landowner he acted as promoter and official organizer of the colonization. It did not obtain immediate economic benefits but its purpose was the development of agricultural colonies that would ultimately benefit it, of course as a neighboring owner, but also the general interests of the province and the community for the progress and security that would correspond to it.

For this reason, Foster must clearly differentiate himself from other colonizers, because his action is perfectly distinguished from that of Carlos Beck Bernard (1819-1900), Lehmann, Enrique Vollenweider (1824-?) and even Aaron Castellanos (1799-1880). And for proof of this, it's enough to see who the plaintiffs are in the lawsuits that are brought against the settlers, either for land acquisition debt, or for other contractual obligations, going through the lists of civil records of the time. We found no lawsuits from Foster or his successors.

His action in favor of Esperanza formally begins on August 24, 1855 when Governor José María Cullen (1823-1876) designates him as a member of a Special Commission made up of "... five people whose purpose will be to present for the approval of the Government a project for the construction of the settlers' rooms and execute it, also adapting the measures aimed at religious compliance with the stipulations signed between the Government of the province and the citizen Aaron Castellanos (1799-1880)".

On August 25, Foster responds to the quote stating, among other things, that "... the honorable distinction that I have the fortune to deserve from the superior Government and the desire to contribute with whatever is within my power to the prosperity of the host province, puts me in the case of not being afraid to accept, as I accept, to be part of the honorable commission for which I am appointed, which the minister will serve to inform His Excellency the governor, for the consequent purposes ... "

And a few days later, on September 1, Ricardo Foster returned to address the government as "President of the Special Commission for the construction of the settlers' rooms." He adds that in the company of Messrs. Tiburcio Aldado and Caracciolo de Larrechea, on August 28, 1855, they went to the "Canton of Captain Reyes", approved the place and got to know it's surroundings to build the estates. It continues with different practical explanations on the elements and materials that would be necessary for the work and advises the immediate measurement of the land. And on September 2, the remaining members of the Special Commission announced that Ricardo Foster had been appointed president.

From there, you can see the tireless activity that Foster displayed in the beginning and development of the work.

Already on September 5, the surveyor Augusto Reant is ready to measure the lands destined for the colony; on the 11th, Foster presented the proposals for the provision of doors, windows and, in general, the elements for the constructions, proposals that were approved immediately.

It's not the objective of this work to chronicle all the steps related to the establishment of the Esperanza colony in detail, an issue that would require a special study on the subject and that, on the other hand, has already been the object of timely treatment. It's interesting to note that all the beginning of the material works necessary for the settlement of the colony are marked with the imprint of Ricardo Foster's personality. And in the accounting volumes deposited in the General Archive of the Province of Santa Fe, there is abundant documentation that certifies the scrupulous handling of the funds and in the performance of it's official mission, Foster did.

The rendering of accounts for the years 1855 and 1856 is detailed and reveals a personality of action that did not neglect the ordering of administrative documentation. However, it should not be thought that Ricardo Foster, after settling down, stopped being interested in the Esperanza colony.

In December 1858, as we will see below, the second agricultural colony of the Province of Santa Fe had already been established: San Jerónimo. On that date, he addressed the government stating that he had sent a person to Europe to look for families to settle in the lands near El Sauce (he refers to San Jerónimo), but that it's probable that some families who arrived had relatives in Esperanza, would like to put them there, to make them happier. To do this, it requested that Esperanza be granted three concessions of 20 blocks to install, within a period of 8 to 12 months, three families of agricultural settlers.

The government agrees and in the administrative procedure carried out, the report of the Justice of the Peace of Esperanza, Adolfo Gabarret, is of interest when he says that:

"The undersigned is aware that, being Ricardo Foster, president of the colonization commission, he has rendered in the formation of this colony and even later, notable services that highly recommend him to the considerations of His Excellency, and that also the colonists they have received and continue to receive from her, valuable aid of various kinds, finding in the field an establishment that has in the vicinity, great facilities to provide domesticated animals".

In the colonization contract concluded between Aarón Castellanos (1799-1880) and Governor Domingo Crespo (1791-1871), the latter had been forced to supply the settlers with land, ranch, flour, seeds, horses, cows and oxen. [46]

Hence, after two years and after Governor José María Cullen (1823-1876), Crespo's successor, was notified that the first 200 families came from Europe, a commission was created by decree of August 28, 1855 to prepare the future colony and comply with the provisions of the contract. [47]

As president of the Colonization Commission, Ricardo Foster (1808-1865) was appointed, businessman of temperament and insightful in the management of the domestic economy, it did not take long to realize that the colonization process that began soon would provoke a vertiginous valuation of the land. [48]

He acquired ranches, one on the banks of the Arroyo Cululú, called the "Seven Trees", and the other two, one to the south and the other to the west of Sa Pereira. [49]

Once this commission was constituted, destined to fulfill the colonization contract, the most urgent measure required by the next arrival of the European immigrants was the establishment of the place for the installation of the projected agricultural colony.

According to article 6 of said contract, the five colonies agreed with Aarón Castellanos (1799-1880) had to be founded in a vast region, a great distance from Santa Fe, that is, "from the height of the town of San Javier towards the North".

But the commission, judging with good judgment that this area, mostly jungle and in the vicinity of the Serrano Indians, was not the most suitable for the location of the colony, proposed to replace it with the plain that extended only seven leagues northwest of Santa Fe, beyond the Salado river, and which also had the protection of the military canton called Reyes or Iriondo located in that place.

Once the proposal was approved by Governor José María Cullen (1823-1876), these lands were measured, delimited and divided into 200 concessions by the surveyor Augusto Reant, whose work ended on November 26, 1855.

For the rest, the Colonization Commission must have encountered difficulties in its task of giving "religious compliance to the stipulations agreed between the government of the province of Buenos Aires and the citizen Aarón Castellanos" [50], since when it anchored at the end of January 1856, the ship "Asunción" in the port of Santa Fe, with the first immigrants on board, there was still much to do in the green plain behind the Salado River, where the colony would be established. Construction work on the houses, for example, will last until near the end of the year.

When Governor José María Cullen (1823-1876) created a new commission in June for the sale of a strip of fiscal land that stretched from north to south, dividing Esperanza into two sections, Ricardo Foster (1808-1865) was again required for the performance of the presidency, undoubtedly due to his responsible and competent performance in the fulfillment of his previous mission. [51]

From what has been said, it can be deduced that the Portuguese landowner has been one of the men most linked to the settlement of immigrants in the agricultural colony Esperanza; which, as has been said, is due to the commission that presided over the advantage of its definitive location in a site closer to the capital, on land of optimum quality, suitable for sowing and grazing, and at a prudent distance from the habitat of the highland Indians, who, incidentally, at no time dared to attack her. [52]

Death

Ricardo Foster died of severe dropsy on December 5, 1865, after being ill during his last months. He was buried in the Catholic cemetery of Rosario in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, having received spiritual help from that religion.

His dedication, effort and commitment will be remembered for generations.

Offspring

Ricardo Foster had three children, Ana Foster (c.1840-?) who died single. Isabel Foster (1835-1932) who married Máximo Fernando de Elía Álzaga (1811-1865) and Enrique Foster (1842-1916) who had a natural son with Isabel Llames (1845-c.1900) but later married Adelaida Ponsati Vidal (1847-1916).

A good number of descendants of the couple Foster and Kagel live in Buenos Aires and in the province of Santa Fe. Their surnames are intertwined with those of Nazar, Miguens, Tezanos Pinto, Torres Agüero, Money, Sofia, Turbatti, Ontiveros, Fleury, Leguizamón, Ovalle, Pasman, Davison, Funes, Urizar, von Grolman, Gradin, Padilla, Córdoba, Benites, Aguilar, Fernández de Cieza, Pera, Tomkinson, Otamendi, Vidal Domínguez, Murray, Lago, Bertona, Pagniez, Apathie, Galarce, Johndon, Lagos, Terrero, Maschwitz, Caprile, Argerich, Garrahan, Gassiebayle, Urruti, Malbran, Hoeve de Elia , del Campo, Gigena Vergara, Ugarte, Mackinlay Zapiola, Casas, Echesortu, Maguire, Molinari, Picasso Cazon, Torello, Jacobe and Martin Diaz.

References

1. Biography of Presidents in the Club del Orden, Province of Santa Fe, Argentine Republic.
2. Report on the house requested in the Caja Forense, 2012.
3. La masonería argentina a través de sus hombres. Alcibíades Lappas. Impresora Belgrano, 1966. 408 pages.
   
4. Inmigración y colonización suizas en la República Argentina en el siglo XIX. Juan Schobinger. Swiss-Argentine Institute of Culture, 1957. 230 pages.
5. Historia de San Jeronimo Norte: Una colonia agrícola-ganadera de inmigrantes suizos en la República Argentina. Volume I, 2nd edition. Gabriel Oggier, Emilio B. Jullier. 1999.
6. Report on the house requested in the Caja Forense, 2012. Province of Santa Fe, Argentine Republic.
7. Revista de la Junta Provincial de Estudios Históricos de Santa Fe. Nº LXIX.
8. Ricardo Foster y la Colonia San Jerónimo. Lehmann, Guillermo.
9. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Escribanía de Gobierno. T. 3 1857, f. 193.
10. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Departamento Topográfico. T. 99, f. 117, No. 275.
11. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Escribanía de Gobierno, 1857. T. 3, f. 181-182.
12. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Biblioteca y Archivo Histórico de Gobierno 1857, T. 16, p. 467.
13. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Departamento Topográfico. T. 99, f. 116, nº 273.
14. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Escribanía de Gobierno, 1857. T. 3, f. 181.
15. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Ibidem, f. 206 - 208.
16. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Registry of Deeds and Public Contracts, T. 29 1857-1862, 1859, f. 102. On page 103, Foster pays 2% of Alcabala's right, which was 281 pesos corresponding to the 14,049 pesos for the sale of the Quiñones field.
    
17. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Escribanía de Gobierno, 1857. T. 3, f. 209-210.
18. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Departamento Topográfico. T.99, f. 96.
19. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Escribanía de Gobierno. T. 5, f. 125-128.
20. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Departamento Topográfico. T. 99, f. 95, nº 221.
21. Basualdo Jose, Lieutenant colonel. Request to purchase a land located in the Department of San Jerónimo, Province of Santa Fe, Argentina. Escribanía de Gobierno. T.3, leg. 18, f. 168.
22. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Departamento Topográfico. T. 99, f. 95, nº 220.
23. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Departamento Topográfico. T. 166, f. 119.
24. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Departamento Topográfico. T. 166, f. 120.
25. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Escribanía de Gobierno. T.3, f. 198-202.
26. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Various Documents. T. 1 A, f. 120.
27. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Biblioteca y Archivo Histórico de Gobierno. T 15, 1856, p. 205.
28. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Libro Copiador de Gobierno 1855-1858, p. 118, nº 1960.
29. News published in the Nacional Argentino newspaper, Saturday August 23, 1856, nº 361.
30. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Escribanía de Gobierno. T. 3, 1857, leg. 85, f. 152 and 153.
31. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Official Register, T. II, 1848-1858, page 365.
32. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Idem, p. 365.
33. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Biblioteca y Archivo Histórico de Gobierno, 1857, T. 16, f. 1138.
34. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Libro Copiador de Hacienda y Relaciones Exteriores 1855-1858, f. 312.
35. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Libro Copiador de Hacienda y Relaciones Exteriores 1855-1858, f. 312.
36. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Official Register, T. II, 1848-1858, page 372.
37. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Escribanía de Gobierno, 1857 T. 3, f. 200.
38. In this decree "the government accepts the proposal in the terms that appear in the present request", that's to say to measure fifty concessions destined to spontaneous settlers, without anticipating concessions for private benefit, and even less to use the colonial center that's normally used for this reserved to locate a town with its central square, the church, the justice of the peace, etc.
39. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Idem, f. 202.
40. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Biblioteca y Archivo Histórico de Gobierno, 1866, T.25, f.135. According to calligraphic skills, the letter of the report belongs to Ricardo Foster himself, written shortly before his death, at the end of 1865.
41. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Departamento Topográfico. T. 16, p.35.
42. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Departamento Topográfico. T.17, page 82.
43. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Departamento Topográfico. T. 17, f.82.
44. Articles 1 and 10 of the colonization contract.
45. Decree published in "El Nacional" of Paraná. Year IV N ° 248.
46. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe. Biblioteca y Archivo Histórico de Gobierno. V. Circunscripción. Volume 28. Year 1853-1857.
47. The location of these Foster lands appears in the cadastral map of the surroundings of Santa Fe, published in Inmigración y Colonización Suizas en la República Argentina en el Siglo XIX, by Juan Schobinger, p. 120.
48. See note No. 46.
49. Inmigración y colonización suizas en la República Argentina en el siglo XIX. Juan Schobinger. Swiss-Argentine Institute of Culture, 1957. page 80.
50. Archivo General de la Provincia de Santa Fe (AGPSF). Escribanía de Gobierno, Files of 1858, folios 52 to 54.

Bibliography

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