Jane McDowell Foster Wiley

Early life Jane's father, Andrew Nathan McDowell, was a physician in Pittsburgh. He encouraged the first black medical student from Western Pennsylvania to apply to and attend Harvard Medical School. Dr. McDowell wrote a letter of recommendation for the student and even helped to pay for part of his tuition.

Family life By September 8, 1850, the Fosters had returned to Allegheny City (now part of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) and moved in with Stephen's older brother, William Barclay Foster Jr. Jane's mother-in-law, father-in-law and brother-in-law, were also living in the home. Jane became pregnant and gave birth to their only child, Marion, born April 18, 1851. After the birth of Marion, they moved in with Jane's family for some months and then returned to the Foster home. This time in Jane's life has been identified as being quite difficult for her since she was used to having servants, a larger home and privacy.

Jane obtained a job as a telegraph operator in Greensburg sometime after her separation from Stephen.

Later years

Jane and Stephen were married for 14 years until his death on January 13, 1864, in New York City. They were not living together at the time and had been separated for four years—an unusual arrangement in the mid-19th century. Morrison Foster, an older brother of Stephen aided Jane and Marion after the composer's death in the arrangement of royalty payments to her from various music publishers. She married M.D. Wiley after Foster died.

Biographies Morris Foster destroyed correspondence that would reflect poorly on the Foster family. This included almost all references to Jane. No letters or other documents that Jane wrote to Stephen or Stephen wrote to Jane survived.

Archives Archival materials and Primary source materials, including family letters and Jane's diary, are housed in the University of Pittsburgh Library System Archives Service Center. These have been digitized and are accessible remotely.