He has been identified as a "patriot", a "lover of home" and an "outstanding servant to his community, state and government".

James Foster was one of the founders and original trustees of Canonsburg Academy, a school founded in 1791.

William attended the academy until he was sixteen and then moved to Pittsburgh shortly after the city's incorporation along the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers.

William Foster found work with the company of Denny and Bellen, "Dry Goods, Hardware, etc."

Primary source material including family letters, business documents, ledgers, maps of property and other of Barclay's writings are housed in the University of Pittsburgh Library System Archives Service Center.