The Census of 1860 enumerated the cabinet shop of W. J. Foster & Brother at Crockett in Houston County. Foster's operation was d a capitalized value of $4,225. He employed three workers at a total monthly wage of $50. Foster used 3,000 feet of rough lumber, which was fashioned into furniture, wardrobes, tables, bedsteads, cribs, and coffins. Foster advertised in the Crockett Printer of November 11, 1860, quoted in Aldrich, that he had “a good assortment of furniture, consisting of wardrobes, bedsteads. . .cribs and tables. . . . Coffins are made at shortest notice in any style desired.”