1780 Colonial Canterbury NH deed, signed by Samuel Ames, Archelaus Moore.  Witnessed signed by Abiel Foster a member of congress.

Abiel Foster (August 8, 1735 – February 6, 1806) was an American clergyman and politician from Canterbury, Province of New Hampshire. He represented New Hampshire in the Continental Congress and the U.S. Congress. He was the first person in United States history elected to Congress in a special election.

In 1775, Foster was Deputy to the Provincial Congress at Exeter.[8] From 1783 to 1785, Foster was a delegate for New Hampshire to the Continental Congress.[9] Between 1784 and 1788, he was a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Rockingham County N.H.[10] On March 3, 1789, he became a member of the First United States Congress, under the first Constitution of the United States of America, as a Representative from New Hampshire until March 3, 1791. He returned to the New Hampshire Senate in 1791 and served there until 1794. He unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1792,[11] but was successfully elected again in 1794, serving there from December 7, 1795, to March 3, 1803.[12]

On July 14, 1798, Foster voted in favor of the Alien and Sedition Acts.