20 Dec. 1794–22 Nov. 1869
Foote was neither a native nor at any time a resident of North Carolina. However, while an agent, or traveling secretary, for the Central Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian church (1838–45), he visited many North Carolina counties where he not only promoted the missionary enterprise, but also collected considerable material of a historical nature. His Sketches of North Carolina, Historical and Biographical, written at the request of the Presbyterian Synod of the state, and published in 1846, permanently linked his name with North Carolina. A reprint of the Sketches appeared in 1912 and a second in 1965. The volume has consistently demonstrated its value for reference, both in the religious and secular spheres. The author's incorporation into the text of a number of earlier documents, some of which have since disappeared, substantially enhances its usefulness. Notable among the items included but now missing is the original of Hugh McAden's journal of his tour of North Carolina made during 1755–56. Foote also was the author of Sketches of Virginia, Historical and Biographical (1850); of a similar work bearing the same title with the addition of Second Series (1855); and of The Huguenots, or Reformed French Church, published in the year after his death.
Foote's first wife was Eliza Wilson Glass, daughter of the Reverend Joseph Glass of Frederick County, Va., whom he married on 21 Feb. 1822. Two daughters, Ann Waterman and Eliza Wilson, were born of this union. After the death of Mrs. Eliza Foote (21 Apr. 1835), he married Arabella Gilliam of Petersburg, Va., on 31 Oct. 1838; they had one child, Mary Arabella. Foote died at Romney and was buried in the nearby Indian Mound Cemetery.