Joseph Foulke was the editor of the Quaker Friends Almanac. He was the "naive" painter Edward Hicks' constant travelling companion for a period of several years, when as Ministers in the Religious Society of Friends they visited many of the Meeting Houses located throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York state and on through all of the New England states. Hicks presented one of his paintings (now in the NGA) as a gift to Foulke in 1834. The painting passed by descent to Foulke's great-grandson, Thomas A. Foulke of Ambler, Pennsylvania.