Routh Trowbridge Wilby was born and raised at her family’s home, Dixie Plantation, near Franklin, Louisiana. She and her parents, Dr. Paul W. Trowbridge and Mrs. Mary Lucy Foster Trowbridge, lived at Dixie Plantation with her grandmother, Rose Ker Foster. Routh attended Sophie Newcomb College in New Orleans and married Langfitt Bowditch Wilby, an Army captain, in 1941. In 1946, Routh traveled to Japan to live with her husband, who was still on active duty after the end of World War II. While in Japan she worked as an English teacher and learned how to speak and write Japanese. Back home in the United States, Routh worked as a freelance writer, local historian, and author. She became a member of DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution), Pi Beta Phi, and the Junior League of Houston. She and her husband raised four children together; William, Thomas, Mary, and Elizabeth. In 1986 after their children were grown, they decided to purchase Dixie Planation from Routh’s many Foster cousins to renovate it. While cleaning out Dixie, Routh uncovered numerous letters, photographs, and other memorabilia from her family’s life in the house. Routh was inspired from reading some of the letters between her grandmother and grandfather, Rose and Murphy J. Foster, to write her grandmother’s story.

Routh Trowbridge Wilby was the author of three books: "Clearing Bayou Teche After the Civil War" (1991), "Rose Ker Foster: A Biography" (1997), and "Friends and Helpers: A Tribute to Those Who Worked at Dixie Plantation, 1846-2002" (2002). "Clearing Bayou Teche" and "Rose Ker Foster" were published by the Center for Louisiana Studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette; "Friends and Helpers" was self-published. She also wrote "Honshu Home" about her life in occupied Japan, but it was never published. "Rose Ker Foster" tells the story of Routh’s grandmother, Rose Ker Foster, also affectionately known as “Donnee.” The book provides insight into what life was like in Louisiana between 1861 and 1959. Rose Ker Foster was the wife of Governor and Senator, Murphy J. Foster, and the grandmother of Governor Mike Foster. "Clearing Bayou Teche After the Civil War" tells the story of Daniel Kingsbury who was assigned the task of locating and clear obstructions in Bayou Teche to make it navigable by steamboats.

Murphy J. Foster was an attorney, state legislator, governor of Louisiana, and United States senator. He was born in Franklin, Louisiana to Thomas Foster and Martha P. Murphy. He attended school first at Washington and Lee College in 1867 and 1868, then at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee. After graduating from Cumberland University in 1870, Foster attended the Law School at Tulane University (then University of Louisiana) in New Orleans and graduated in 1871. He passed the bar exam in 1871 and became an attorney. He married his first wife, Florence Daisy Hine, the daughter of a Franklin merchant, T.D. Hine, on May 15, 1877. She died shortly after they were married on August 26, 1877. In 1879, he became a Louisiana state senator and served for three consecutive terms of four years each. He met his second wife, Rose Routh Ker, in 1880 and they married on April 20, 1881. He was elected “President Pro-tempore” of the state senate in 1888. His political career soared after he put his support behind the Anti-Lottery platform and was nominated by the Anti-Lottery League Convention as their candidate for governor. He won the election in 1892 and served as governor of the State of Louisiana for eight years (1892-1900). After his second term ended, he was elected by the state legislature to serve in the United States Senate. He represented Louisiana in Washington from 1901-1913. Following his defeat for re-election in 1913, he was appointed Collector of Customs in New Orleans. He died at his home, Dixie Plantation, on June 12, 1921.

Rose, the daughter of Rosealtha Routh and John Ker Jr., was born November 17, 1861 at Lake Catahoula, Louisiana. She and her sister Sarah were raised by their mother’s cousins, Oliva Wade and Alice Wade at Ellerslie Plantation. Rose met her future husband, Murphy J. Foster in 1880, through the acquaintance of her friends, the Tarltons, in Franklin, Louisiana. They married on April 20, 1881 and purchased Dixie Plantation on April 7, 1883. Together, Murphy J. Foster and Rose Ker Foster had ten children (8 daughters and 2 sons): Rose Routh Foster Milling, Elizabeth Ratliff Foster Penick, Lucy Price Foster, Mary Lucy Foster Trowbridge (Routh Trowbridge Wilby’s mother), Willa Ker Foster Hyde, William Prescott Foster, Louisiana Navarro Foster, Martha Demaret Foster Hebert, Murphy James Foster, Jr. (father of Governor Mike Foster), and Sarah Ker Foster Hayne. Rose lived at Dixie Plantation until her death on February 14, 1959.