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John Foley

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State Representative
Democrat
Sheriff
Jackson
6
12/04/1843 - 05/04/1845
10

John Foley was born in 1794 in Ireland. By the 1820s, he had traveled along the Cumberland Road and arrived in Vandalia, Illinois, where he married Rosanna Baugh. In 1822, Foley served as the coroner for Fayette County, Illinois. By 1827, he had relocated to Galena, Illinois, where he became one of the first settlers of the Galena Lead Mines and the first sheriff of Jo Daviess County. According to the 1830 census, Foley's household included seven individuals. Foley also became an early settler in Iowa, claiming the first piece of land in Jackson County. He represented Dubuque County in the Wisconsin Territorial Council from 1836 to 1838 and later represented Jackson County in the Iowa Territorial House of Representatives from 1843 to 1845. By 1850, Foley had moved to Dubuque County. He died on January 12, 1860.