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John Foley
Chickasaw County
Senator from the Forty-fourth District, composed of the counties of Chickasaw and Floyd, was born in Galway county, Ireland, August 14, 1841. In 1846 he came with his parents to America, first to Halifax, Nova Scotia, shortly after to Boston, Massachusetts, and in 1849 they changed their residence to Baltimore, Maryland, which place was their home until 1857. His early education was acquired from the Christian Brothers and in the public schools; then he went to a private academy, and later to a commercial college. In 1857, with his widowed mother, moved west to Iowa and located on a farm in Chickasaw county. For the next ten years he worked on the farm. During this period he was an active member of the school board and taught several terms of winter school. While on the farm he was elected and served as a member of the County Board of Supervisors. In 1871 he was elected Treasurer of Chickasaw county; re-elected three times, serving eight years in all, and was a delegate from the Fourth Congressional District of Iowa to the National Democratic Convention at Cincinnati when General Hancock was nominated for President. Was the nominee of his party for State Treasurer, later for Congress and still later for State Senator. Represented his county in the Twenty-second General Assembly and served several terms on the Democratic State Central Committee. Has been mayor, alderman and school director in his home town of New Hampton. In 1882 he engaged in the lumber and coal business, in which he remained twenty years. Was elected president of the State Bank of New Hampton in 1902, which position he now holds. Elected Senator in 1906. A Democrat in politics.
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