V. M. FOLEY, farmer. P. O. Cobden, was born in Warren County, Ky., August 23, 1843, to Leroy M. and Caroline (Ellis) Foley. He was born in Warren County, Ky., May 12, 1822. She was born and raised in Virginia. They are now living in this county. When our subject was small, his parents moved to Cape Girardeau County, Mo., and resided there till September, 1861. Then, on account of the war troubles, he had to leave, receiving such notice from some of the confederates. So he moved to this county with what he could haul in a wagon with two horses. His occupation has always been that of farming. They are the parents of two children, our subject and his sister, Eliza Castleberry, of Jackson County. Three sons, however, died when young. Our subject never had the opportunities of attending the free schools, and attended but poor subscription schools. Before leaving Missouri, there were great inducements offered him to join the Southern army, most of his associates entering that army, and perhaps he might have done so, not knowing the cause of the war or what secession was, but his father was too strong a Union man, and influenced him in the right direction. August 11, 1862, he enlisted from this county in Company E, Eighty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Capt. J. P. Reese, Col. Dollins. He served till mustered out August 5, 1865. He was in many of the leading engagements, such as Jackson, Miss., Vicksburg, where Col. Dollins was killed, on the Red River expedition, at Spanish Fort, etc.; also at Guntown, Miss., where about one-half the regiment was lost; also at Nashville, where Hood and Thomas were engaged. Mr. Foley is now a pensioner of the Government for injury sustained at Guntown, Miss. By forced marches, he was over-heated, and after going into the engagement the heat overcame him and he had to be carried from the field, but not until he had fired about forty rounds of cartridges. After returning from the army, he settled on his present farm, and has remained there since. September 17, 1865, he was married to Emily Anderson. She was born in this county to Cornelius and Elizabeth Anderson. The mother died during the war; the father is still living in the county, and is one of the old settlers, coming from Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. Foley have seven children — Ollie, Ella, Oran, Frank, Charles, Leroy and Harvey. For eight years after coming from the service, he followed house carpentering; then commenced farming, and has been engaged in general farming and fruit-raising since. He has 120 acres of land, about seventy being improved. He and wife are members of the Christian Church. In politics, he is Republican, and is serving a term as Justice of the Peace. Mr. Foley has always done all he could for the advancement of morals and against the liquor traffic in his vicinity.
Extracted 26 Apr 2020 by Norma Hass from 1883 History of Alexander, Union, and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part V, pages 126-127.
| Jackson | Williamson | |
| MO |
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Johnson |
| Alexander | Pulaski |
