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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Pulaski County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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John F. Foley, ex-superintendent of Little Rock Cooperage Company. In any reliable history of Pulaski County, the name that heads this sketch must be given an enviable place among the business men of Little Rock. His experience has been varied, but at the same time one that reflects credit on him as a man. He was born in Galena, Ind., in 1851, grew to manhood in Lafayette, Ind., and served an apprenticeship as a cooper. He first worked at his trade in 1866, continued the same in Lafayette until 1868, when he went to Louisville, Ky., and there worked at his trade until 1872. He then went to Galveston, Tex., remained there two years, and then went back to Lafayette, where he was married and lived for eight years. He then came to Little Rock, and after working here for about ten days he became superintendent, and continued in that capacity for six years, or until March of the present year (1889), when he embarked in the retail liquor business. He was married to Miss Mary E. Bowman, a native of Delphi, Ind., born on July 1, 1852, and three children are the result of this union: Nina, George and Joseph. Mr. Foley is the son of Samuel H. and Margaret H. (Vail) Foley. The father was born near Lexington, Ky., and worked at the cooper trade in Southern Indiana, Jeffersonville, Greenville and Galena. He was warden of Southern Indiana prison, in Jeffersonville, for two years. He was for about twenty-five years in business for himself, at Galena and Greenville, Ind. He died September 19, 1889, at Peoria, Ill., where he had been living for four years. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and a Republican in politics. Margaret H. Vail was the daughter of Maj. Joseph Vail, of Galena, Ind., and a native of New Jersey. He was in the War of 1812 from Ohio, and was a farmer in Galena, Ind. The paternal grandfather Foley was a native of the Old Dominion, and for many years ran a flat-boat on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. He died with yellow fever in Kentucky. The maternal grandfather, a Garrison, was born in England, and died in Indiana. The maternal grandmother was ninety-seven years of age at the time of her death, and the maternal grandfather was one hundred and four. The father was seventy-nine years of age. Mr. Foley is a member of the I. O. O. F.

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This family biography is one of 156 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Pulaski County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Pulaski County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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