John Foley, our most prominent citizen, died at St. Paul Sunday morning.
Three full columns of the Sunday Independent are devoted to the
story of his life and work. We select only a few of the outstanding
sentences.
He was 64 years old and had been a resident of this vicinity for
the past 27 years. In the commercial field, John Foley was a man of
resolute integrity and possessed business methods which won him renown
throughout the entire country. It was largely through his influence
that the county seat was transferred here from Sauk Rapids several
years ago; he was the most liberal donor of funds for the erection
of the courthouse. He built the town of Foley.
When he disposed of a lot or tract of land in the village, he sold
it or gave it with the understanding that a residence of certain dimensions
and presentable appearance should be erected upon it, and through
this foresight, the town is possessed of the most beautiful residences
of any town of its size in the country, and the credit for this is
given where it rightly belongs—to John Foley.
It was by the sweat of his brow that John Foley accumulated a fortune;
many is the day in his early career as a lumberman that he worked
for the small pittance of 50¢ a day, a much smaller sum than
he ever offered a man to work for him.
John Foley was one of the kindest-hearted men in the world. Many
is the time some poor man has come to the village and asked for his
aid, and he would immediately communicate with the store to let them
have what was wanted and charge it to his account. He was never known
to crowd a man in money matters, and always ready to beg forgiveness
if he thought he had injured a person's feelings. His name will go
down in the history of Foley as the most generous, whole-souled man
who ever set foot in Benton County.