Col. John L. Jolley Biography


	This biography appears on page 1371 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	COL. JOHN L. JOLLEY, of Vermillion, Clay county, is a native of 
the city of Montreal, Canada, where he was born on the 14th of July, 
1840, being a son of James and Frances (Lawlor) Jolley, both of whom are 
now deceased. In 1846, when he was a lad of six years, his parents 
removed to the city of Hamilton, Ontario, and there he secured his early 
educational training in a private school. In 1853 the subject began 
working at the trade of harnessmaking, in the employ of his father, and 
thus continued until May 1, 1857, when he removed to Portage City, 
Wisconsin, where he began the study of law the following year, 
prosecuting his technical reading with much zeal and being admitted to 
the bar of the state in October, 1861. 

	On August 21, 1862, Mr. Jolley enlisted as a private in Company C, 
Twenty-third Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, with which he proceeded to 
the front, and he continued in active service until the close of the 
war, having participated in many important engagements and having risen 
to the rank of second lieutenant of his company, receiving his honorable 
discharge as such, at Mobile, Alabania, on the 4th of July, 1865. He 
then returned to the north and took a short course of study in the 
Eastman Commercial College, in the city of Chicago. On the 10th of July, 
1866, John L. Jolley came to the territory of Dakota and became one of 
the pioneers of the present flourishing city of Vermillion, Clay county, 
where he established himself in the practice of his profession, in which 
he has ever since continued, having gained distinctive prestige in the 
same and being one of the oldest practitioners in this section of the 
state. He is a stalwart advocate of the principles of the Republican 
party and has long been a prominent figure in its local ranks, wielding 
much influence in its councils in the state. In 1884 he was delegate 
from the territory to the national Republican convention, which 
nominated James G. Blaine for the presidency, and he has been frequently 
a delegate to the territorial and state conventions. He was four times 
elected a member of the territorial legislature and twice represented 
his county in the state Legislature, after the admission of South Dakota 
to the Union. In 1891 he was elected to congress, to fill the unexpired 
term of the late Hon. John R. Gamble. In 1877 Mr. Jolley was chosen as 
the first mayor of the city of Vermillion, and in 1885 he was again 
called to the chief executive office of the municipality. He was a 
member of the state constitutional convention of 1889 and at all times 
has been recognized as a citizen of utmost loyalty and highest public 
spirit. Fraternally he manifests his abiding interest in his old 
comrades in arms by retaining membership in Miner Post, No. 8, Grand 
Army of the Republic. 

	On the 20th of April, 1874, near the city of Dubuque, Iowa, was 
solemnized the marriage of John L. Jolley to Miss Harriet J. Grange, and 
they are the parents of three children, viz: Frances, who is the wife of 
Hon. Charles H. Dillon, a prominent member of the bar of Yankton, this 
state; Charles W., who is a successful farmer of Clay county, and Mary 
L., who remains at the parental home.