Born 9 May 1856 in Doneraile to John Foley and Mary Walsh. Baptized 11 May 1856 in Doneraile parish. His baptism sponsors were Benjamin Egan and Hanora "Nony" Walsh.
In 1879 John Joseph Foley was the sporting whipper of Ryecourt (Viscount Doneraile's Fox Hounds), near Buttevant and Mallow. In 1880 he was Master of the Muskerry Hunt, per Baily's Magazine of Sports and Pastimes.
On 18 September 1881 he was a resident of Coachford when he married Ellen Cunningham in the Roman Catholic Chapel in Mallow. The celebrant was E. Morton. Witnesses were Ellen's siblings, Jeremiah and Nora Cunningham. The Civil Registration witnesses were recorded as Terence and Norah Cunningham. John's father, also named John Foley was a coachman. Ellen's father, Thomas Cunningham, was a labourer and her residence was Mallow.
Ellen Cunningham was the daughter of Thomas Cunningham and Elizabeth "Bess" Grady/Gready/O'Grady.
On 21 November 1881 the pack of hounds were sold to a British gentleman and moved to the south of France - Pau, France. This ended John Foley's employment. He received a work reference letter dated December 1881.
He immigrated through the Port of New York at Castle Garden. It is believed he was temporarily living in New York City in January 1882. By 1 October 1882 they were living in Orange, Essex County, NJ when their infant son John Foley was baptized. This son died in 1890. Their other children: Thomas Joseph Foley 1886-1957; Cornelius 1888-1888; Eugene Francis Foley 1890 - 1977; Mary Ellen Cecilia Foley Rimback 1892- 1984; John Joseph Foley, Jr. 1895 - 1968; Elizabeth Bertrand Foley Broderick 1898 - 1982; and Alfred P. Foley 1901 - 1921. John and his family lived in West Orange and then East Orange, New Jersey. After retirement he worked as a watchman at the Thomas A. Edison laboratory.
John, his wife Ellen and their son, Alfred are buried together at St. John's Roman Catholic Cemetery in Orange, Essex county, New Jersey, United States.
Contributed by his great-granddaughter: Margaret Ann Reynolds Dorgan
