John L. Jolley

John Lawlor Jolley (* July 14, 1840 in Montreal, Canada, † December 14, 1926 in Vermillion, South Dakota ) was an American politician. Between 1891 and 1893 he represented the second electoral district of the state of South Dakota in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Early years

John Jolley attended the public schools of his Canadian home and the Eastman Business College in Poughkeepsie (New York). In 1857 he settled in Wisconsin. During the Civil War he served as a lieutenant in an infantry unit from Wisconsin. After the war he studied law. In 1866 he was admitted to the bar. Then he started in Vermillion in Dakota Territory to work in his new profession.

Political career

Jolley was a member of the Republican Party. From 1867 to 1868, he was a member of the Territorial House of Representatives. 1875 and 1881 he was president of the territorial government council. In the years 1877 and 1885, John Jolley was elected mayor of the city of Vermillion. In 1884 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention and 1889 he was a member of the Constituent Assembly of South Dakota. After the accession of South Dakota to the United States, he was elected to the State Senate. As Congressman John Rankin Gamble died in August, 1891, John Jolley won the by-election to his seat in the House of Representatives. This he held between December 7, 1891, March 3, 1893. At the next regular congressional elections in 1892, he did not run.

After the end of his time in Congress, John Jolley withdrew from politics and worked as a lawyer again. He died in December 1926 in Vermillion.