John Harvey Folks was born August 3, 1837, in Claremont, Ohio.

In August 1861, he enlisted and fought through the Civil War with the 26^th Illinois Infantry.  At the end of the war, with the rank of Captain, he moved to Wellington, Kansas.  Thereafter, he commonly went by “Capt. Folks”.

In 1865, he married Rebecca Jane “Jennie” Mallow, who died in 1870.

In March 1872, he and a partner (Ludlow) began the Oxford Weekly Press in Oxford, Kansas.  At the end of the first year, they moved the entire outfit to Wellington and began the Sumner County Press.  Folks’ interest was bought out in 1881.

On April 7, 1875, he married Frances A. Norton in Topeka, Kansas.  In 1875-1877, he served as Secretary at the Kansas State Senate.  In 1877-1881, he was the Sumner, Kansas, County Coroner.

In 1884, “for health reasons”, he and his wife drove a mule team across the plains from Kansas to San Diego, where he entered the real estate business.

In 1890, he was elected Sheriff of San Diego County and began serving in January 1891.  There were several posted notices in the papers lauding his performance as Sheriff.

Although Sheriff, he was generally called “Capt. Folks” in most newspaper articles.

In May 1891, the Board of Supervisors issued an “order” requiring the Sheriff to reduce the number of his deputies to six.  Capt. Folks replied that he has never had to exceed six deputies.  The San Diego Union (May 18, 1891) reported “The sheriff’s office has made a splendid record for itself since January 1.  It has considerably more than paid expenses, as will be seen by the figures furnished from the sheriff’s books, quoted in Cap. Folks’ communication.  The Union understands that this is the first time in the history of this county that the sheriff’s office has been a source of profit to the county.  Capt. Folks will not be forgotten by the people.”

However, in July 1892, a grand jury found that the Sheriff had an arrangement with the Sun Publishing company, where when the Sheriff’s office had the Sun print legal notices, the Sun would return 30% of the revenues back to Sheriff Folks.  The grand jury indicted him and it went to trial.  On August 24, 1892, a jury found him guilty, and the court ordered Folks removed from office as soon as the Board of Supervisors could fill the position.  The Board appointed Augustus K. Cravath as Sheriff to fill out the rest of the year.  Cravath declined to run for election at the end of the year and Ben P. Hill was elected to begin serving in 1893.

After living in San Diego 15 years (1899), they moved to Los Angeles, where he entered the pension business.  He continued there until 1914, when they moved to take up a claim near Indio.

He died October 12, 1918, at his home in Los Angeles and was buried in La Vista Cemetery in National City.  He was survived by his wife, Mrs. Frances A. (Norton) Folks, two daughters – Mrs. H.B. Light and Mrs. Edna J. Johnson, and a son, John R. Folks (in Korea as of ex-Sheriff Folks’ death).