Joseph Libbey Folsom

Joseph Libbey Folsom (May 19, 1817 – July 19, 1855) was a U.S. Army officer and real estate investor in the early days of California's statehood. He is the founder of what is now Folsom, California. Folsom's controversial purchase of Rancho Rio de los Americanos from the heirs of a San Francisco merchant William Alexander Leidesdorff remained tied up in litigation for many years, eventually reaching the Supreme Court of California after Folsom's death.

Joseph Folsom was born on Monday, May 19, 1817 in Meredith, New Hampshire. He was the fourth child of Abraham Folsom and Mary Libbey. Descendants of a family that first arrived at Hingham, Massachusetts in the seventeenth century, and subsequently moved on to Exeter, New Hampshire, Abraham Folsom and his wife lived in a home near the northwest corner of Lake Winnipesaukee. Joseph had 5 siblings: Sally T. Folsom, George C. Folsom, Decatur A. Folsom, Charles P. Folsom, and Frank C. Folsom. Abraham Folsom died on Saturday, February 28, 1824, at the age of 46. Joseph was only 6 years old at the time of his father's death. Shortly after, the family moved 27 miles (43 km) southwest to Northfield, New Hampshire.

In June 1836, at the age of eighteen, Joseph became a cadet at the Military Academy at West Point. Four years later, in June 1840, he graduated with honors. On November 3, 1840, he held the rank of Second Lieutenant in the 5th infantry of the U.S. Army. He served under the command of General William J. Worth in Florida during the Second Seminole War. In 1844, he returned to the Academy at West Point where he served as an Instructor of infantry tactics for two years.

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