John Gately Downey (June 24, 1827 – March 1, 1894) was an Irish-American politician and the seventh governor of California from January 14, 1860, to January 10, 1862. Until the taking of the office of Governor of California of Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2003, Downey was the only governor of California to be born outside the United States. Downey was also the first man from Southern California to serve as governor. Early years Downey was born on June 24, 1827, in the townland of Castlesampson, Taughmaconnell parish, County Roscommon, in central Ireland, to Denis Downey and Bridget Gately. Castlesampson is 12 kilometres west of the town of Athlone. He emigrated with his family at the age of 14 to the United States in 1842, before the famine years. Settling in Charles County, Maryland, the Downeys joined two stepsisters who had already settled in the U.S. Dwindling family finances forced Downey to halt his education at age 16 and start working to become independent. He apprenticed at an apothecary in Washington, D.C. until 1846. Career Downey relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he worked as a druggist. Like many who heard about the California Gold Rush, Downey decided to go West. He stopped along the way at Vicksburg, Mississippi; then Havana, Cuba and finally New Orleans, Louisiana. By 1849, Downey had arrived in California, briefly prospecting in Grass Valley before finding a job at a drug store in San Francisco. He soon moved to Los Angeles, and he was elected for a one-year term to the Los Angeles Common Council in May 1852 and again in May 1856. He resigned from the council in December 1856. A Lecompton Democrat who favored slavery in the Kansas Territory, Downey was elected as a member of the lower house California State Assembly for the 1st District, serving from 1856 to 1857. In the 1859 general elections, Downey was elected Lieutenant Governor, overcoming the party split within the Democratic Party between Lecompton and Anti-Lecompton Democrats, as well as seeing off a challenge from the infant Republican Party. Governorship Five days after Downey was sworn in as lieutenant governor, Governor Milton Latham resigned after being elected (by the State Legislature) to fill the federal Senate vacancy left by the death of David C. Broderick, killed in a duel in 1859. Downey assumed the governorship on January 14, 1860. During Downey's governorship, the Assembly and Senate passed the "Bulkhead