Sir Heneage Finch was the first Earl of Nottingham, England (1682), and
was Lord Chancellor of England. He was descended from an old family, many of
whose numbers had attained a high eminence in the legal profession; and he
was the oldest son of Sir Heneage Finch, the Recorder of London. He was born
in Kent, December 23, 1621, educated at Westminster and became a member of
the Inner Temple, 1638; he was admitted to the bar in 1645, and became one
of the leading members thereof, being called the "English Cicero". He was
chosen a member of the Convention Parliament in 1660, and shortly afterward
appointed Solicitor-General, and in 1675 Lord Chancellor. In 1660 he was
also created a baronet, and in 1670 he was made Attorney General. He died in
Great Queen Street, Lincoln Inn Fields, December 18, 1682, and was buried in
Ravenstone in Bucks. He was spoken of as the father of equity, and was the
originator of the Statutes of Frauds, which are accepted in America and
England as universal law and justice. He also published some of the speeches
in the trials of the Judges of King Charles I, in 1660, and later emulated
himself with other publications appertaining to the execution of King
Charles I, but was not their author.
Sir Daniel Finch was the second
Earl of Nottingham, and the son of Sir Heneage Finch, was born in 1647, and
died January 1, 1730. He entered Parliament in 1679, and was one of the
privy counselors who in 1685 signed the order for the proclamation of the
Duke of York, but kept away from the court during the reign of James the II.
After the abdication of James II, he was one of the leaders of the party who
were favorable to the establishment of the Regency. He declined the office
of Lord-Chancellor under the reign of William and Mary, but accepted that of
Secretary of State, and filled that position until December, 1693, and he
also held the same office under Queen Anne in 1702, and retired in 1704. On
the accession of George the First he was made President of the Council and
withdrew from office in January 1716; on the 9th day of September, 1729, he
succeeded to the Earldom of Winchelsea and died on the 1st day of January,
1730.
Sir John Finch was a son of Sir Daniel Finch, the second Earl
of Nottingham, was counsel to the Crown under George II, in the early part
of his reign, and for his strong liberal views, and the active interest he
took in espousing the cause of liberalism he was by King George the Second,
banished from the realm, and coming to America, landed at the port of
Boston, and married somewhere in the eastern part of Massachusetts, and
after a time emigrated to New York, and founded what is taken to be the
Northern branch of the Finch family. To Sir John Finch, the banished
counselor of the court of King George the Second, were born two sons, whose
names were respectively, Isaac F. Finch and John Finch; Isaac Finch and John
Finch left their homes in the State of New York and settled in Wyoming
Valley in Pennsylvania, sometime previous to the Revolutionary war; they
engaged in the milling business in an extensive way; and when the
Revolutionary war broke out they were each at the head of a large family.
Isaac Finch enlisted in the Revolutionary war, and John remained at home
to look after the families of his brother Isaac and his own, and also their
property; they were then living in Wyoming Valley, at Fort Forty. Isaac
Finch was killed in the battle of the Wyoming Massacre, July 3, 1778, and
John and his entire family were massacred at the same time. Unto Isaac Finch
and Amy Finch, his wife, were born five sons and five daughters, and the
names of these children were: Isaac, Moses, John, Enos, Amy, Rebecca, Sarah,
Elizabeth, Mary and Solomon. On the 4th day of July, 1778, Amy Finch, the
widow of Isaac Finch, with the aid of faithful servants, loaded her
household effects into a wagon drawn by a pair of oxen, and with all the
children, excepting Isaac Finch and Amy Finch, who were then visiting in
Massachusetts, prepared to fly from the recent scene of the bloody carnival.
As the wagon was about to pull out with the household goods and children, a
number of Indians seeing one of the servants standing by the wagon, with
savage yells and flourishing tomahawks rushed upon him and with their
tomahawks dashed out his brains, bespattering with blood and brains the
five-months old baby of the deceased Isaac Finch and his widow, who was
lying upon the bed-clothing in the wagon. The name of this five-months old
baby was Solomon Finch, the last-born. The widow of Isaac Finch, together
with these children, then took their departure from the scene of the
massacre and after many days of tedious, tiresome and dangerous travel, made
their way through swamp and wilderness for some three hundred miles to
Genesee county, New York, where they were finally given shelter, food and
clothing, and abided until they were joined by the son and daughter who had
gone on the visit to Massachusetts. They finally built them a house of logs
and remained in this settlement for some years, and until the children were
grown and married.
It seems that all the children of Isaac and Amy
Finch were married in this part of New York, except Solomon, who again
returned to the scene of the battle where his father and other relatives had
met their death, and there married a Sarah Gardner, whose father owned the
battlefield on which had been fought the bloody battle of Wyoming, and here
he was married, and soon afterward returned to Genesee county, New York, and
joined his relatives. He was married on the 13th day of March, 1804.
Solomon Finch was born on the 31st day of January, 1778, married to Sarah
Gardner on the 13th day of March, 1804, and died on Elm Creek farm, Clay
county, Illinois, in June, 1851, at the age of seventy-three; and to this
union were born Rebecca, Mary, James Gardner, Almena, Solomon, Tomkins and
Amos Parm Finch. Rebecca Finch was born January 5, 1805, in the Wyoming
Valley, in Pennsylvania, married to George Shirts in Indiana, November 29,
1821, and to this union were born William Shirts, February 12, 1823, who
died in 1885; Augustus Finch Shirts, November 26, 1824; Mary E. Shirts, July
26, 1826; Angeline Shirts, November 26, 1828; Sarah Shirts, November 29,
1830, and Hiram G. Shirts, July 15, 1834; in May, 1842, after the death of
George Shirts, Rebecca Finch Shirts was married to Jay Ridgeway, to whom was
born Solomon Ridgeway. Rebecca Finch Shirts died in 1873.
Mary Finch,
born January 24, 1807, in Genesee county, New York, and was married to Hiram
Finch, son of John Finch, who was the son of Isaac Finch, November 28, 1829,
and to this union was born one son, Henry Clay Finch; Mary Finch died
December 29, 1839.
James Gardner Finch was born October 16, 1809, in
Rochester, New York, and was married to Sarah Woodborn, November 28, 1833,
settled in Clay county, in November, 1839, and to this union was born one
son, Francis M. Finch, April 29, 1837, who died in Andersonville prison,
July 27, 1864. After the death of Sarah Woodburn Finch, James Gardner Finch
married Mary Ann Purdom on the 21st day of July, 1839, and to this union
were born Walton H. Finch, October 13, 1840, and he died in Pamona,
California in 1894, leaving a large family. Cynthia C. Finch was born
February 24, 1845; John C. Finch, born January 23, 1847; George W. Finch,
born June 21, 1849, and died in Harper county, Kansas, in 1896, leaving a
large family; Henry Clay Finch, born October 1, 1852: Charles Sumner Finch,
born July 24, 1856; Florence Evaline Finch (Kelly), born March 24, 1858;
Almena Finch, born in the State of New York, January 13, 1812, married to
Stephen Knolton, afterwards to Benjamin Creus, and later to Gabriel Manly,
the latter to whom she bore one daughter, Emma Manly, July 28, 1832; Emma
Manly married A. J. Hurlock in 1862, and after his death she again married
John Ryan, in Kansas, 1876.
Emily Finch was born to Solomon and Sarah
Finch, May 12, 1816, and died October 13, 1871.
Augustus H. Finch was
born to Solomon and Sarah Finch September 1, 1818, and died November 12,
1820.
Solomon Tompkins Finch was born to Solomon and Sarah Gardner
Finch in Hamilton county, in the state of Indiana, on the 21st day of
November, 1820, and in February 1847, he moved with his parents to Clay
county, Illinois, where his mother, Sarah Gardner Finch, died June, 1847,
and on the 22d day of July 1847, he was joined in marriage with Bethsheba
Long, who was born April 15, 1831, and who was the second daughter of
Rosamond and Hanna Stanford Long, and to this union were born Rebecca
Margaret Finch in April 1852, and who died with premature consumption in
March, 1868. Mary Elizabeth Finch, who was born in Flora, Clay county,
Illinois, on the 25th day of September 1854 (being the first child born in
the city of Flora), and Solomon Tompkins Finch on the 23d day of February
1857, in the town of Flora, Illinois. On the 14th day of April 1857, Solomon
T. Finch died, leaving surviving him Bethsheba Long Finch, his widow, and
the three children, viz.: Rebecca Margaret, Mary Elizabeth and Solomon
Tompkins Finch. Solomon Tompkins Finch, son of Solomon Finch and Sarah
Gardner Finch, was the first business man in Flora, Clay county, Illinois,
having embarked there into business with one George Harter, under the firm
name of Finch & Harter, which continued until his death. In 1870 Bethsheba
Long Finch on the 15th day of February was married to John Resen Finch, who
was a son of Aaron, and grandson of John Finch, who was a brother of Moses
and Solomon Finch. To this union was born one child, Martha Luella Finch, on
the 7th day of February 1871, and on the 16th day of July 1871, Bethsheba
Long Finch departed this life.
Amos Parm Finch was married to Louisa
Griffith August 10, 1852, and to this union was born one son, Hiram Clayton
Finch, on the 11th day of May, 1854, and after the death of Louisa Griffith
Finch, Amos Parm Finch married Sarah Elizabeth Davis on the 5th day of
December, 1860, and to this union were born Rosa Belle Finch, August 21,
1861; Henry Ernest Finch, August 28, 1868; he married Sarah E. Sibler;
Clarence A. Finch, February 6, 1872, married Lulu Morrean on November 17,
1895, and Maggie Elizabeth Finch, November 3, 1875.
Mary Elizabeth
Finch was on the 3d day of February, 1876, married to John Minor Cunningham,
whose father was an early settler in Clay county, Illinois, and to this
union were born three children, viz.: Fremont Cunningham, born on the 29th
day of November, 1876, and died six years later. Nelle Cunningham was born
September 19, 1878, and was married to Jerry J. Bowman, October 22, 1902.
Max Finch Cunningham was born April 14, 1883.
Solomon Tompkins Finch
was on the 28th day of May 1884, married to Lillie Estella Pearce, the
youngest daughter of Frederick and Martha Ingrahm Pearce. The father,
Frederick Pearce having been born in Leeds, England, came to this country
with his father when he was but twelve years of age; first settled in
Western Pennsylvania, and afterward moved to the city of Pittsburg. When at
the age of manhood he married Martha Ingrahm, and in 1858, moved with his
family, which consisted of his wife and two children at that time, to
Ingrahm Prairie, Clay county, Illinois; engaged in the milling business, and
was among the first settlers of Flora. After his removal to Flora, Illinois,
his youngest daughter, Lillie Estella Pearce, was born on the 13th of
January, 1862. To the marriage of Solomon Tompkins Finch and Lillie Estella
Pearce were born two sons; Earle D. Finch, born in the city of Flora on the
14th day of March 1865, and Rollae D. Finch was born in the city of Flora on
the 7th day of September, 1887.
Solomon Tompkins Finch, after taking
a preparatory course at Loxa College entered the Michigan University, from
which college he graduated in the law department, in 1879, and after being
admitted to the bar of Illinois commenced the law practice in Flora, Clay
county, Illinois, the home of his birth.
Hiram Clayton Finch, after
graduating in medicine, entered into the practice, and in 1882 moved to
Iowa, continuing the practice and on the 6th day of October, 1882, was
married to Ausis Oliva Matthews in Jasper county, Iowa, and to them was born
one daughter, Ethel Finch, on the 29th day of December, 1884.
Moses
Finch, son of Isaac and Amy Finch, was born in the Wyoming Valley, April 15,
1771, and was married to Sarah Beanon in 1789, and to them were born eleven
sons; their names were: Isaac, Kinney, Charles, Beanon, Abraham Wheeler,
Benoni Wheeler, Moses, Archibald Wheeler, James Beanon, Nathaniel, Walter
and John. Sarah, the mother of the above sons, died in Indiana, June 17,
1831. The sons all grew to manhood. Moses Finch, after the death of Sarah,
his wife, married Manda Grange, a widow with three sons and two daughters.
To Moses Finch and Manda Grange Finch were born two daughters, Florilla and
Rebecca. Rebecca married in 1860, and she and her husband died in 1861.
Florilla married a Doctor Graydon of Southport, Indiana.
To John
Finch, son of Isaac Finch and wife, were born three sons, viz.; Jubal, John
and Cyrus. The mother of these children died, after which John Finch married
again, and by his second marriage he begot four daughters, viz.: Sarah, who
married a Dr. Amos Palmer; Elizabeth, who married a man by the name of
Davidson; Margaret, who never married, and Laura, who married a man by the
name of Meak. After the death of the mother of these children, John Finch
married the third time, and unto this marriage were born, Hiram C. Finch,
John Finch, Fabious M. Finch, who was a prominent lawyer and judge in
Indianapolis, Indiana, and lived to an advanced age. Rebecca, who married
James Holl; Angeline who married a man by the name of Williams, Cynthia
married Dr. Nathaniel Mall, and Horatio Finch studied law, and afterwards
died in San Francisco, California.
Hiram C. Finch was married to Mary
Finch, on the 28th day of November, 1829, and to this union was born one
son, Henry Clay Finch. Mary Finch died December 29, 1839, and after her
death, Hiram G. Finch married his second wife, and to this union were born
Frank, Allice, who was married to John Connor, and Horatio Finch. The name
of the second wife of Hiram G. Finch was Mariah Passwatter.
Fabious
M. Finch was married in 1810 to Mariah Allen, and to this union were born
John A. Finch and Alice Finch. John A. Finch, after having studied law, made
a specialty of the insurance law, and being associated with his father in
the law practice under the firm name of Finch & Finch, became one of the
first insurance lawyers in the United States, and compiled what is known in
the law practice as Finch's Insurance Reports. John A. Finch died suddenly
in Minneapolis, Minnesota, while on business in that city.
Fabious M.
Finch soon followed the death of his most honored son, and left surviving
his widow and Alice Finch, a most estimable and accomplished daughter,
unmarried. Aaron Finch was married in Indiana, 1823, to Mary Waddell, and
afterwards moved to Clay county, Illinois, and settled on a farm eight miles
southeast of Flora, Illinois. To Aaron Finch and his wife were born: James
Austin Finch and John Resen Finch; also a daughter, Laura. Aaron Finch died
in the early fifties. James Austin Finch was joined in wedlock with Mary P.
Griffith and studied medicine and died in the early sixties. To this union
was born one son, James Austin Finch, Mary P. Finch died in 1898. James
Austin Finch was married to Florence Brissanden, studied law, became well up
in his profession, and was elected to the office of Prosecuting Attorney of
Clay county in 1876, and afterwards located in Olney, Illinois, where he
died in the summer of 1881. To this union of James Austin and Florence
Brissanden Finch were born four children, viz: Mary, William, Laura and
James Austin.
John Resen Finch was born in Indiana, moved to Clay
county, Illinois, with his father, and settled on the farm with his father.
He first married Sarah Schooley, and to this marriage were born one daughter
and one son, viz.: Mary Matilda and William Fabious Finch. After the death
of his first wife he married Rachel Schooley, a sister of his first wife,
and to this union were born one son and one daughter, viz.: Aaron and Amy
Finch. After the death of Rachel, the second wife of John Resen Finch, he
then married Bethsheba Long Finch, and to this union was born one daughter,
viz.: Martha Louella Finch. After the death of Bethsheba Long Finch, John
Resen Finch then married one Sarah Warmath, and departed this life in 1879,
having continued to reside on the farm upon which he and his father located
upon moving to Clay county, Illinois.
Augustus Finch Shirts, who was
born to George Shirts and Rebecca Finch Shirts, was born November 26, 1824,
married to Nancy Barnhill, and to this union were born three children, viz.:
George Shirts, Mary Shirts, who married a man by the name of Baker, and
Elbert Shirts. Augustus Finch Shirts studied law, settled at Noblesville,
Indiana, became very prominent as a lawyer, and as a politician, also became
noted as the author of the history of Hamilton county, Indiana, and retired
from the law practice in 1900.
George Shirts, son of Augustus Finch
Shirts, studied law, graduated at the law department of the University of
Michigan, in 1876, entered the law practice at Noblesville, Indiana, became
eminent as a corporation lawyer, and in 1903, was selected by the Governor
of the state of Indiana, as one of the Codifying Commission, and selected by
that body as their clerk.
In the early spring of 1814, Amos Parm,
John, Moses and Solomon Finch, together with their families, went in wagons
from Genesee county, New York, to Olean Point, New York, a point on the
tributary of the Ohio river, and building a flatboat there, they floated
down the river to the Ohio river, and thence down the Ohio river to North
Bend, Ohio, the present site of Cincinnati, Ohio, and after landing there,
Solomon T. Finch took service under Gen. William H. Harrison (Old
Tippecanoe), and after the war was over still remained with him for a time
as superintendent of his plantations, the old log cabins that were famous
during the campaign of Gen. William H. Harrison as a candidate for
President. Enoch Finch settled somewhere in the eastern part of Ohio, and
Moses and John went to Brookville, Indiana, engaged to some extent in the
milling business there, and afterward went to Connersville, and were there
joined by Solomon Finch. Soon afterward Moses went to Michigan, and died
there at an advanced age.
In April, 1819, Solomon Finch and his
family and part of the family of John Finch, moved from Connersville to
Hamilton county, Indiana, and settled on what was then known as Horse Shoe
prairie, about two miles from the present site of Noblesville, Indiana, the
county seat of Hamilton county, and they were followed in the following
September by John Finch, and the remainder of his family. John Finch lived
to a ripe old age, and as shown many were his sons and daughters. He died in
Hamilton county, Indiana.
The compiler of these accounts, including
deaths, births, marriages and events, has relied upon statistics furnished
him by old members of the family in its various branches, and on the war
records furnished him from the department at Washington, and on letters from
the Lord Mayor of Nottingham, England, and on the true historical data as
furnished by reliable authors. He has compiled this short history not for
any compensation, but because he has felt that it ought to have been done by
some member of the family, but up to this time, they have all been too busy
a lot of Finchs to give it their attention.
Extracted 27 Apr 2017 by Norma Hass from 1909 Biographical and Reminiscent History of Richland, Clay & Marion Counties, Illinois, pages 211-217.
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