Fayette County PA Archives Biographies.....Finley Jr, Ebenezer October 24, 1804 - ????
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Marta Burns marta43@juno.com September 21, 2024, 1:33 pm

Source: Gresham and Wiley, 1889: Biographical & Portrait Cyclopedia, Fayette Co, PA, page 332
Author: John H. Gresham & Samuel T. Wiley

    Ebenezer Finley Jr is a prominent citizen of Menallen township, and a
member of one of the best known and most reliable families of Fayette county.
He is a grandson of the scholarly and able Rev James Finley who was the
first minister to plant the banner of Presbyterianism west of the
Alleghenies.
    Ebenezer Finley Jr was born in Fayette county, Penna, October 24, 1804,
and is the son of Ebenezer Finley Sr.  His mother's name was Violet Lowry.
    His grandfather, the Rev James Finley, was a native of Cecil county,
Maryland, came to Fayette county in 1765 on a missionary tour and to seek
out land locations for his sons.  He made a second trip in 1767 and a
third trip in 1771 when he purchased a large tract of land on Dunlap's
Creek.  He was instrumental in bringing thirty four Presbyterian families
from Maryland into Fayette county and establishing five churches of his
religious faith in Southwestern Pennsylvania.  He had charge of Rehoboth
church in Westmoreland county, Penna, in 1783, and died in 1795 having
faithfully spent a long life in the service of his Divine Master.  
    Ebenezer Finley Sr when fourteen years of age came from Maryland to
Fayette county, labored on the farm, and had a perilous adventure with
Indians near Fort Wallace while serving as a soldier on the frontier.  
    He erected one of the first saw mills and grist mills in the county, 
and was a prominent and useful citizen till his death in 1849, aged eighty
eight years.  He now sleeps with his four wives in Dunlap's Creek
graveyard.  Four of his sons: Ebenezer Finley Jr; Robert Finley, deceased;
and Eli H Finley settled on different parts of the Finley estate.
    Ebenezer Finley Jr was raised on a farm and received but the limited
educational privileges of his boyhood days.  He was married on February 9,
1826, to Miss Phebe Woodward, daughter of Caleb Woodward, a skillful
mechanic who came from Chester county, Penna.  They had ten children:
Caleb W Finley, born January 15, 18??, died April 13, 1877; Ebenezer L
Finley, born October 2, 1828, died September 10, 1849; Robert F Finley,
born May 29, 1830; Evans Finley, born August 16, 1832; Elijah V Finley,
born July 10, 1834, died November 25, 1859; James G Finley, born April
16, 1836; Phebe Jane Finley, born July 25, 1840; Albert W Finley, born
March 23, 1843; John Huston Finley, born April 7, 1847; and Violet
Finley, born April 18, 1849.  
    The oldest son, the Rev Caleb Woodward Finley, was pastor of the
Presbyterian church at London, Madison county, Ohio, for twenty one years
where he died in 1877.  Robert Finley is living in Colorado.  Phebe Jane
Finley married John Thomas Porter and they now reside in Alco, Alabama.
Dr John Huston Finley was killed at Streator, Illinois, November 16,
1883, in a railroad collision.  Violet Finley married Dr C D Chalfant and
resides at Streator, Illinois.
    Albert W Finley, the seventh son, was educated in the common schools,
Dunlap's Creek Academy and Duff's Business College, Pittsburgh, Penna;
taught school for two years and has since been engaged in farming.  He
married on July 18, 1872, Emma Mosier, a daughter of William L Mosier of
Georges township, and granddaughter of John De Ford, one of the pioneers
of Fayette county.  
    A W Finley early in life became a member of the Dunlap's Creek
Presbyterian church, and has been for some time a ruling elder in the
Presbyterian church at New Salem, where he now resides.
    In 1876 Ebenezer Finley Jr and wife celebrated the golden anniversary of
their marriage and their sixty third anniversary February 9, 1889.  He has
been identified with the temperance cause in Fayette county for over half
a century, and for forty years has been president of the New Salem
Temperance Society.
    On August 13, 1834, he was elected a ruling elder in the Dunlap's Creek
Presbyterian church and has served as such ever since.  He has been a very
useful man in Fayette county, settled thirty eight estates, written sixty
four wills, seventy one deeds, has been executor, administrator, guardian
and assignee.  He served three years as poor house director, and in 1841
was elected school director in Menallen township.  
    Mr Finley is implicitly trusted by all who know him; his word is as good
as his bond.  He and his wife are a hale, hearty, well preserved old
couple, although past their four score years.  He is well versed in the
local and early history of Menallen and adjoining townships, and is
highly respected by his neighbors for his many good qualities of head and
heart.  

Additional Comments:
Originally submitted 2000.

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