Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/489

Rh FINLEY, Samuel, educator, b. in County Ar- magh, Ireland, in 1715; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 17 July, 17(J6. His parents, who were of Scottish ex- traction, gave him a good education in his native country, and in 1834 he came to Philadelphia and studied for the ministry, which he had from child- hood determined.to enter. He was licensed to preach on 5 Aug., 1740, ordained by the New Brunswick presbytery, 13 Oct., 1743, and in 1743 was sent to Milford, Conn., " with allowance that he also preach for other places thereabout when Providence may open a door for him." Taking advantage of this permission, he accepted an invitation to preach to the " second society " in New Haven ; but, as this society was not recognized by the authorities, he was arrested, under a law forbidding itinerants to preach in any parish without the regular pastor's consent, indicted by the grand jury, tried, and sen- tenced to be carried out of the colony as a vagrant. In June, 1744, Mr. Finley settled as pastor of a church at Nottingham, Md., where he remained seventeen years conducting an academy, which ac- quired great reputation, and at which he prepared many young men for the ministry. In July, 1761, he was chosen to the presidency of Princeton, to succeed Samuel Davies, and the college prospered under his care. In 1763 the University of Glasgow gave him the degree of D. D., the first instance in which this honor was conferred on an American Presbyterian clergyman. Dr. Finley corresponded largely with enunent men in this country and Eu- rope, and, though he published nothing but ser- mons, was esteemed an able writer. His discourse "On the Death of President Davies ' (1761) was afterward prefixed to an edition of the latter's works. — His nephew, Samuel, soldier, b. in West- moreland county, Pa., 15 April, 1752 ; d. in Phila- delphia, Pa., 2 April, 1829, was educated by his uncle. President Finley, and settled in Martins- burg, Va. He served with distinction in the Vir- ginia cavalry during the Revolution, and rose to the rank of major. The last three years of the war he spent as a prisoner on Long Island. Gen. Wash- ington, whose personal friend he was, appointed him receiver of public moneys in the northwest, and he went, about 1796, to* what is now Chilli- cothe, Ohio, where he had been given large tracts of government land for his services in the" Revolu- tion. During the war of 1812-'15 he served as a general of militia, raising and commanding a troop of light-horse against the border Indians, who were considered allies of the British. — His brother, John, also a major in the Continental army, after- ward became an Indian trader, and in 1767, two years before Daniel Boone went to Kentucky, made a tour through that region, and brought back such glowing accounts that Boone was induced to settle there. He was one of the earliest settlers in the " Blue Licks " of Kentucky. — Clement Alexan- der, son of the younger Samuel, sui"geon, b. in Newville, Cumberland co., Pa., 11 May, 1797; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 8 Sept., 1879, was educated at Dickinson college, Pa., and received his medical de- gree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1818. He entered the army on 10 Aug. of that year as surgeon's mate of the 1st infantry, became assistant surgeon, 1 June, 1821, and surgeon, with the rank of major, 13 July, 1832. He was medical director in the field, with Gen. Jesup, Gen. Scott, and Gen. Taylor, in the Black Hawk, Seminole, and Mexican wars, and spent nearly eight years on the frontier of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Florida. Dr. Finley was with the commands that established Fort Leavenworth, Fort Gibson, and JeiTerson Bar- racks, and in 1834 accompanied Gen. Henry Dodge on one of the earliest expeditions to the Rocky mountains. He was made surgeon-general of the army, 15 May, 1861, and on 14 April, 1862, was re- tired from active service on his own application. He was brevetted brigadier-general on 13 March, 1865, " for long and faithful service," and in 1876 was granted the retired pay of a full brigadier- general. — Clement Alexander's niece, Martha, author, b. in Chillicothe, Ohio, 26 April, 1828, went with her father, Dr. James B. Finley, to Circle- ville, Ohio, about 1829, and in 1836 to "South Bend, Ind., where she was educated. After his death in May, 1851, she taught for several years, writing for the press in the evenings and holidays. Her first effort was a short newspaper-story published in New York in 1854. Miss Finley left Indiana in 1853, and lived in Philadelphia most of the time till 1876, when she removed to Elkton, Md. Under the pen-name of " Martha Farquharson " (the Gaelic translation of her surname), she has written " Elsie Dinsmore " (New York, 1868), with several sequels, the last of which is " Elsie's Kith and Kin " (1886) ; "Casella; or. The Children of the Valleys" (Phila- delphia, 1869) ; " An Old-Fashioned Boy " (Phila- delphia, 1871), with its sequel, " Our Fred " (New York, 1874) ; " Wanted, a Pedigree " (Philadelphia, 1872) ; " The Mildred Series " (6 vols.. New York, 1878-86) ; " The Thorn in the Nest," a novel (New York, 1886) ; and about sixty volumes of Sunday- school books, including the "Do-Good Library" (9 vols., Philadelphia, 1868) and the " Pewit's Nest Series " (12 vols., 1876).

FINN, Henry J., actor, b. in New York city in 1782 ; d. on Long Island sound. 13 Jan., 1840. He received his early education at schools in New Jer- sey, and studied at Princeton. Thereafter he began the study of law in New York city. He appeared on several occasions under an assumed name, as an actor of small parts, at the old Park theatre. At this time his father died, and, as his mother was impoverished, she and her son set sail for England. In London, F'inn at first was a teacher, cultivated a taste for painting, and joined a company of travel- ling players. Eventually his ability procured him an engagement at the London Haymarket theatre. In 1811 he appeared in Montreal, and thereafter played at other places, being in Savannah, Ga., in 1818-20. During the latter year he was for a brief period co-editor of the " Georgian." In 1821 the actor went again to London, occasionally playing in dramas at the Surrey theatre, and practising the art of miniature painting for a livelihood. In 1823 he once more returned to his native land. He ap- peared as an actor in Boston, where for years he was a manager and performer. In Boston he set up, successfully, for a wit and punster in the man- ner of Thomas Hood, and relinquished heroic parts for comic and eccentric characters. Among these new assumptions were Paul Pry, Billy Black, Mawworm, and Dr. Pangloss. For ten years after- ward his time was devoted to starring tours in large cities, and monologue variety entertainments in smaller places. He accumulated a handsome com- petence. Returning toward his Newport home, where he was proprietor of a straw-hat factory, he was lost on the steamer " Lexington," which was burned on Long Island sound. He left a widow and twelve children. Finn wrote several dramas that were successfully produced but never pub- lished. His " Comic Annuals " were favorably re- ceived, but their witticisms, puns, and sayings, being largely imitative, have perished.

FINNEY, Charles Grandison, clergyman, b. in Warren, Litchfield co.. Conn., 29 Aug., 1792 : d. in Oberlm, Ohio, 16 Aug., 1875. He removed with