Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/207

 VIRGINIA P.IOGRAPHY

wood Dodson ; Harry V., of Alarshalltown, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Dodson are the parents of: Elizal)eth Speers. born April 23, 1909; Eleanor, born August 9, 191 1; Ernest L., Jr., ])orn November 18, 1913.

Adam Tyree Finch, M. D. The Finch family of Virginia, of which Adam T. Finch, of Chase City, is a twentieth century repre- sentative, springs from Adam Finch, who according to the records of Charlotte county, Virginia, received a grant of several thou- sand acres of land in that county from the English king. F'our generations of the family have been seated in Mecklenburg county. Adam F'inch, grandfather of Dr. Adam T. Finch, taught the first school in Chase City. The family have ever been large landowners and planters, men of honor, influence and high standing. Through intermarriages Dr. Finch is connected with the important Goode, Carter and Bacon families of Virginia and with many of the Colonial families of the state. Dr. Adam T. Finch is a son of Tyree Goode Finch, grandson of Adam Finch and great-grand- son of Zachariah and Mary A. Finch, all of Mecklenburg county.

(II) Adam Finch, son of Zachariah Finch, was born June 23. 1800, died October 4, 1874. He was a teacher and preacher of the early day, belonging to the Virginia confer- ence of the Methodist Episcopal church, and is credited with having taught the first school in Chase City. He married, Decem- ber 24, 1824, Lucy Swepson Goode, born about the year 1800, died June 12, 1859, daughter of William and Alary (Tabb or Tabbs") Goode, a lineal descendant of the "founder" of the Goode family in Virginia. Children : Langston Easley. born October 24, 1825; Richard Henry. April 24, 1827; William Edward, December 21, 1830; Thomas Zachariah, August 29, 1833; George Beverly, February 27, 1837; Tyree Goode, of further mention : Adam Thomas. George Beverly Finch, a captain in Pickett's divi- sion of the Confederate army, charged at the head of his company, and though he sur- vived the gallant charge, made by the divi- sion at Gettysburg, brought back with him from that field a Federal bullet that was not removed from his body until twenty years afterwards. He was a lawyer and practiced in Mecklenburg county until his death in 1900.

(HI) Tyree Goode i'^inch, next to the youngest son of Adam and Lucy S. (Goode) Finch, was born .\pril 27, 1840, died in 1886, a farmer. He served in the quartermaster's department of the Third Regiment Virginia Cavalry, Confederate States army, returning after the war to the farm. He married Mary, daughter of Colonel Little Bacon, a descend- ant of Nathaniel Bacon, of the house of bur- gesses. Colonel liacon married a Miss Car- ter, of Virginia.

(IV) Dr. Adam Tyree Finch, of Chase City, was born February 29, 1872, son of Tyree (joode and Mary (Bacon) Flinch. He prej)ared in the public schools of Mecklen- burg county, entered Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1889 and was graduated Bach- elor of Science, class of 1893. ^^^ decided to become a physician, and in the fall of 1893 entered the medical department of the University of Virginia, wdience he gradu- ated Doctor of Medicine, class of 1896. He remained at the University as instructor in clinical medicine. In 1908 he became com- mandant of cadets and professor of physi- ology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute at hUacksburg, Alontgomery county, Virginia, a post he retained until 1901. During the time between graduation and his locating in private practice in Chase City, Dr. Finch was, in addition to the foregoing, physician at Bufi'alo Lithia Springs until 1902, retain- ing that post for one year after locating in Chase City. Since 1902 he has devoted him- self entirely to his Chase City practice and has there gained honorable reputation as physician and citizen. He is a member of the American and Virginia State Medical societies, has contributed timely and valua- ble articles to the medical journals and is the author of "A Hand Book of the University of Virginia." For sixteen years he has been connected with the Virginia National Guard as surgeon and has served as major of the medical corps of V^irginia. He is one of the present health officers of the county, and as a memlx^r of Chase City council served as chairman of the sanitary water and sewage commission, organized to supervise the con- struction and building of the present water, light and sewage system of the city. He is modern in his methods of treatment and fully in sympathy with advanced ideas on sanitation and prevention. In political faith he is a Democrat, in religious belief a Meth- odist, and in fraternal connection, a member