My Genealogy Hound

COL. O. G. FINLEY was born in Kentucky in 1787, and came to Tennessee when a young man, locating in Lebanon in 1807. He was a son of Samuel Finley, who was born in the north of Ireland and was of Scotch descent. At what date he came to the United States is not known. He was married to Mary Gains, of Kentucky or Virginia. Col. O. G. Finley wedded Mary Lewis Johnson, of Sumner County, Tenn., in 1811, daughter of Jesse Johnson, of North Carolina, who was a Revolutionary soldier. His wife, Mary Lewis, was also born in North Carolina, and they came to Tennessee, locating in Sumner County at an early period. Col. O. G. Finley’s wife died in 1830, leaving the following children: Jesse J., William M., John B. (deceased), Foster G., Sarah A. and Mary (deceased). Col. Finley served in the Creek war, and was a member of the State Senate about 1812 or 1813, when Knoxville was the capital of the State. He was a leather manufacturer, and retired to his farm near Lebanon in 1830. He was a man of strong character, reared in Kentucky when it was a frontier State. He received a limited early education, but owing to his fondness for books and thirst for knowledge he became a finely educated man, and was pronounced by the Rev. Dr. Lindsly, president of the Nashville University, one of the best-read historians in the State. As the epitaph on his tombstone indicates, he was “an honest man.” Jesse J., his eldest son, was born in Wilson County, Tenn., November 18, 1812, and received an academic education. He was captain of mounted volunteers in the Seminole war, and afterward studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1838. He located in Arkansas in 1840, and was elected to the State Senate in 1841. He removed to Memphis, Tenn., in 1842, and began practicing law. He was elected mayor of Memphis in 1845, but a year later removed to Florida and was there elected to the State Senate in 1850, and was appointed candidate for presidential elector on the Whig ticket in 1852. He became judge of the Western Judicial Circuit of Florida in 1853, and was elected to the same two terms without opposition. In 1861 he was elected judge of the Confederate States Court, but resigned in 1862 and enlisted as a private in the Confederate Army, and arose to the rank of captain, colonel and brigadier-general. In 1871 he located in Jacksonville, Fla., and in 1874 was elected to the United States Congress, and re-elected in 1876, but declined to be a candidate in 1878. He was again elected in 1880, but is now practicing law in Ocala, Fla. He has four children: Lucius, George, Charles A. and Maggie. William M., second son of O. G. Finley, was born in Lebanon, Tenn., October 11, 1816; received an academic education, and in 1836 volunteered and served as private in the Seminole war. He returned home in 1837 and began studying medicine, and in the following fall entered the Cincinnati College of Medicine, but in 1838 removed to Transylvania University at Lexington, Ky., where the title of M. D. was conferred upon him in 1839. He traveled over the “Lone Star State,” but in 1840 located in Arkansas. In 1842 he was elected to the lower house of the State Legislature. In 1843 he removed to Clarksville, Tenn., where he practiced his profession thirty years. In 1871, owing to impaired hearing, he gave up his profession and purchased and located on the old homestead. He was last married to Mrs. V. C. (Corad) Boyd. They have two children: Virgie Lee and Jessie C. John B., third son of O. G. Finley, was born in Lebanon in 1820. He received a practical education, and early evinced a fondness for military tactics. He possessed a splendid physique, and at the commencement of the late civil war was made captain of a corps of men from Arkansas, where he then resided. Owing to disease he was compelled to resign his command, and, after several painful operations, died at Searcy, Ark., in 1868. He had taken the degree of doctor of medicine, and ranked high in the community where he practiced. Foster G., fourth son of O. G. Finley, was born in Lebanon in 1822, and received a fair English education. He was reared on his father’s farm, and immigrated to Arkansas in 1843. He soon after returned to Wilson County, Tenn., where he now resides, and is noted for his generous hospitality and kindness of heart.