Western Pennsylvania Genealogy
Compiled by Douglas H. Lusher


Family Group Record



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Ebenezer Finley and Margery Cunningham




Husband Ebenezer Finley 1 2 3 4 5

           Born: 30 Dec 1758 or 28 Dec 1760 - Cecil Co, MD 3 4 5
     Christened: 
           Died: 18 Jan 1849 4 5
         Buried:  - Dunlap's Creek Cemetery, Fayette Co, PA


         Father: Rev. James Finley (1725-1795) 2 3 5 6 7 8 9
         Mother: Hannah Evans (1715-1795) 4 5 10


       Marriage: 14 Mar 1805 3

   Other Spouse: Jane Kinkaid (1762-1793) 3 5 11 - 29 Jan 1782 3

   Other Spouse: Violet Lowrey (1775-1804) 3 5 11 - 8 Apr 1794 3

   Other Spouse: Mrs. Sarah Jones (1769-1847/1848) 5 11 - 1822 3



Wife Margery Cunningham 5 11

            AKA: Marjory Cunningham 3
           Born: 11 Apr 1769 or 1770 3 5 11
     Christened: 
           Died: 27 Jan or 27 Jun 1822 3 5 11
         Buried:  - Dunlap's Creek Cemetery, Fayette Co, PA


Children
1 M Eli H. Finley 5 11

           Born: 6 Apr 1807 - Redstone Twp, Fayette Co, PA 5 11
     Christened: 
           Died: 7 Jan 1892 5 11
         Buried: 
         Spouse: Maria Baird (      -      ) 12


2 M Robert Finley 5 11 13 14




           Born: 4 Apr 1809 - Redstone Twp, Fayette Co, PA 5 11 13 14
     Christened: 
           Died: 7 Oct 1874 - Redstone Twp, Fayette Co, PA 3 5 11 13
         Buried: 
         Spouse: Catharine Caruthers (      -1842/1842) 11 13
           Marr: 23 Jan 1833 11 13
         Spouse: Anne Hurford (1816-1895) 3 13
           Marr: 13 May 1845 11 13


3 F Margaret Finley 5 11

           Born: 29 Nov 1810 5 11
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 




General Notes: Husband - Ebenezer Finley


He settled on Dunlap's Creek, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, in 1772.

When fourteen years of age he came from Maryland to Fayette County, Pennsylvania, labored on the farm. He erected one of the first sawmills and grist-mills in the county, and was a prominent and useful citizen till his death, aged eighty-eight years. Four of his sons, Ebenezer, Jr., Robert (deceased), and Eli H. settled on different parts of the Finley estate.

He played a conspicuous part in a perilous adventure with Indians near Fort Wallace in 1776. "Finley had gone from Dunlap's Creek on a short tour of militia duty to the frontier as a substitute for Samuel Finley, then in charge of the Finley farm. While Finley was at Fort Wallace tidings were brought by a man on horseback in breathless haste that Indians had made their appearance at a little distance; that he had left two men and a woman on foot trying to make their way to the fort; and that unless immediately protected or rescued they would be lost. Some eighteen or twenty men, among whom was young Finley, started immediately for their rescue. About a mile and a half from the fort they came unexpectedly upon a considerable force of savages. They were for a while in the midst of them. A sharp fire began immediately, and a zig-zag running fight took place. Our people making their way back toward the fort, numbers of them were shot down or tomahawked.
"Finley's gun would not go off. He stopped for a moment to pick his flint and fell behind. An Indian was seen leveling his gun at him, but was fortunately shot down just at the moment. Being fleet of foot, Finley was soon abreast of his companions, and in passing around the root of a tree, by a quick motion of his elbow against his companion's shoulder, succeeded in passing him, when, the next moment, this comrade sunk beneath the stroke of a tomahawk. A Mr. Moore, seeing Finley's imminent danger from a bridge upon which he stood, stopped, and by his well-directed fire again protected him and enabled him to pass the bridge. At last, after several doublings and turnings, the Indians being sometimes both in the rear and ahead of him, he reached the fort in safety. But the most remarkable part of the matter remains to be told. Mr. Finley, the father, then at home east of the mountains, three hundred miles off, had, as he thought, one day a strange, undefinable impression that his son was in imminent danger of some kind, but he could form no distinct conception of its nature or cause. He betook himself to intense and agonizing prayer for his son, continued in this exercise for some time, felt at length relieved and comforted, as though the danger was past. It was altogether to himself an extraordinary thing, such as he had never before experienced. He made a note of the time. A few weeks afterwards he received from his son an account of his narrow escape from death. The time corresponded exactly with the time of Mr. Finley's strange experience. This is the substance of the statement we have received. Its accuracy, in its most essential features, may be relied on. What shall we say of it? Mr. Finley was a man of most scrupulous veracity. We leave the simple statement of the case to the reflections of the reader." [HFC 1882, 725]

He was an elder of Dunlap's Creek Presbyterian Church for seventy years, and for half a century ruling elder.

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Sources


1 Franklin Ellis, History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 725.

2 John M. Gresham, Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Fayette County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: John M. Gresham & Co., 1889), Pg 332.

3 —, Nelson's Biographical Dictionary and Historical Reference Book of Fayette County, Pennsylvania (Uniontown, PA: S. B. Nelson, Publisher, 1900), Pg 1136.

4 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1912), Pg 325.

5 Charles A. Hanna, Ohio Valley Genealogies (New York, 1900), Pg 36.

6 Franklin Ellis, History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 653, 737.

7 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1912), Pg 324.

8 John S. Van Voorhis, The Old and New Monongahela (Pittsburgh, PA: Nicholson, Printer and Binder, 1893), Pg 158.

9 Fenwick Y. Hedley, Old and New Westmoreland, Vols. III & IV (New York, NY: The American Historical Society, Inc., 1918), Pg 1243.

10 Fenwick Y. Hedley, Old and New Westmoreland, Vols. III & IV (New York, NY: The American Historical Society, Inc., 1918), Pg 1244.

11 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1912), Pg 326.

12 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1912), Pg 327.

13 Franklin Ellis, History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 737.

14 —, Nelson's Biographical Dictionary and Historical Reference Book of Fayette County, Pennsylvania (Uniontown, PA: S. B. Nelson, Publisher, 1900), Pg 1135.


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