William Finley

Brief Life History of William

When William Finley was born on 3 August 1814, in Ireland, his father, Thomas Finley, was 39 and his mother, Jane F Lyle, was 35. He married America Elvira Gault on 27 December 1838, in Sparta, Randolph, Illinois, United States. They were the parents of at least 5 sons and 4 daughters. He lived in Tilden, Randolph, Illinois, United States in 1880 and Kickapoo, Leavenworth, Kansas, United States in 1880. He died on 5 September 1888, in Coulterville, Randolph, Illinois, United States, at the age of 74, and was buried in Hill Prairie Cemetery, Sparta, Randolph, Illinois, United States.

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Family Time Line

William Finley
1814–1888
America Elvira Gault
1817–1868
Marriage: 27 December 1838
John Steele Finley
1839–1922
Thomas Hugh Finley
1841–1916
Sarah Elizabeth Finley
1843–1927
Jane Lyle Finley
1845–1931
Nancy Askins Finley
1847–1908
Mary Elvira Finley
1850–1925
William Henderson Finley
1852–1855
James Melville Finley
1854–1922
Charles M. Finley
1856–1938

Sources (24)

  • William Finley, "United States Census, 1870"
  • William Finley, "Illinois, County Marriages, 1810-1940"
  • William Finley, "Illinois, Deaths and Burials, 1749-1999"

World Events (8)

1818

Illinois is the 21st state.

1819 · Panic! of 1819

With the Aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars the global market for trade was down. During this time, America had its first financial crisis and it lasted for only two years. 

1836 · Remember the Alamo

Being a monumental event in the Texas Revolution, The Battle of the Alamo was a thirteen-day battle at the Alamo Mission near San Antonio. In the early morning of the final battle, the Mexican Army advanced on the Alamo. Quickly being overrun, the Texian Soldiers quickly withdrew inside the building. The battle has often been overshadowed by events from the Mexican–American War, But the Alamo gradually became known as a national battle site and later named an official Texas State Shrine.

Name Meaning

Scottish and Irish: from the Gaelic personal name Fionnlagh (Old Irish Findlaech), from fionn ‘white, fair’ (see Finn ) + laoch ‘hero’, reinforced by an Old Norse name based on finn ‘Finn’ + leikr ‘fight’ or ‘hero’. The name is common in Ireland as well as Scotland.

English: habitational name from one or more lost, unidentified or altered placenames so named, such as Philleyholme, Dorset (recorded as Finelegh in 1280) derived from Old English fīna ‘wood-pecker’ + lēah ‘woodland clearing’. Also a variant of Findlow, from Finlow Hill in Over Alderley, Cheshire (from Old English fīn ‘heap’ + hlāw ‘mound, hill’ meaning ‘heaped mound’).

Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.

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