He had a bunch of kids by his first wife, Sarah Margaret Petty, daughter of Elizabeth Finch and James Petty. Her birthdate and genetic proximity to him are difficult to determine from the Finch Families of Dixie book. These kids were not all wiped out in 1898 and there are plenty of those descendants still walking around today, who I'd love to hear from.
His second wife Ariadne Spangler (who begat CB jr. who begat my dad) died in 1956 or so. My sister Carol has pictures of her.
This is really long Rosie, maybe you should run it in installments...
I don't know if everyone, or anyone is as confused about this as I am,
but often some of the people mentioned in the newsletter, I've never heard
of at all. It's just way too embarassing to site examples so what I'd like
to see is sort of a family tree with who's related to who and in what way.
For example, Mrs. Correll is an old friend, (tenant?) of Grandma Finch's
but is related to the family in no other way, right? I mean she wasn't
married to anyone ever or anything was she. I'm just curious about these
things. The older generation always assumes we kids (if that's what I am)
understand much more than we do about all this.
So that I won't be putting someone else to alot of work I'm not willing
to engage in myself, I'd like to show what my reading of the 'Finch Families
of Dixie - 300 Years in the South' book which I got from Dad, (who got
it from Grandma) uncovered that I found important.
First of all, the title of the book is wrong, it should say: 'Finch Families
of Dixie - 350 Years in the South'
I think we all understand how we are related to Beulah Ludwick Finch, my
Grandmother, who died it seems to me very recently.
Beulah Ludwick's mother was Viola, who's father was Rennie Woodson, who's
father was Mosby Arnold Finch. So Mosby Arnold Finch was Grandma's great-grandfather.
As it so happens Mosby was also Cornelius Barnett Junior's grandfather,
which makes Beulah and CB Finch 2nd cousins. This probably explains some
of my father's strange behaviour. This put's Grandma in the position of
having a great-grandfather who was also her grandfather-in-law by marriage.
I find that fascinating. Most people I talk to have a story like this in
their not too distant family.
By the way, my middle name, Ludwick, comes from Grandma, who named my father
Curtis Ludwick Finch to honor her father, who feared since he had no sons
that his family name would die with him. Ludwick is an extremely rare name.
He changed his name from Ludwig to Ludwick after WWI to appear less German
(wouldn't have fooled me.) Since I haven't named any of my children Ludwick
in any way, it looks like he might have been right. I just thought of that.
My great-grandfather, CB Finch the first, was born in 1844 and lived until
1934, which was pretty old for back then. Geneva told me a story about
the funeral once in the rain down at the 'homeplace' at horseshoe bend
on the James River, which now is in the possesion of Steve Finch, one of
CB's brother's (John I think) adopted grandson's (or sons, I'm not sure
which.) I've been there, it's a magnificent piece of of property. I'm sure
many of you or your wives or children have never seen it, and that's a
shame. It's part of your heritage. It's been in the family for around 130
years now. It's nearly a square mile of land. CB Finch's 1st wife died
in a typhoid epidemic around 1900 with all of his children (4 or 5?) except
perhaps one, Geneva knows the rest of that story too. The unbelievable
tradgedy of such a thing is hard to imagine. He remarried to Ariandne Spangler
which ultimately is who I'm descended from. Geneva describes him very clearly
as well as the history of the 'homeplace' land and it's wonderful to hear
her talk about him.
Mosby Arnold was born 1817 and had apparently 3 kids, Alfred, Sarah Frances (later Woodson) and CB the first. Mosby is my great-great-grandfather. He died in 1884. His wife 2 years after.
Barnett Finch was probably born around 1800 and was married in 1819. He is my great-great-great-grandfather.
His father was John Finch. He may have been John Barnett Finch described in page 215 of the book by the following passage: "The John mentioned in John Barnett's will may be the John Barnett Finch who served as a Colonel in the British Army during the Revolution. We are inclined to wonder if there was a John and a Barnett or if he dropped the John from his name." But we know he was in Cambell county in the late 1700's in several censuses. Born around 1750 or so and probably lived in Amherst County, right outside of what was soon to become Lynchburg. It's interesting to me that my family has been hanging around those same mountains for 230 years. He's a little confusing and mysterious, but nevertheless John Barnett Finch was my great-great-great-great-grandfather. He was born prior to 1754, and moved to Cambell Co, before 1763.
So apparently our family has a habit of fighting on the wrong side in wars. Better to avoid them if at all possible, as we all seem to have miraculously done in this century.
Blagdon Finch was born in 1725 and had a will made in apparently 1754 but did not die until at least 1800 probably. He had a bunch of kids by probably two wives. His first wife was Elizabeth Barnett. This is how the name Barnett entered our family in around 1760 by that marriage. This is where CB Finch got his middle name and where my son Logan Andre Barnett Finch, born 232 years later, got his. It's an old family name. Blagdon was my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather.
Blagdon's father was John. Probably lived 1680 to 1735 or so, perhaps a bit longer. He had sons Tom, Richard and Blagdon. John was my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather.
Richard Finch died before 1686. His wife was Dorothy. After she drove him to an early grave she married a guy named Abbington and did the same to him. Then she married a guy named Parsons, who must have been a very brave man indeed. One would guess that Richard was born around 1640 or so. Richard was probably born in the U.S. (although it wasn't yet called the U.S.) or came here as a very young child. We don't know who his parents were. He was living in Westmoreland county when he died. Richard was my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather. Or shall we say he was my great^7-grandfather.
The Finches have been living in Virginia since 135 years before this country was a country, probably since 1640. We've been living around Lynchburg/Roanoke since around 1760, also before this country was a country.
No Finch men to my knowledge in our lineage have ever divorced or deserted their wives or children. Most of them have usually lived relatively long lives. None of them have ever been rich or famous. All of them eventually died, which is one of those unfortunate genes we've all picked up.
Ask the people you work with when their families came to America. You'll find that most of them came here less than 100 years ago. Although I've never met a snobby Finch, try to avoid it anyway as you tell them we founded the joint. (Try to avoid talking to Indians, who've been here for 20,000 years.)
Another way to look at it is that we got kicked out of all the decent countries far earlier than your average American.
My mother was originally Marlene Lucille Johnson. Her mom was Maefield Glenna Hare Johnson and her dad was Alexander (called Lex or Buck) Johnson. My grandmother Maefield died in 1996 at the age of 97, being born in 1899. Never learned to drive. Walked alot. Hence she lived forever. Grew her own tomatos. She loved gardening and growing flowers. Loved cats, dogs, and parakeets. Raised 3 kids and 1 teenager plus her grandson after her husband got run over by a train in 1944 with no money, skills, or welfare payments. She did collect a small amount of Social Security. Somehow.
Here is what Mom wrote about her mother's parents.
Old Johnson Homeplace stood where the Lower Cascades Golf Course is now. The Homestead bought the Johnson property back in the 1920's, and the money from the sale was split among all of the children. Mama and Daddy lived (at one time) in an old school house, which is no longer there. There is a tan house with red shutters there now. There is also a sign that reads Lower Cascades Gold Club and a road there that leads off of route 220. It is on the right. Aunt Mamie and Uncle Boyd (Daddy's brother) lived where lower Cascades is on right after turning off of rt. 220 to the left, and spot where they lived is on right. I remember going there once as a child and having home made ice cream out on the lawn. It was a big brick house. All of this is near Cedar Creek. Grandaddy Johnson also had a store there, and there was an old stage coach inn called the Homestead. It was at the upper part of the lower Cascades. We have a picture of the old home place which sat on a knoll. We also have a picture of the old Homestead and store. We found our great grandfather's grave. Selena said there was supposed to be a stone marking his grave beside of the road (route 220), and we found it. There are 2 flat stones, and a couple of stones sitting upright under a dog wood tree with some flowers planted there. It is not far from where the house stood. We went to the cemetery where our grandparents are buried as well as some of Daddy's brothers and sisters. It is a cemetery at Mt. Hope Methodist Church. Grandmother Johnson was Selena Francis Bowyer Johnson, b April 18, 1846, d Jan 24, 1917. Granddaddy Johnson was Bernard Johnson, b May 4, 1844, d July 11, 1926. We went to Bacova on the Jackson River Turnpike to get there. Two of Daddy's siblings who are buried there are Aunt Maude Williams, b Jan 15, 1882, d Jan. 26, 1978 and Uncle Pete Johnson, b Dec 19, 1871, d Dec 26, 1947. This is a start on the Johnson family history. I have tried to research more on the internet without any luck. I will try again.