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Mahoning County, Ohio
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Source:
20th Century History of Youngstown & Mahoning Co., Ohio
and Representative Citizens -
Publ. Biographical Publ. Co.
Chicago, Illinois -
1907
 

A B C D E F G H I J K L M
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JOHN F. FINK, a retired farmer and stock-raiser of Canfield township and one of the most prominent citizens of the little village of Cornersburg, was born Apr. 10, 1856, on his father's farm in Canfield township, Mahoning County, Ohio, and is a son of Samuel and Catherine (Lynn) Fink.
     Samuel Fink
was born in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, and came to this county with his parents, John and Catherine (Deis) Fink, when a small child.  He was one of a family of four children:  John, Samuel, Elizabeth, and Catherine, all now deceased.  John Fink who was a farmer of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, brought his family to Ohio in old fashioned covered wagons and bought a tract of virgin timber land in Poland township, Mahoning county.  On this he resided the remainder of his life, engaged in clearing and cultivating his farm.  For many years he made frequent trips between Pennsylvania and Ohio, with salt, sugar, etc., with a six-horse team, often riding one of the horses.
     Samuel Fink, father of John F., as reared on his father's farm in Poland township, and worked in the old water-wheel saw-mill, which was one of the first mills operated in this section.  After the breaking of the dam, it was run by steam.  Samuel received but little schooling and lived at home until he was married to Catherine Lynn, a daughter of Adam and Rachel (Fullwiler) Lynn.  The Lynns came from Pennsylvania, and were among the earliest settlers of Canfield township.  Adam Lynn followed farming and was one of the first postmasters of the county, there having been a post office at that time in Cornersburg.  He served as justice of the peace for 42 years, and was a stanch Democrat.  Our subject still has the old ink-stand used by Squire Lynn, who was an expert penman and use a quill pen, as is shown by the records kept at Warren, Ohio, where the Court House was then located.  He and his wife were the parents of three children:  Peter, Catherine and Ferdinand, the latter of whom is the only one living.  Samuel and Catherine Fink were the parents of seven children: Urias, deceased; Emma who died young; John Ferdinand; Rosetta, who died young; William, residing in Canfield township; Rachel (Mrs. Peter Yager), of Canfield township; and George, of Youngstown township.
     The parents of our subject started housekeeping on the old Lyun farm near the saw-mill race, and Samuel continued to operate the mill during the winter months and farmed in the summer.  He was one of the most prosperous and successful farmers of the township and at the time of his death was the owner of 100 acres of valuable farm land.  He died Apr. 15, 1903, aged 75 years, his wife having died in 1893 aged 70 years.
     John F. Fink was reared on his father's farm in Canfield township and attended the district schools.  He has always devoted his time to farming and when just a mere boy assisted with the work in the field, using the farm tools of his day, the cradle, sickle and scythe, and he well remembers when the first mower and binder were operated in that section.  He subsequently engaged in threshing, for a number of years, having an interest in an old-fashioned horse-power machine, which required eight horses to operate it.  His partners were Allen Peters and Homer Strock.  They owned six horses and the farmer for whom they worked furnished one team of horses.  Mr. Fink has a team of mules which he raised and broke when colts, one 27 and the other 28 years old, and they are now doing service on the telephone line and are pensioned by him.  They had the distinction of participating in the parade at Youngstown, Ohio, at the time of President Cleveland's first nomination, when all the men turned out with hickory brooms.  On one occasion, before the advent of the automobile, a carriage was rigged up for a parade and the mules were hitched to the back of it to, push it, and this was the first horseless carriage which appeared in Youngstown.
     Mr. Fink has 134 acres of land in Canfield township besides other property in Youngstown.  His farms are well improved in every way and he has laid 1,000 rods of tile, besides erecting all his substantial buildings.  In 1899 he retired from the farm, since when he has been engaged in business at Cornersburg, a little village about five miles from Youngstown, for the past six years dealing in wool, and shipping about one car-load a year.  Mr. Fink is one of the leading citizens of this little village, and because of his prominence, is jokingly called, "the Mayor of Cornersburg."  Politically he is a Democrat and has served for many years as school director and was a member of the committee at the time the school was built near his home.  He also served as road surveyor and ran for infirmary director, and was defeated for the latter office by only a small majority, although the county is Republican.  Fraternally he is connected with Eagles, at Youngstown, and of the Foresters of America of which he has been treasurer for 13 years.  He is a member of the Zion Reform Church, at North Canfield, and has served in all the offices of that church, and was chairman of the building committee at the time of the erection of the church edifice.
     Mr. Fink was married Nov. 11, 1877, to Rosetta Lynn, a daughter of Jesse and Elizabeth (Vohler) Lynn  She was born Mar. 10, 1854, in Beaver township, Mahoning County.  Her mother died when she was but nine days old and her father subsequently married Mary Beaver.  he followed farming in Beaver township all his life.  "Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. FinkWard, who married Bertha Lentz, has one child, Lucetta Catherine, engaged in farming and stock-raising on the home farm of 100 acres, in Canfield township; Netta Viola, who married Joseph Deckon of Youngstown; Jesse Floyd, who married Edna Campbell, has one child, John Edward, and resides on a small farm in Canfield township, which is owned by his father; and Oliver Francis, who lives at home.
Source: 20th Century History of Youngstown & Mahoning Co., Ohio and Representative Citizens - Publ. Biographical Publ. Co. - Chicago, Illinois - 1907 - Page 832

 
John Frech

 

JOHN FRECH

Source: 20th Century History of Youngstown & Mahoning Co., Ohio and Representative Citizens - Publ. Biographical Publ. Co. - Chicago, Illinois - 1907 - Page 799

NOTES:

 

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