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SAMUEL B. FINNEY is one
of the oldest residents of Delta, Fulton county, Ohio, and
he has maintained his home in Fulton county, Ohio, since the
close of the Civil war, during which he was in responsible
charge in the Union cause, being one of the personal
bodyguards of President Lincoln. Mr. Finney has
given some time to agriculture during his life, having owned
various farms in Fulton county, but he has chiefly followed
professional work, being an expert herbalist, and since 1890
established as such in Delta. He is well-known
throughout the county, and his dispensing of natural
medicines has brought health to many thousands of people
during the course of his practice as an herbalist.
He was born in Holmes county, Ohio, Aug. 22, 1832, the
son of Washington and Martha B. (Bell) Finney.
The Finney family is of Irish origin, and the
grandparents of Samuel B. Finney were both born in
Ireland. They, David and Mary Finney, were
among the pioneer residents in Holmes county, Ohio, David
Finney acquiring a ranch of 800 acres near Millersburg
of that county in 1811. There Washington Finney,
father of Samuel B., was born; there he married
Martha B. Bell; and there Samuel B., their son,
was born and grew to manhood. Anterior to the Civil
war Samuel B. Finney studied roots and medicines of
his own preparation and formula throughout a wide district.
During the Civil war he offered his services to the Union
,prepared to take any capacity in the cause of the North.
He was a man of good repute, responsible and resolute, and
was attached to the guard of President Lincoln, and
as such was stationed at Washington Barracks, District of
Columbia, for the majority of his war service. At the
conclusion of hostilities he became to Fulton county, Ohio,
and acquired a farm of forty acres, which he tilled,
although his interest was really in his medical work.
He gave much time to his profession, and in course of time
became known throughout the county as an herbalist.
With his medicines he has effected many creditable cures,
some of them cases that had reached almost the chronic
state. He has owned various farms in the county, but
his life-work must be stated to have been medicine.
Since 1890 he has been established as an herbalist in Delta,
Fulton county, Ohio, and has undertaken the treatment of
most human diseases, with success both professional and
material. Of necessity, because of octogenarian age,
he has of late years lied a somewhat retired life, but he is
an esteemed resident of Delta, and during his active years
was one of the helpful, worth-while citizens of Fulton
county.
His wife was Rachel Lee, who was born in Holmes
county, Ohio, but their long married life ended in
1912, when she died in Delta. Mr. and Mrs. Finney
were the parents of five children: Estella, who died
at the age of thirteen years; William, who died when
nine years old; Eddie, who was seven in the year of
his death; Jennie, who was the wife of Thomas
Kirkham, of West Winameg, Fulton county, Ohio; Elmer
Grant of Delta, Ohio.
As a Civil war veteran, Mr. Finney has an
honored place in national records, and honor is accorded him
locally because of his patriotic service. He followed
the progress of the recent war with great interest, and
would have liked to have been more active in it himself.
In earlier years he was somewhat prominent in the
functioning of fraternal bodies, being a member of the
Masonic and Knights of Pythias Orders. Personally he
has lived a good life of helpful and useful endeavor for his
fellow residents.
Source: Standard History of Fulton County, Ohio - by The
Lewis Publishing Company - Chicago & New York - 1920 - Page
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