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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. Fink: Ward,
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 |
