Found her on the 1860 Township 3, San Mateo, California census (img 19) as
Minny Finger age 34.
Found her on the 1870 Township 3, San Mateo, California census (img 6) as
Wilhelmina Finger age 43, born Saxony.
Found her on the 1880 Redwood City, San Mateo, California census (dist 238 img 30) as
Margaret W. Finger age 53.
In 1906 she moved to Santa Barbara to live with her son
Henry. She made at least two trips back to Redwood City from Santa Barbara. One of the visits took place in 1909, when she took part in the Fourth of July parade that also marked Redwood City's Golden Jubilee. This time she rode in a car in earlier parades she had ridden in a wagon pulled by mules. Her journey back to Redwood City in 1913 was her final one she died at son Henry's home in Santa Barbara on December 8, 1913, at the age of eighty-seven.
Mrs. Finger spent her long life in doing good, alleviating the suffering of others and assisting the needy. She was known for feeding anyone in the area who turned up hungry at her back door.
More remarkably, Mrs. Finger is said to have been the only woman in the United States entitled to a pension for personal services during the Mexican War. She ministered to the sick and injured during the Mexican war, through which her husband fought as a United States soldier. Because of her work, the Government awarded her a medal at the centennial exposition in 1876.
Mina Finger's pallbearers included some of the leading town luminaries. They included P.P. Chamberlain (a town trustee who operated the Dillard Store), Chase Littlejohn (whose parents were also early settlers of Redwood City, his father, William, had died in 1907), Dr. Joseph L. Ross (who would become one of the three purchasers of the Finger Park Tract), Ludwig P. Behrens (president of the Board of Trustees of the Sequoia Union High School), Robert Brown (he and his wife Lydia had been early settlers in the West Union area), and J.F. Utter. (Both Chamberlain and Brown had served as two of Theodore Finger's pallbearers in 1887.)
Her service was held at the Congregational Church and conducted by Reverend C.H. Stevens.
Death Certificate
Her tombstone reads 'Mina wife of Theodore Finger 1827 - 1913'