Johannes Vinger (born c.1700) arrived in Livingston, New York from Germany in 1710 and many descendants still live in the Hudson Valley area. Some descendants moved to western New York state, in particular to Benton, in Yates county. I understand many then moved further west from there. Today, descendants are found also in Alaska, California, Connecticut, Michigan and New York. Sometime in the 1800s, some family members changed the spelling to Fingar (and moved across the Hudson River), which name still exists today. There is some question as to how this came about, the popular belief is that there was some sort of family feud. Since I descend from this line, it is the main area of interest on this web site.
Peter Finger, a farmer, b. about 1730, d. June 1792, Lincoln County, North Carolina, settled in York County, Pennsylvania. His wife was Barbara and his children were Jacob, Catharine, Johannes, Elizabeth, Susannah, Daniel, Barbara, Henrich, and Margaretha. In 1777 the family moved to Lincoln County, North Carolina. Most of the Fingers in the southern states are descendant from this family. There is a town named Finger in Tennessee, presumably after a member of this family line, also a Fingerville in South Carolina. Some family members have changed the spelling of their surname to Fanger, Fingar or Fingers. Wade Finger has written an interesting account of the life of Peter Finger, read Who Was Peter Finger?. Also, James A. Finger has a web site, The Southern Finger Family.
According to their website Johan was born in 1791 and "Arrived the Brazil em 06/01/1827 aboard of the ship Bodtra, from Prussia / Germany."
This is from Kathy Lathrop:
My grandmother was Helen Dorothy Finger, her father was Albert Finger and his father was Gottried Finger. Gottried was born 1809, married Eva Kempf, born 1810. I know for sure that Eva was born in Pozen, Germany and that Gottried was born in Germany. They married in 1830s, had two children in Germany, August and Julius, born in 1830s. They then came to the Milwaukee area, Wisconsin, had more children, and later settled in Bear Creek area, Wisconsin.
In May 2006 additional information on this line came to us from Bob Fingers:
My name is Robert Fingers. I live in Mesa, [Arizona]. My great grandfather on my father's side was Augusta Finger (1846/1925). He was married to Emma Hoeferman (1849/1935). They emigrated from Germany in 1879 and August received his citizenship in 1888. His father was Gottreid Finger and his mother was Eva Kempf... The parents of August came from Bavaria and Emma's came from Dusselldorf (1920 Census). August and Emma had nine children. They lived in McDonald, Pa... I also see in the web site a reference to Rollie Fingers, ex major league baseball pitcher and currently in the Hall of Fame. Rollie is my nephew, the son of my older brother George.
Bob Fingers
Mesa, Az.
Wade Finger made mention of this family:
Johannes Finger (b. 6/13/1786) who immigrated to America (with his children Barbara, Elisabeth, Magdalena, Christina, Jakob, and Maria) in 1840.
In an e-mail from Bill Bilkey to John Vanko on 12-3-07:
Johann Henrich (Henry) Finger (born 1803 in Prussia) came to Baltimore and raised a family, with a son Henry born 1842. Then they left for the Bronx, New York. Settling there, they became distinguished firemen.Bill sent some additional information to us on August 2, 2008
Henrich was the first of a number of Fingers from this line to come to the U.S.
John Vanko, the great grandson of Conrad Finger sent us this:
All the Baltimore Fingers were descended from Conrad Finger (1865-1930) of Bottendorf, near Frankenberg, near Marburg, near Frankfurt, in Hessen, Germany. Bottendorf is a small farming village that dates back at least to 750 A.D. It is in 'landkreis' Frankenberg. That's something like a county in the US, and the city of Frankenberg is like the county seat.There is some additional information from John at Samuel Finger, Oldest Finger Ancestor in Bottendorf.
There are Fingers in that region today. In Frankenberg there is a hardware store operated by one Conrad Finger.
The Fingers of Bottendorf/Frankenberg can be found in church records back to the 1500s.
In Baltimore today, the Finger surname has died out.
The Fingers from Bottendorf and Frankenberg have no known connections to the Fingers of the southern US, nor the Fingers of Switzerland, nor the Fingers of Berlin.
Conrad Finger (1865-1930) my great-grandfather had a nephew, Henry Finger, who lived in Willow Grove, PA, and another his brother, John Tobias Finger, of Vineland, NJ. I am presently researching their descendants, some of whom carry on the Finger surname today.
I have the following nine Fingers [who] emigrated from Bottendorf between 1850 and 1930:
Henrich Finger (1854, Baltimore) (1818-1891) (descendants unknown)
Anna Elisabeth Finger (1855, Philadelphia)
Katharina Elisabeth Finger (1860, New York) possible sister of Conrad Finger of Baltimore
Emanuel Finger (1860, New York), son of Heinrich Finger
Hartmann Finger (1866, New York), son of Heinrich Finger
Conrad Finger (1881, Baltimore) (1865-1930)
Tobias Finger (1883, Philadelphia) (1863-1913) older brother of Conrad, father of Henrich Finger;
returned to Bottendorf in 1888 to inherit the family farm
Henrich Finger (1913, Philadelphia) settled in Willow Grove PA
John Tobias Finger (1930, Philadelphia?) half-brother of Henrich above, settled in Vineland, NJ.
Terri Finger sent us this:
Franz Joseph Finger, son of Conrad Finger and Agatha Buchderkirchen, was born in Meerhof, Germany. He married Anna Agatha Drepps Sep., 1844, in Meerhof, Germany. They had 3 Children there before coming to the US in 1852. One was Thomas Ferdinand (who went by Ferdinand). They settled in Wisconsin, Juneau County area. Ferdinand married twice, his first wife was Barbara Frisch and his second wife was Mary Elizabeth Barrett. Mary and Ferdinand had 3 children, their son Leo John is my grandfather. Joseph died in Dane County, Wisconsin. Ferdinand and Leo are buried in Juneau County.
In January of 2003, Tom Lutz sent this additional information: [Updated March, 2003]:
...I am quite certain that Anna Agatha Drepps is the same person who is Anna Agatha Dreps (b.16 Mar 1823 in Meerhof), the daughter of Ludwig Dreps and Gertrud Nolte. She had two brothers, Bernard Dreps and Johan "Anton" Dreps, who settled around Sheboygan Co, WI before the Civil War, the former likely in the mid 1850s. The Dreps are a family related to my mother's which is also from Sheboygan Co, and I've just started doing some some research about them. They had a pretty good (positive) impact on Sheboygan Co's history, starting out as big farming families, but getting involved in law enforcement (one was a longtime sheriff) among other occupations. I have Bernard Dreps marrying a Teresa Agenthen who I think was also from Meerhof, and for your information her family also seems to be showing up repeatedly in my research. I recently learned that Bernard had a son Joseph who also settled in Juneau Co. Those Agathen's had family that also settled at Eagle, WI. There is some info about those Agathen's on-line at the LDS website. I found info about these folks recently in the Sheboygan records.
Franz Joseph Finger, born to Conrad Finger and Agatha Buchderkirchen, on 27 July 1816 in Meerhof, is likely the same Frank Joseph Finger who married Anna Agatha Dre(e)ps on 24 Sept 1844 in Oesdorf.
Carlos Finger sent some information that he received with news about Carlos Alberto V. Finger:
His great-grandfather came to Brazil in 1857, from Nieder Sachson's region in Germany and resided in the region of the river Jacui in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, that is boundary with Argentina. He called himself Peter Finger, his son Adolf Finger, his grandson Armando Finger and his great-grandchild who wrote to me, Carlos Finger.
John Vanko sent us the information about the life of Heinrich Finger, that was put together by Heinrich's great-great-grandson Thomas Finger. Heinrich was born in Germany in 1837 and came to the U.S. in 1857.
I am a descendant of Emanuel Finger, who arrived here in Philadelphia from Rottersdorff [Bottendorf] with his wife-to-be, Catarina Ernst, on 11/27/1860. He was born on December 2, 1840 and died on March 17, 1910 in Milwaukee, having lived in Milwaukee area since 1864 or 6.
From Kathy Howard km_howard@msn.com . In August, 2004, it was discovered that Kathy's and John Vanko's ancestors are related.
1880 Greenfield, Milwaukee, Wisconsin census:
| Name | Age | Relation | Occupation | Born |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finger Emanuel | 39 | head | farmer and milkman | Hesse |
| — Catharine | 38 | wife | keeping house | Hesse |
| — Anna | 17 | daughter | New Jersey | |
| — Jacob | 15 | son | works on the farm | New Jersey |
| — Catharine | 12 | daughter | Wisconsin | |
| — Louisa | 10 | daughter | at school | Wisconsin |
| — Ida | 7 | daughter | at school | Wisconsin |
| — Herman E. | 5 | son | Wisconsin | |
| — Henry | 3 | son | Wisconsin |
Lisa Finger sent the following:
My gg-grandfather, Peter Finger, is about the most shadowy figure in my whole tree. He was born about 1828 in Germany (no hometown known). It is possible he lived in NYC on the Lower East Side during the 1860s. There are city directory listings for a Peter Finger in that area at that time. He died of smallpox on 28 June 1872 in the Smallpox Hospital on Blackwell's Island in New York City. His death certificate is devoid of much useful information (it does not give his home address, birthplace, or even marital status). He was buried in the City Cemetery (Hart Island or Potter's Field)
Felipe Finger traveled to South America in 1865, it is supposed that he was a stowaway, in a ship from Hamburg. Upon his arrival his name was changed from Wolfgang Finger to Felipe by immigration officials. We have a page of information concerning The Finger Family in Argentina as provided by Carlos Finger.
Nora Finger, the wife of Anthony Finger, who presently lives in Wisconsin, tells me her husband
descends from Franz Finger who arrived in Baltimore in 1869. Franz did not remain on the east
coast, but moved west to Wisconsin. He is from Sudetenland. I found him on a ship's passenger list
as Franz Finger, born 1844, arrived 11 October 1869 in Baltimore from Bohemia.
(Sudetenland is a term for the German settlement area of the Bohemian Lands (Bohemia,
Moravia, Austrian Silesia), used only sporadically before 1918. After the end of WWII Sudetenland
was again reintegrated into Czechoslovakia and its German ethnic group was expelled.)
Keith Finger from upstate New York, the great grandson of Fredrick Finger sent us this:
Fredrick Finger, born 1842, married Elizabeth Heil, they had 5 kids:
Fredrick J., born 12/25/1875; his twin Gottlieb; John, born 1876; Mary, born 1878; and Emma born in 1882.
Fredrick J. married Katie Erhardt in 1911, Gottlieb married Anna Schiesser, John married someone named Blanche, Mary married John Littleboy, and Emma married Irv Paulk.
1880 Clay, Onondaga, New York census:
| Name | Relation | Age | Occupation | Born |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finger, Frederick | head | 38 | laborer | Switzerland |
| — Elizabeth | wife | 34 | keeping house | Switzerland |
| — John F | son | 4 | at school | New York |
| — Gotliph B | son | 4 | at school | New York |
| — John R | son | 3 | at home | New York |
| — Mary E | daughter | 1 | at home | New York |
Richard Finger writes:
Wilmar and Liberta FINGER, ancestors of the FINGER Families in Perry County, MO, are listed as passengers on the vessel “Westphalia” from Hamburg and Havre, Germany arriving 8 May 1883 in New York, NY. Their names were spelled Willmar and Liberta Fingert, given ages were 28 and 21 respectively. Wilmar’s occupation was listed as merchant and the couple’s province origin was listed as Saxony, Germany. Three months later, the couple was in Perry County, MO, when they purchased approximately 200 acres of land overlooking the town of 76, MO on 10 Aug 1883 from George H. LAWSON and his wife Eliza of Chester, IL for $1,300.
1900 Brazeau, Perry, Missouri census:
| Name | Relation | Age | Occupation | Born |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finger, Wilmar | head | 46 | farmer | Germany |
| — Liberty | wife | 38 | Germany | |
| — Hugo | son | 14 | farm laborer | Missouri |
| — Otto | son | 10 | at school | Missouri |
| — Hedwig | daughter | 4 | Missouri | |
| — Meta | daughter | 4 | Missouri |
Richard has more on his site, Wilmar and Liberta Finger.
This came to us from David Finger who does not have too much more information other than to say that Louis was his paternal great-grandfather. The 1900 census says he was born in July, 1869, that he came to the U.S. in 1885 and was married in 1888.
1900 Wilmington, New Castle, Delaware census:
(Esther is a widow on the 1910 census)
| Name | Relation | Age | Occupation | Born |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finger Louis | head | 31 | letter carrier | Russia |
| — Esther | wife | 29 | Russia | |
| — Matthias | son | 11 | Delaware | |
| — Aaron | son | 10 | Delaware | |
| — Samuel B | son | 7 | Delaware | |
| — Frenda | daughter | 6 | Delaware | |
| — Rebekah (Reba) | daughter | 4 | Delaware |
Charles was a tailor from Germany working in England. He came to the U.S. in 1887. Later his son Charles Joseph Finger came to America, and became a U.S. citizen in 1896. This son had an interesting career, working first for the railroad, then becoming a writer. He moved often, having lived in New York, Texas, New Mexico, Ohio, and Arkansas. Read more information about Charles J. Finger from the University of Arkansas Manuscript Collection 639
In doing other research I found Sam on the 1900 Justice Precinct 1, Trinity, Texas census age 23, a boarder in the household of Edith R. Smith age 29, widow. In 1910 and 1920 he is married and on the Justice Precinct 2, San Jacinto, Texas censuses and in 1930 is on the Houston, Harris, Texas census age 58. His wife Annie came to the U.S. in 1899. The 1920 census says Sam and Annie both speak German. Sam is never listed as Samuel.
1920 Justice Precinct 2, San Jacinto, Texas census:
| Name | Relation | Age | Occupation | Born |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finger, Sam | head | 48 | merchant, general store | Russia |
| — Annie | wife | 34 | Russia | |
| — Herman | son | 15 | Texas | |
| — Aaron | son | 13 | Texas | |
| — Bernie | son | 10 | Texas | |
| — Rosella | daughter | 6 | Texas | |
| — Samuel | son | 3 | Texas |
In 1999 I spoke to two members of the family of Philip Finger in Branford, Connecticut, his daughter, Deborah Finger and John Finn. John told me that his Finger ancestry goes back to Adam Finger who came to New Haven from Germany. On his WWI draft registration I found that Adam was born 11 March 1878. He is listed on the passenger list of the S.S. Lahn, that arrived in New York on 17 Aug 1893 from Bremen, Germany.
1910 New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut census:
| Name | Relation | Age | Occupation | Born |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finger, Adam | head | 32 | baker, bakery shop | Germany |
| — Margaret | wife | 26 | Connecticut | |
| — Marie | daughter | 8 | Connecticut | |
| — Christe | son | 7 | Connecticut | |
| — Susie | daughter | 2 | Connecticut |
1930 New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut census:
| Name | Relation | Age | Occupation | Born |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finger, Adam | head | 52 | baker, pastry shop | Germany |
| — Margaret A | wife | 46 | Connecticut | |
| — Henry | son | 19 | errand boy tailor shop | Connecticut |
| — Philip | son | 12 | Connecticut | |
| — George | son | 12 | Connecticut | |
| — John A | son | 9 | Connecticut |