2003 Finger Family
NewsPage
by Dwight Finger
December 28, 2003
Today we received a message from Patrick Mower, who says,
You don't know me, but I am Patrick E. Mower.... I have done some research on Augustus B.
Mower. Just to let you know, he was in the 7th Light Flying Arty, Badger State
Flying Arty Unit, Wisconsin. He was killed on August 21, 1864 at Memphis, one of only
fourth deaths that day, defending the city of Memphis against Nathan Bedford Forest.
He was a Sergeant of the Artillery.
I have been looking for his direct connection to our family - the Mower line - for
years. I have copies of the letters he sent during the war, and am in contact with
most of the Mowers remaining alive!
The Finger family relates to the Mowers through Laura Ann Mower
who married Almeron Finger in 1874.
December 26, 2003
Judith
Finger Bradley sent along some items of interest, here is what she says:
Thelma and Al Finger (parents) now have three great-grandchildren, with two more due
within the next two weeks! (My sister Diane's two daughters are due within a week
of each other - both are having girls) Our granddaughter, Claire, is now almost 14
---not much Finger or Kuchenbeiser in her - she looks like her father's side of
the family. My son, Garrett, however, is so much a Finger/Kuchenbeiser that people
laugh when they look at the two of us. I'm sure you've heard that I look like
Nellie, my grandmother.
December 4, 2003
After some thought-provoking situations, I have decided to suppress birth data for
living persons for 100 years. (I got an early start on 2004, by using 1904 as the
cutoff date). This is a change from my previous method, of using 1920 as a cutoff date.
This will give further privacy protection to our dearly loved eldery relatives who are
still going strong after 83 years or more.
We heard from Brenda Melius, granddaughter of Kathryn Douglas
Finger, who sent some additions and corrections.
The database has been updated. Included this time is an interesting change, I found
that Helena
Fraleigh, wife of Montgomery Fingar, shows to be married to Montgomery's
brother Clermont in 1880. This is slightly puzzling, since Montgomery was alive until
1883. Also in the household is Helena's brother, Peter F. Fraleigh and her daughter
Helena. (both spelled Hellena)
1880 Clermont, Columbia, New York census
November 15, 2003
More pictures are now available on the site,
November 3, 2003
I have been transcribing some Civil War Pension Records as time permits. Today I have
added a Physician's Affidavit, relating to
the death of Montgomery
Finger, c 1883
October 23, 2003
Today I received a news release alerting me to the existence of the Coon DNA Project.
Since there are many Coen, Coons, Kuhn, Kuhns, and Kuntz on this site, any family
members interested in the project may want to check it out. According to this site,
these are the variations of the Coon name:
Coen, Cone, Coon, Coan, Cohn, Coone, Coom, Combs, Coome, Coam, Coehm, Cohne, Conn,
Coohn, Coun, Coune, Couyne, Cuen, Cuene, Cune, Cuon, Koon, Kuhn, Koen, Kohn, Kone,
Koone, Kuehne, Kuehn, Kun, Kohne, Kuhen, Kuhne, Kune, Kunne, Kuun , Koan, Koanne,
Kouen, Kouhn, Koun, Kuean, Kuehn, Kuin, Kuine, Kuinn, Koontz, Kuntz, Koonts, Kuntze,
Kontz, Kountz, Kountze, Kuentz, Kundtz, Kuntz, Cuntz, Koents, Koentze, Kountis,
Kounts, Kunets, Kunetz, Kunts, Cuntze, Coants, Coantz, Coents, Gohn, Gahn.
October 14, 2003
A new picture page is now available, Claudius and Daisy
Fingar on their wedding day.
October 6, 2003
It has been just over a month since the family reunion. Throughout the day, my wife
and I were able to take many pictures, and the first few are now available on the
website.
October 3, 2003
Recently, I made a trip to Washington, D.C. to help my wife with some research at the
National Archives. However, I soon found myself doing some of
my own research. The National Archives has Civil War Pension Records that are not
available anywhere else, they are not even on microfilm (yes, I was handling and
copying original handwritten documents).
I was able to locate an interesting Pension File for Jacob W. Fingar. In 1902 a series of depositions
were taken by the Commissioner of Pensions in order to determine Jacob's legal
widow. Simply put, Jacob joined the Army during the Civil War and never returned home.
He had never divorced his first wife and later married two other women. Read the story.
August 27, 2003
Kathy Howard sent in a question about her Finger ancestors, and it
turned out we could not answer her question, but we did discover another Finger family
line. I have added it to our Known Family Lines page.
August 18, 2003
We have heard from Roger Antonio Finger, from Brazil. He writes:
Johann (or Johan) Finger came to Brazil in 1826. He was born in 30-Aug-1791 in Prussia
(Praussen). He married with Catharina Maldhaner. They came in the ship Brodtae from
Bremen at 7/7/1826. Can you help me to discover something about them? What city did
they come from? How was the coat of arms/escutcheon's Finger Family?
Thanks a lot,
Roger Antonio Finger
I let him know we don't have any information on Fingers in Brazil, but that we did
hear from Heraldo
Finger about 2 years ago.
July 25, 2003
Lee Fingar sent an updated list of all those who will likely attend
the upcoming Fingar/Finger family reunion. Check it out at on our Reunion page.
Also, we have been contacted by Bruce Smith who is a descendant of
the Schmidt families of Germantown. There is more than one connection between the Smith
and Finger families, but in particular, he sent some additional information on Franklin H.
Fingar (b. 1868) and his family. Franklin was married to Carrie Smith, who is
related to Bruce.
In particular, Bruce is trying to document his connection to Bernhardt Schmidt b.
1720, & Elisabetha Catharina Blass. So far, he says, he lacks solid proof.
So Bruce, who lives not too far from me in California, is interested in hearing from
anyone who can add to his Smith / Schmidt research. He can be contacted at baysidesmiths@cox.net. (Posted by permission)
May 13, 2003
A message came today from Adam G. Finger who is interested in finding more information
about his line. His comments and e-mail address are listed below, by permission:
...I was wondering if you had contact information for any Fingers from Wisconsin. My
grandfather was Armin Finger of Milwaukee, and my family goes back a couple of
generations in the city. I believe my great great grandfather was Adam Finger, my
namesake, and I am trying to find out more info. He had an insurance company named
Adam Finger & Sons. I am trying to reconstruct the family tree in Milwaukee in the
hopes of finding the original town in Germany where my family came from.
Thanks.
Adam G. Finger AFinger@kayescholer.com
I referred him to our a Known Finger Family Lines
page, where there are two Finger family lines listed in Wisconsin, but neither seems to
match his.
April 8, 2003
We heard from another Finger in Australia this week, who was looking for information,
I told him we don't have too much since we aren't aware of any Finger relatives
in Australia.
Sir, My name is Brett James Finger, I live in Bundaberg - Queensland - Australia. I
have just discovered your great family site... and i am struggling a bit finding out
Finger family History in Australia. ...would it be possible for you to pass just a bit
of this information on to me? Kind Regards, Brett Finger.
If anyone would like to help Brett I'll pass along whatever I can.
March 8, 2003
Thanks to Lee Fingar and his sister Jane Fingar
Branigan for making a trip to the New York public archives in Albany and
making a copy of Johannis
Finger's will. I now have scanned it in and posted it, along with a
transcription, on our site. There are a few words I could not make out, so if anyone
can fill in those blanks, please get in touch.
March 5, 2003
Dave Fingar,
Jr. sent us this picture of the newest Fingar family member, born February
10, 2003 in Florida, Cordelia Marie Fingar. Mother and daughter are doing well. Dave
also says he hopes his family will be able to make it to the reunion.
Dave's brother Robert
was in touch earlier this week, he too lives in Florida.
January 26, 2003
To start off this new year, we heard from Tom Lutz who sent some
additional information about the wife of Joseph Finger,
Anna Agatha Dreps. Although not part of our family line, it may provide helpful
information to other Finger family researchers.