Finger Family NewsPage

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.

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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.

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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)

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November 15, 2003

More pictures are now available on the site,

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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

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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.

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October 14, 2003

A new picture page is now available, Claudius and Daisy Fingar on their wedding day.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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