Ellen (Penny) Finch (1843 - 1928)

Born 13 May 1843 in Maryland, USA

Wife of William Finch — married 1 May 1866 in Henderson County, Illinois, USA

Descendants

Died 26 Nov 1928 at age 85 in Illinois, USA

Biography

Ellen was born in 1843. Ellen Penny ... She passed away in 1928.^[1]

"Ellen Penny was born near Baltimore, Md., on May 13, 1843. Her father's name was Josiah Penny and he was born in America in the year 1800 — his father was Alexander Penny born in England in 1766, and his wife was Susanah Ford [Mary's spelling may be wrong] born in England in 1769 — they were married Jan. 27, 1791. I mention their [Alexander & Susanah Penny's] seven children, Josiah, Isaac and Ellen, twins George and Henry, Thomas and Samuel.

Our mother's mother's name was Ann Beazman [Baesman] and some of her people came to America as early as 1660. They were from Scotland and Wales. Ann Beazman was born in America in 1807.

Josiah Penny with a large family moved overland from Maryland to Pike County, Mo., in 1846, when our mother was three years old.

During the years of [the Civil] war, mother was teaching school and at the close of the war everyone working for the public had to take the oath of allegiance, the meaning of which was to say they had never been in sympathy with the South. Mother could not take this oath so she gave up teaching and decided to go to Henderson County, Ill., that fall (1865) to visit her Uncle Isaac and George Penny and sister, Mrs. Ellen Parkey. She planned she might be able to find a school.

It came about this way that she found a housekeeping job with her Uncle Isaac who had lost his wife in 1863 and was left with one child, a daughter Ella.

[She met William Finch when he came to the Penny home to collect mail. See more of this story on his memorial page.] Friendship soon turned into courtship and the next spring, May 1, 1866, they were married.

[She and William had 11 children: Mary Ann, S. P. (Wes), William, Jr., Anna, Martha Alice, twins John & Florence, Samuel R., Edith Iricle, Amy Eleanore, and Dana H. Finch.]

Our mother was a very intelligent and well read woman. She kept herself well informed on religious and civic questions. She was a member of the Terre Haute Methodist Church. She was a member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and loved its founder Frances Willard. She loved education and never did keep any of us out of school to help with the work."

Source: Excerpts from Memoirs and Kin to Me, written during the winter of 1947-1948, by Mary Finch Dawson.

This profile is a collaborative work-in-progress. Can you contribute information or sources?

Sources

• Pedigree Resource File - Canfield_20160608 on Family Search.org. Click here to see it: [1].

• Find A Grave Memorial# 52948979. Click here to see it: [2].

Footnotes

1. ↑ Information entered by Dave McNally, Saturday, June 18, 2016.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Dave McNally for creating Penny-838 on 18 June 2016. Click the Changes tab for the details on contributions by Dave and others.