Newton Gleaves Finley, son of James Washington and Margaret Jane (Campbell) Finley was but eleven years old when his family made the five-month trek by wagon train from Missouri to California in 1852. In 1870 he wrote a brief history of his family taken from a letter written by his Uncle John Pettus Finley, born about 1780 to 1785 in Montgomery County, Virginia. He includes a family tree which starts with the immigration of this branch of the Finley family from Ireland to America about 1700. Unfortunately, the name of the progenitor in America is not given, but the second generation is, without doubt, the John Finley who lived on South River in Augusta County, Virginia, from the late 1730s to 1765. From there he went to Prince Edward County for a few years and then on to Montgomery (now Wythe) County, Virginia, where he died in 1782. For a full account of these Finleys see "John Finley of Montgomery/Wythe County, Virginia: Additional Children Identified," in this database. [History courtesy of Cynthia Finley Elliott, granddaughter of Newton Gleaves Finley. Photo of Newton Gleaves Finley courtesy of Dr. Alton Lovell Alderman, grandson of John Alexander Lovell who was on the same wagon train with the Finleys.]
