Dr. John K. Finley
Jan. 13,1806-Feb. 3, 1885
Niles Weekly Mirror, Wednesday, February 11, 1885, page 4, col. 4-5, microfilm Niles District Library
Death of Dr. John K. Finley
The sudden decease of this eminent and widely known gentleman, was a surprise to most of our citizens. It is true that he had reached that advanced age when death might have been looked for at any time, but his almost daily appearance on the streets, excepting during the coldest days of the winter, his erect figure and elastic step, seemed to give promise of extended life and strength, and so brief was his last illness, that few knew that he was suffering from severe disease, until the startling announcement was passed from friend to friend that he was dead.
On February [ . .illegible], he was taken with a chill which proved to be the premonitory symptoms of acute pneumonia. His sons, S. Mitchell, of Denver and Capt. Theo M. of Fort Scott, Kansas were summoned by telegraph, and although they started at once, neither of them reached his bed side before his death, which came peacefully to him at 5:30 o'clock Tuesday evening, Feb. 3.
Thus has passed away another of that noble band of sturdy pioneers, who found western Michigan a wilderness and left it a flourishing garden and an attractive home. The years 1835-6 were eventful ones to Niles. For a decade, scattering families had wandered into this beautiful valley and erected log houses here and there along the river's banks, and a strife had begun as to which of the little settlements should become the commercial centre of this section. During these two years a splendid immigration found it way across our Peninsula and rested here almost on the border line of civilization. Among the company of enterprising, determined settlers, comprising some of the best blood of the east, no one man was more conspicuous or received a more hearty welcome than the young and talented physician, Dr. J.K. Finley.
John Knox Finley was born at Chillicothe, Ohio, Jan. 13, 1806. His father held a Government position, and his connections and associations were with those of position and culture. He was an apt scholar,and received careful training under the care of an uncle at Lexington, Ky. It was said of him that before he was 20 years old he could read Hebrew as readily as English. His intention was to become a clergyman, but he afterward decided to study medicine. His preliminary education completed, he entered Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and graduated about 1827. He filled the chair of Chemistry and Natural History in Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., for two years, where he was associated with S.A. McCrosky, since Bishop of Michigan, who was also a professor. In 1830, he resigned his professorship and returned to his native city, where he practiced medicine for five years, when he removed with his wife and two children to Niles. Here he took high rank as a physician from the first. He continued in an increasing practice for 20 years, when on account of his wife's health, he removed with his family to Pittsburgh. When the war of the rebellion broke out, he felt it his duty to devote his talents and skill to the good of the country, and being offered the position of surgeon in the navy, or surgeon under direction of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, he chose the latter, and for three years he continued in the faithful discharge of his duty. In 1864 (his wife and son, John Nevin, having died in Pittsburg) he returned to Niles with his family, but did not again attempt to recover his old practice, but held himself in readiness to attend an of his old patrons and to give his counsel in extreme cases, usually without charge. For several years he was interested in the drug business in association with his sons, but for the past few years his health had gradually failed, and his declining days were spent in delightful companionship with his friends and his books.
Dr. Finley was a man of marked and striking charteristics[sic]. He possessed by nature a fine mind which had been improved and enlarged by liberal education. In his association with the public, he was dignified but never haughty, kind hearted and obliging and always and everywhere with equals or dependents, a gentleman.
From his first advent into this, then embryo city, he seemed imbued with a strong and abiding faith in its future, and so sanguine was he that this was to be the great city of his section, that he not only invested his all in the venture, but strove also by voice and pen to induce his friends to follow is example. He possessed an abundance of energy and strength. The homes of his patients were wide spread, the roads were new and many of them unbroken, sickness was everywhere during the first years of his sojourn here, he labored on by night and day, often without the hope of fee or earthly reward, yet we are told he never refused a call if his time was at the moment unoccupied, and he still found time to help on the enterprises of the town. No object which promised to result in permanent benefit to the new community failed to find in him an ardent supporter. The people, too, believed in him and trusted him. As early as 1848, he was elected President of the village, an honor which was re-conferred. He was made an Elder in the Presbyterian church soon after his first arrival, and remained in the office until he removed to Pittsburgh. He was for many years a member of the board of education. Outside of his family life with which the public have nothing to do, but which we know was a model of mutual confidences, harmonies and unselfish lives, his life's work revolving around two points--his duty to the church and his profession--and usually the two were blended into one. He was a true type of a christian physician. His work was not done when he had smoothed the pillow and administered the healthful prescription. He could and did point the [. . .illegible. .] he would often kneel with the sorrowing family group and commend them to the care and protection of the great physician.
As an officer of the church he was seldom absent from her gatherings. He held up the hands of the pastor and his voice was rarely silent in the social meetings. He has gone to his reward. We know not that he leaves an enemy behind him. His two sons reached Niles Wednesday. His only daughter, Mattie, was here and was his constant companion to the last.
Niles Weekly Mirror, Wednesday, February 11, 1885, page 5, col. 4, microfilm Niles District Library
Theo. M. Finley, of Ft. Scott, Kan., and Mitchell Finley, of Denver, Col., were in the city last week, in attendance at the funeral of their father, J.K.Finley.
