Eliza Smith Finch, cabinet portrait, 1880-90s.
Amos Finch and Eliza Smith were my great-great grandparents. Amos was born in Greene County, New York in 1820 and died in Manistee County, Michigan in January 1879. Eliza was born near Alkham, between Dover and Folkestone, Kent, England in 1827 and died at her daughter’s house in rural Lucas County, Ohio in 1914.
Thought to be Amos Finch, after 1856 when tintype process invented.
They married in October 1849 and there were eight children, five of whom survived to adulthood. At time of their marriage in 1849 at Eliza’s home in Jackson County, Michigan Amos was an ordained Wesleyan Methodist minister, riding circuit in northern Indiana and southern Michigan. Their first home together was in Calhoun County, Michigan followed by Black Hawk County, Iowa; Lawrence, Kansas; Osawatomie, Kansas; Buchanan and Fulton Counties, Iowa until their last on the shore of Lake Michigan in Arcadia Township, Manistee County, Michigan. After Amos’ death Eliza moved back to Jackson County, Michigan to live with her bachelor brother William until she moved to live with her daughter for the last 8-10 years of her life.
Their son Luther Lee wrote an extensive obituary in 1879 for his father which appeared in the Wesleyan Methodist denominational newspaper (click to read).
I have been family historian since my high school days, over 50 years now, and have gathered -researched, been gifted with, lucked into – a lot of information about Amos and Eliza’s family, but there are still empty holes and boggy areas incomplete or speculative. In these pages I want present some of the data I have, piece by piece, but in no particular order.