Mary E. Butler Finch, Obituary

BUTLER, FINCH, BRANCH, MUSSER, GAMMONS

Posted By: Patricia Morehouse (email)
Date: 8/18/2005 at 13:56:48

West Union----February 23, 1916
Mary E. Butler Finch, Obituary
Mary E. Finch was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harrison Butler, she was born in 1843, in Muskingum county, Ohio, the family moving a year later to Wisconsin, where they lived until 1850, when they came to Iowa, settling on the place between here and Fayette, now known as the Domke farm. The remainder of her years Mrs. Finch has spent in and near West Union.

She was married October 31, 1861, to Benoni W. Finch, who a year later enlisted in the Union Army, where he gave three years of honorable service. They were the parents of four children, of who three lived to survive their father, whose death occurred June 25, 1909, and are: G.B. Finch of Oklahoma City, one of the leading salesmen of the Bour Coffee Co.,; Mrs. E.B. Branch of West Union, now proprietor of what was formerly the Stamdry Goods Store; Mrs. M.O.Musser, who with her family is in California.

At the time the Butler family came to West Union, Mrs. Finch recalls that but few houses and buildings were to be seen, among them the old Rogers house. The first house in which their home was made, and the second, too, was of logs, the later one being built on a larger scale, with puncheon floors split from basswood logs by her father. The fireplace where Mrs. Butler cooked venison, shot by her husband, and baked corn bread from meal she had ground herself, was later supplemented by a small short-legged oven, under and around which the coals were heaped. In the fields, oxen were used instead of horses, and mrs. Finche as a girl was proud of her ability to yoke and drive them before the breaking plow, or in the cornfield. Later when her father made the long trips to McGregor, to have his grain ground or to dispose of pork, he used horses. She took great delight in accompanying him later, when the trips became shorter as the mills at Clermont and Auburn were established.

Among the vivid recollections of her early days in Iowa are the occasions of the dreaded prairie fires, when neighbors hurried many miles to save crops and buildings. Others, more pleasant, include the coming of the fist circus and the gala prepeparations which preceded it; others still are of the summer Sundays when with her brothers and sisters and the black birds Sunday services were carried on at "the Pulpit", a large rock near her home, where her brother took the part of minister.

Mr. and Mrs. Butler were Baptists, but Mrs. Finch joined the Presbyterian church in her young womanhood. When Mr. Finch was converted under the preaching of Rev. John Gammons and joined the Methodist church, Mrs. Finch obtained her letter and went with him, saying, "Where thou goest, I will go", and has retained her membership there since.

Mrs. Finch was successful in business having operated a bakery here for several years; and later conducted a boarding house in a highly satisfactory manner, entertaining ministers, doctors, lawyers, and teachers. The last few years, since the death of her husband, she has lived very quietly, enjoying her friendships and various quiet pleasures. Toward the close of her busy life she is able to look back and say of all her efforts that she has done her best.