John Finn 1870-1963

FINN, JOYNT, LEAHY, HANCOCK, MILLEA

Posted By: Cathy Joynt Labath (email)
Date: 12/14/2007 at 17:33:08

Emmetsburg Reporter; Emmetsburg, Palo Alto, Iowa; Tuesday, January 15, 1963

John Finn, Oldest Native Resident of Palo Alto, Dies

Funeral services for John Finn, Sr., 92, of Emmetsburg, oldest native resident of Palo Alto County, who died Friday morning, were held Monday at 10:30 a.m. at St. Thomas Church. The Reverend C. E. Farrelly officiated at the requiem mass and burial was in St. John's Cemetery with Martin's in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Finn was born on a homestead 4 miles west of Emmetsburg in 1870, the son of David and Nora Finn. He was their first child.

Mr. Finn's father arrived in Palo Alto County in 1865, the year the civil war ended, and set up a homestead on the land located in Emmetsburg Township.

There he, as many other pioneers in the nation's westward expansion did, built a sod house. Long poles were used for rafters, covered with brush, hay and finely sod. The house was built by digging the basement into the side of a hill and boarding up the interior walls. It had only one exterior side exposed facing south.

The chimney was made of homemade brick which the elder Mr. Finn helped to make of clay and straw poured into special forms. In 1868 he went to Dubuque, a thriving community even then, and married the former Nora Joynt. The couple returned by way of Fort Dodge where they purchased a yoke of oxen and a wagon, a plow and household goods. Upon their arrival here they began farming.

The following year, the Finns began to build their permanent home, constructed of lumber. It was finished two years later.

Mr. Finn was born in the sod house. Two years later in 1872, his parents had another child, David. The boys’ first sister, Mary, was born in 1874, and her younger sister, Nora, in 1876.

The pioneer family "stuck it out" on the farm. Mr. Finn's education didn't go past the eighth grade but that was standard for the day. There wasn't a high school here at the time and all of his schooling came in a country school.

Mr. Finn and his father stayed at the homestead until the 1920s when his father retired from farming. Mr. Finn then went into construction work after moving into Emmetsburg, building grain elevators. He retired in 1945.

In 1916, he married the former Nora Leahy, who died February 8, 1955.

The couple had seven children, four of whom are living. They are John and Dave of Emmetsburg, Mary (Mrs. E.A. Hancock) of Sacramento, California, and Nora (Mrs. John Millea), of Omaha, Nebraska.

Two other sons, Joe and Pat, fought and died in action in World War II, and a son, James William, died in infancy.

The Knights of Columbus, of which Mr. Finn was a member, attended the funeral service in a body.

Pallbearers included Hugh Joynt, Leo Joynt, Dan Critz of Curlew, Leonard Hoben of Webb, Dan Higgins and Francis Brennan.

Mr. Finn had many friends in this part of northwest Iowa who will regret his death. He was devoted to his family and friend of all who knew him, always ready to help a neighbor in need. He was kindly and generous and as a true pioneer could recount many interesting happenings of the early days in Palo Alto County.