Finch, Newton L., 1862-1937

FINCH, BIGELOW

Posted By: Lydia Lucas - Volunteer (email)
Date: 6/13/2021 at 20:33:34

From the Sioux County Capital, March 25, 1937, Rock Valley news, by Helen Vander Laan

NEWT FINCH

N. L. Finch a former resident of Rock Valley, and a resident of Glendale, Calif. for the past seventeen years, passed away at the home of his niece, Mrs. Van Volkenburg at Pipestone Minn. on Monday morning, March 15, at the age of 70 years.

Mr. Finch lived in Rock Valley many years before going to California. He was employed as clerk in the Leader and Foppe Pioneer stores while he lived here. Mr. Finch came here when he was 10 years old. His father was one of the first settlers in Rock Valley some sixty years ago. He was the proprietor of the mill on the Rock River here for many years. Mr. Finch spent sometime in the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. for medical treatment recently, but it was to no avail.

Funeral services were held at the Methodist church Wednesday afternoon, under the direction of Rev. John Kettle. Burial was made at the Valley View cemetery, south of Rock Valley. Mr. Finch is survived by one sister, Mrs. Dunham of Detroit, Mich.

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Froom the Hawarden Independent, March 18, 1937:

ROCK VALLEY PIONEER PASSES
N. L. Finch, 75 Years Old, Died at Pipestone, Minn., Monday

N. L. Finch of Glendale, Calif., a pioneer resident of Rock Valley, died Monday afternoon in a hospital at Pipestone, Minn., following a long illness. Mr. Finch had been in failing health for a number of years and last October was obliged to submit to an operation. The relief obtained was only temporary and about the middle of January his nephew, Lee Finch of Santa Ana, Calif., accompanied him to Rochester, Minn. Due to his advanced age and general physical condition it was found inadvisable to perform a second operation but he remained in the hospital at Rochester until last week when his nephew moved him to a hospital at Pipestone, in order that he might be near other relatives, but he passed away Monday.

The body was brought to his old home at Rock Valley Wednesday and funeral services were held at the Methodist church there at 2 o’clock that afternoon with Rev. J. A. Kettle in charge. Interment was made in the Rock Valley cemetery.

Newt. L. Finch came to Rock Valley with his parents as a boy in the early 70’s and the greater part of his life was spent there. For many years he was employed in general mercantile establishments at that place and was widely known in the Rock Valley territory. About eighteen years ago he went to Glendale, Calif., where he has since made his home. He engaged in business for a few years after locating in Glendale but retired a number of years ago. He was 75 years of age and never married. He is survived by one sister, Mrs. Addie L. Dunham, now living in Detroit, Mich., and a large number of nieces and nephews and numberless old friends.

Lee Finch, who had been with him at Rochester for two months, came to Hawarden Tuesday afternoon and in company with Mr. R. Stone and son David attended the Funeral at Rock Valley Wednesday.

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From the Pipestone County Star, March 16, 1937:

UNCLE OF MRS. VAN VOLKENBURG DIES MONDAY

The death of Newton Finch, uncle of Mrs. E. L. Van Volkenburg, of Pipestone,. occurred shortly after 3:00 o’clock Monday afternoon at the Ashton Memorial Hospital. The body will be taken to Rock Valley, Ia., where the late Mr. Finch had formerly resided for fifty years, and fUneral services will be held there at the Methodist church at 2:00 o’clock Wednesday afternoon, followed by interment in the Rock Valley cemetery. He had reached the age of 75 years and had never married.

Mr. Finch was brought to the hospital here from Rochester, Minn., in the Walz & Walz ambulance Saturday. Though his condition had been critical for some weeks, it was decided to make the move in order that he might be near the Pipestone relatives. He rallied from a coma condition only briefly after reaching here, and recognized the loved ones at his bedside.

Accompanying the patient to Pipestone Saturday was his nephew, Lee Finch, who brought his uncle to Rochester from Glendale, Calif., a few weeks ago, hoping that physicians at the Mayo clinic might be able to benefit the aged man’s health. Mrs. Van Volkenburg and Lee Finch plan to leave this afternoon for Rock Valley and will be there until after the funeral.

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RESEARCH NOTES

The Rock Valley Bee is missing for this time period.

His death certificate, 1937-MN-012243, gives his full name as Newton Landen Finch, born 18 Nov. 1861 in Iowa; parents Jeremiah L. Finch and [illegible] Lavonia Bigelow, both born in New York; a dry goods merchant, last worked in 1921; informant Edgar Lee Finch, Santa Ana, California; died in Ashton Memorial Hospital, Pipestone, at 3:15 a.m. March 15, 1937. Causes of death: chronic pyelocystitis nephritis, duration 8 months; adenonatoma[?] prostate, duration 31 years; and hypostatic pneumonia, duration 24 hours. Contributory cause: myocardial[?] degeneration, 25 years. He had been operated on for [adenomatous?] prostate [illegible] urinary retention on 10/12/1936.

His FindaGrave.com page gives his name as Newton L. Finch, 1862-1937; parents Josiah L. Finch (1824-1901) and Lovina Bigelow Finch (1823-1901). One sibling listed: Addie L. Dunham (1857-1941). There is a photo of his headstone, with the inscription “most generous and loving to all humanity.”

Researcher Wilma J. Vande Berg found a family report on Ancestry.com (done by others): Newton Landon Finch, born Nov 1862 at Cedar Falls IA, died 15 Mar 1937 at Pipestone MN. He was the son of Josiah Landon Finch (1824-1901) and Lovina Alvira Bigelow (1823-1901). Some of his siblings were, John, Pliney, Adelaide, and Nellie.

The 1900 U.S. census (in which he is living in Rock Valley with his parents and working as a dry goods clerk) also gives his birth as Nov. 1862.