JENNIE ELIZABETH SMITH FINLEY (OCTOBER1, 1857-AUGUST 10, 1929)

JENNIE ELIZABETH SMITH, DAUGHTER OF DR. AND MRS. SMITH, WAS BORN AT SUNBEAM, IL., OCTOBER 1, 1857, AND PASSED AWAY AT HER HOME IN MOUNT AYR, AUGUST 10, 1929, AGED 71 YEARS, 10 MONTHS AND NINE DAYS. SHE HAD BEEN IN ILL HEALTH SINCE AUGUST 1925 AND DURING THE LAST YEAR GRADUALLY GREW WEAKER.

OF HER FATHER’S FAMILY THERE WERE SEVEN CHILDREN, FOUR OF WHOM SURVIVE HER.

ON DECEMBER 15, 1881, SHE WAS MARRIED TO GEORGE H. FINLEY. TO THIS UNION NINE CHILDREN WERE BORN, FIVE OF WHOM ARE LIVING. THESE ARE: NONA V. FINLEY, MOUNT AYR; MRS N.E. NELSON, IRWIN IOWA; MRS. C.F. MIX, CLEAR LAKE, MN.; P.E. FINLEY, MOUNT AYR; AND MRS. A. B. MAY, OMAHA, NE. SHE IS ALSO SURVIVED BY ELEVEN GRANDCHILDREN.

AT THE AGE OF SEVENTEEN SHE JOINED THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AT SUNBEAM, IL., WHICH DENOMINATION HAS HAD HER LOYAL SUPPORT THROUGHOUT HER LIFE. IN 1884 SHE AND HER HUSBAND, WITH THEIR FAMILY, MOVED TO CLEARFIELD, IOWA, WHERE SHE HELD HER MEMBERSHIP FOR TEN YEARS. IN 1894 THEY MOVED TO MOUNT AYR.

MRS. FINLEY HAS BEEN ACTIVE IN THE SABBATH SCHOOL, AND WAS PERFECT IN ATTENDANCE FOR FOURTEEN SUCCESSIVE YEARS. SHE WAS AN INTERESTED AND ACTIVE MEMBER OF THE WOMEN’S MISSIONARY SOCIETY, AND WAS A MEMBER OF THE W.C.T.U.  BESIDES TEACHING A CLASS IN THE SABBATH SCHOOL, IT WAS HER JOY TO GATHER FIRST HER OWN CHILDREN AND LATER GRANDCHILDREN AROUND HER KNEE AND TEACH THEM THE PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIANITY AND THE PRECEPTS OF FAITH. SHE WAS OF A CONTENTED, CHEERFUL DISPOSITION, AND IN WRITING TO HER ABSENT CHILDREN SHE ALWAYS COUNSELED THEM TO BE HAPPY. HER LAST MESSAGE TO HER GRANDCHILDREN WAS ‘BE GOOD, DO GOOD, WALK STRAIGHT.”

FUNERAL SERVICES WERE HELD MONDAY AFTERNOON AT 2:30 AT THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, BEING CONDUCTED BY THE PASTOR, REV. C. S. GLADFELTER, AND THE BODY WAS LAID TO REST IN ROSE HILL CEMETERY. THE FUNERAL WAS LARGELY ATTENDED AND THE FLORAL TRIBUTES WERE PROFUSE AND BEAUTIFUL.

ALL THE CHILDREN WERE PRESENT AT THE FUNERAL AND OTHER RELATIVES FROM A DISTANCE WHO ATTENDED WERE R. A. FINLEY, OF OMAHA, NE. THE ONLY SURVIVING BROTHER OF MR. FINLEY,  MRS. BELLE FINLEY AND HER SON LESLIE FINLEY AND WIFE OF CLARINDA, WHO WERE ACCOMPANIED BY WILLIAM CARUTHERS OF CLARINDA, A BOYHOOD FRIEND OF MR. FINLEY.