Gone To Rest — Dr. John P. Finley, Iowa, 1883

Leon, Iowa area, 1883

Gone To Rest

Dr. John P. Finley died at his home in this city, Sunday evening, March 11, 1883, at 9 o'clock. He had been in feeble health for several years, but was able most of the time to attend his patients. He made two trips to the country during the blustery weather of last week, which it is thought hastened his death. His death was unexpected to most of our citizens, very few of whom knew he was sick, until they received the sad intelligence of his death.

Dr. Finley was one of the pioneers of the State. He came to Iowa long before it was made a State, when the Indian and buffalo held undisputed sway over the greater part of its territory. He participated in and contributed to its rapid growth and development. The greater part of his life was spent as a practicing physician. He was careful, laborious and unremitting in his attention to the arduous and responsible duties of the profession he loved, and for which be was eminently fitted, both by natural disposition as well as by careful training and study.

In politics Dr. Finley was an earnest Republican — we may say, a decided partisan — but with no bitterness of feeling. Always courteous, kind and respectful to those who differed from him, he won, as he deserved, friends from all sorts and classes of people. He held but few public trusts, but his ability and integrity were marked in every position he assumed. During the war he accepted a position as a member of the State Board of Enrollment and served until the close of the war. In this important position he endeared himself to thousands of volunteers by his active care for their welfare, while his energy, fairness and scrupulous honesty marked his fitness for the trying position. An exalted public spirit ever animated him, and soldiers in every part of the State remember him kindly for his faithfulness and promptness in responding to every demand made upon him. His kindness of heart was unbounded. Thoughtful of the happiness of others, he endeared himself to all with whom he was intimately associated, and was a marked favorite of all with whom he came in contact. He had ability of no mean order, but it was used less for his own advancement than for the service of others. With all his toil and trials, his life was a happy one, for he consciously contributed to the happiness of others.

Dr. Finley was a man of a high sense of honor, of irreproachable integrity, fine abilities and professional acquirements. He possessed a heart of as tender susceptibilities as a woman. He fully appreciated the responsibilities of life, and met them in a right manly way. There was nothing sordid or mean in his nature; nothing low, base or groveling. In the fullest, widest meaning of the term, he was a gentleman. Now that his life is finished, the testimony is cheerfully borne that he has left to his family and friends the precious heritage of a good name.

This brief tribute we would pay to our loved friend, for he was our friend, sincere, earnest and true. Rest and sleep, sleep and rest! There are many who mourn you — eyes that are dimmed with tears as they remember with grateful hearts your many generous acts of kindness. There are many who feel that your place can never be filled. "The best portions of a good man's life are the little acts of tenderness and love;" and with these Dr. Finley's life was made redolent and glorious. Such men must die, but the world is the better that they have lived.

Dr. John P. Finley was born in Augusta, Kentucky, on the 29th day of August, 1813. After the death of his father, which occurred when he was quite young, he moved to Piqua, Ohio, with his mother and brothers. Here he clerked in a store for some time, and studied medicine. He afterwards engaged in business at Lima, Ohio, and in 1836 was married at Piqua, Ohio, to Maria L. Cheever, who died in Des Moines, Iowa, in January 1865. He came to Iowa in 1839, and settled on a farm near New London, Henry county, where he lived a few years. From New London be moved to Burlington, and from there to Galena, Illinois, where he engaged in the drug business. In 1845 he returned to Iowa, and lived at Bloomfield until 1853, when he moved to Leon, where has been his home ever since, with the exception of two years spent in Des Moines during the war.

Dr. Finley was an active and honored member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was a charter member of Bloomfield lodge, No. 23, and the first charter member of Leon lodge, No. 84, also a member of Decatur Encampment, No. 38.

For many years he was a member of the Methodist church, and Rev. A. Brown conducted a short funeral service at the residence, after which the Odd Fellows took charge of the services. The Decatur County Medical Society, of which the deceased was an active member, attended the funeral in a body. The Odd Fellows turned out in full force, and most of the lodges in the county were represented. A large number of citizens were present, and the deep feeling manifested showed unmistakably the strong hold the deceased had on the affections of the people among whom he had lived and toiled so many years.

The services at the grave were the beautiful ritual of the Odd Fellows, with solemn dirge and impressive obsequies. So was a noble man laid to rest on a beautiful hill, near a large evergreen, in the early spring time, when the springing grass and swelling buds are nature's assurances of the life to come. His good name, his kind disposition, his great ability, and his social qualities, will be remembered long after his body molders to "mother dust."

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The following resolutions were unanimously adopted by the Leon Lodge, No. 84, I. O. O. F.:

WHEREAS, It has pleased Almighty God to remove from among us our beloved brother Past Grand John P. Finley, senior, it is therefore, by Leon Lodge, No. 84, I. O. O. F., of Iowa, at their lodge room assembled,

Resolved, That in the death of Brother Past Grand Finley, the community has lost an upright, honest man; society at large a genial and true gentleman; the family a kind and affectionate father, and this lodge one of its most honored and faithful members, whose name is inscribed the first upon the Charter of the lodge, and who has lived for the last two years as the only remaining charter member.

Resolved, That since the 7th day of February, 1856, Brother Past Grand John P. Finley, sr., has been a true and faithful worker in this lodge, and his genial presence in times of despondency, his energy and ability as a worker, and his high appreciation of the tenets of our order, to a great extent has kept alive the fire upon the altar of this lodge, for more than twenty seven years.

Resolved, That while Brother Past Grand Finley will never again sit with us in this lodge, we will ever cherish his manly qualities, emulate his many virtues, and in token of our high esteem for him, we have draped the lodge in mourning, and will wear the fraternal badge for thirty days.

Resolved, That to the family and friends we pledge our heartfelt sympathy in their bereavement, reminding them and ourselves, however, that what has been our great loss has proven his eternal gain.

Resolved, That these resolutions be spread upon the records of this lodge; that they be published in the Decatur and Davis County Iowa, papers, and that a copy of these be presented to our deceased brother's family.
JOHN L. YOUNG,
C. W. BECK,
C. M. MURRY.

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John C. Stockton:

The news of the death of Dr. John P. Finley fell with sadness upon my ears. In December, 1849, I met him at his home in Bloomfield, Iowa. He was then vigorous, brilliant, and versatile. Gentle as a child in his manners, kind as a woman in his devotion to his friend and brave as a lion in defense of his conviction of right. Dr. Finley was of a noble stock of Scotch Irish Presbyterians. My father listened to the ministration of his grandfather, Robert Finley, in western Pennsylvania. Robert Finley was a strong man among strong men. Two of his sons, John P. Finley, the father of our friend Dr. Finley and James B. Finley, were Methodist Ministers.

Rev. John P. Finley was a finished classical scholar and died while he was president of Augusta college, Kentucky. To his widow was left the care of his children, which she raised with honor. The two brothers Dr. William McKendree Finley passed away only a few years ago, his only remaining brother now follows him. Each of these brothers were pioneers in the civilization of Iowa, as their father and brothers had been in Ohio, and their grandfather had been in Western Pennsylvania. With his generation. Dr. Finley has passed away. A nobler heart never beat in the bosom of a man.

I owe this tribute to the memory of these good people that I knew and loved so long.

Yours, HENRY CLAY DEAN,
Leon, Iowa, March 12.