Saturday, September 06, 2008

John Finch

John Finch was born 1837 in Canada, the son of Canadian-born Sarah A. (b. 1812)

By 1860 John had left Canada and immigrated to the United States where he was working as a mill hand and living at the Paddock boarding house in Georgetown, Ottawa County, Michigan. Living at the same boarding house were several other young men destined to join the Third Michigan: Joseph Ledbeter (who would enlist in Company B), Albert Hayes (Company I), Benjamin Parker (Company I), James Parm (Company I), Thomas Rowling (Company I), Alfred (Company F) and William Tate (Company I), John M. Taylor (Company I).

John was 24 years old and probably still living in Georgetown when he enlisted in Company I on May 13, 1861. (Company I was made up largely of men from Ottawa County, particularly from the eastern side of the County.) He was severely wounded in his right arm on May 12, 1864, at Spotsylvania, Virginia.

John subsequently died from his wounds on either May 23 or June 22, 1864, at Fredericksburg, Virginia, and was presumably buried among the unknown soldiers in Fredericksburg.

In 1864 his mother applied for and received a pension (no. 84375). She was probably living in Georgetown, Ottawa County in 1870 and in 1880.

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