Some Finley history

From Phil Lacey:

The A.D. Findley homestead was the Northwest Quarter of Section 33, Township 19 South, Range 8 East, Chase County, which is located at the very southeastern edge of the platted city of Cottonwood Falls. That is the location of the municipal golf course. (I think I verified the legal description years ago in the courthouse records, but didn't write it down. I couldn't find any maps on the internet that would verify other than the section location, and that the creek flows through it.) Anyway, it's close.

Gideon, born in Johnstown, PA in 1857, was brought to Kansas by Alexander D. and Lucinda his wife when they settled in the area (which was in about 1858, prior to passage of the Homestead Act by Congress in 1862). They spent about a year at Prairie City (Baldwin) after coming from PA before going on to Chase County. The claim is that Gideon was the first white child in Chase County. He was NOT the first white child BORN in Chase County, because he wasn't born there.

Gideon changed the spelling of the family name to Finley. I don't know exactly when that was, but I suspect about the time he became of age. His wife was Elvira (Ella) Seaman, and they were married in 1882.

I can supply about anything you want to know about the Finleys from my extensive archives saved from destruction in 2005!