Frederick Norton Finney

Frederick Norton Finney, the yongest son of Charles Grandison andLydia Andrews Finney, was bon at Boston, Massachusets, March 7th, 1832. In 1835 his parents moved to Oberlin, and here his boyhood was spent. The energy which has always been charachteristic of th man shwed itself in th boy. He wished to see things moving; and th quiet scholastic and religious atmosphere of the early days in Oberlin could hardly have provided the scope he needed for his activities. His father recognized the truth of this, and, partly for this reason, partly from the necessities growing out of limited means, let him go when fifteen years of age, to Western New York, where for two years he worked on a farm, or in a store. For the next four years he was employed as a clerk in Cleveland and during a portion of that time he studied law. At the ate of twent-two he secured what was thought to be a fine situation with a large dry goods establishment in Cincinnati.

But this was not the sort of wrk he wanted to be doing. He had made up his mind that he would like to be a civil engineer. On day on the street, he say a surveying party starting out with level and transit for work in th field. There was his chance. He went to the man at the head of the party and asked for employment. This was roughly refused. The party was full and no more men were needed. He persisted in his request and offered to work for nothing. His persistence won the day; he was told he might go along. Overjoyed, he resigned his position at the store, giving up a good salary in doing so, and took his place as chainman with the party, at first without any compensation. The engineer in charge, a rough sort of man, tested his determination in every possible way. By young Finney was not to be discouraged. He stuck to the work, and his energy, intelligence and fearlessness soon made him friends. Before long he was carrying the rod, then running a level; and in a few months he was given charge of the party, which was engaged in railroad surveying, on a line between Cincinnati and Indianapolis, now forming a part of the Big Four system.

But hard times followed; the survey was discontinued; and Finney, thrown out of the work he liked, and unwilling to go back to that which he did not like, reverted to his earlier idea of studying for admission to the bar. He went to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and entered a law office, with the expectation of earning money enough from clerical work to pay his way. In this he was disappointed; but falling back on his engineering experience, he was able to add to his income by privat surveying on his own account and he continued to work at this while reading law and even after his admission to the bar in 1858 or '59. He then formed a partnership with Hon. Coles Bashford, which contined three years. He became city engineer and country engineer. In 1860 he was given the postion of resident engineer with the Chicago and Northwestern Railway and in this position he surveyed and constructed a line of railroad running north from Oshkosh. Extensive land grants from the state to the railroad were conditioned on the completion of this line within a limited time, which had nearly expired when Mr Finney took charge. BY his enery and resolution the work was finished withing the time prescribed and the land grants were secured. He remained in the employ of the Chicago and Northwestern Company until 1862. In 1864 he was appointed first assistant engineer on the mountain division of the Union Pacific Railway, and made careful preliminary surveys from the foot hills west over the first ranges of the Rocky Mountains. The party depended on wagan lines of transportation for its supplies, and was accompanied by an escot of cavalry, furnished by the Government, for protection against roving bands of Indians. An interesting part of the work of this party was the establishment of the line of the one hundredth meridian.

In the fall of 1864, on his return to the East, Mr. Finney was appointed resident engineer and superintendent of the Jamestown division of the Lake Shore Railway, retaining this position until 1867. Form 1867 to 1870 he was cheir engineer and general superintendent of the Erie and Pittsburgh. Form 1870 to 1874 he held the same position with the Canada Southern and located and constructed all the lines in Canada which are now controlled and operated by the Michigan Central Railway Company. From 1875 to 1878 he was chief engineer and superintendent of the Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw Railway. In 1878 he became general manager of the Wisconsin Central and remained in that postion until 1889, when severed his connection with that road. After a period of rest, spent in part in foreign travel, he retured again to railroad work. From 1891 to 1893 he was president of the St. Paul, Minneapolis, Sault Ste Marie and vice-president of the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railways. From 1893 to 1904 hw was superintntendent of construction of the Missour, Kansas and Texas Railway, for which he constructed nine hundred miles of railroad. From 1904 to 1904 he was president of that company. He also constructed the lines of the Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, and Texas and Oklahoma railways, and was president of those companies.

Since 1978 Mr. Finney has lived in Milwaukee, and sice 1883 in a beautiful home which he built on the bluff overlooking Lacke Michigan. No sketch of his life will do justice to its subject which fails to call attention to another trait as characteristic of the man as the tireless energy which impressses itself upon all who come in contact with him. This is his love of his home, through all the absorbing care and activities of a very busy life. His first wife, Jennie Abel, of Franklin, New York, died not long after their marriage. In 1863 he married Williana W. Clark, of Oberlin, a woman of great personal charm and rare refinement of character and taste. Over his home and family, until her death in 1899, she presided with gracious dignity but unquestioned authority.

Mr. Finney's love of art and in particular, his knowledge of paintings, must be noticed as remarkable in a man whose life has been so fully occupied in a widely different field. About the time of severing his connection with the Wisconsin Central Railway, he took his first extended vacation, and spent two years in travel abroad. He had previously, in 1888, made a short visit to London and Paris, but that had been a business trip, undertaken for the purpose of acquiring information as to European ideas in reference to rail way terminals. The second trip was his first real opportunity to satisfy a long cherished desire to examine the great art galleries, cathedrals and architectural monuments of the old world. Since then he has made other prolonged visits in Europe and Egypt. He returned from his last tour in time to join in the celebration, in June, 1908, of the seventy-fifth anniversary of Oberlin College, and in the dedication of the beautiful chapel which he has erectied in honor of his father's memory. Charles E. Monroe.