BIO: William G. FINNEY, Huntingdon County, PA

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Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley: 
Comprising the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata and Perry, 
Pennsylvania, Containing Sketches of Prominent and Representative 
Citizens and Many of the Early Settlers.  Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. 
Runk & Co., 1897, pages 346-347.
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  REV. WILLIAM G. FINNEY, a Presbyterian minister at Orbisonia, 
Huntingdon county, Pa., was born September 21, 1867, near Williamsport, 
Lycoming county, Pa., son of Henry G. and Sarah (Gardner) Finney. The 
Finney family came originally from the north of Ireland, before the 
Revolutionary war. Robert, the first to come over, settled in Chester 
county, Pa. Some of the Finneys took part in the war in Ireland between 
the Protestants and Catholics, and were on the side of the Protestants 
at the battle of the Boyne. The grandfather of William G., Robert L. 
Finney, born near Milton, Northumberland county, Pa., was a farmer. He 
died near Milton at the age of seventy, several years before his wife's 
decease. Their children are: Eliza, married to Dr. Perry Piper, both 
deceased; Jane (Mrs. James Caldwell), of New Jersey; Rev. Spencer L., a 
Presbyterian minister, died in 1886; Henry G.; Elinor (Mrs. William 
Matthews), of Harrison, N.J.; Mary, deceased, wife of Edward 
Hackenberg; Robert, farmer, of Winchester, Va.; and Hadassah (Mrs. Rev. 
S. P. Herron), near Winchester, Va. Henry G. Finney was born September 
10, 1830, near Milton, Pa., son of Robert L. and Elinor (Graham) 
Finney. He studied at Lafayette College, Easton, Pa., taking his senior 
year in New York University, and graduating in 1855. He then studied 
theology at the Covenanter Seminary, Philadelphia, and at the Princeton 
Seminary. Since that time he has been preaching most of the time in 
central Pennsylvania. In 1863 he married Miss Sarah Gardner. During the 
year 1863, he had charge at Gettysburg; at the famous battle fought 
there, his church was turned into a hospital, while he himself 
administered to the sick and dying soldiers. Since leaving Gettysburg, 
he has preached in succession near Williamsport, Pa.; near Milton, 
where he established Pottsgrove Academy; at the Rocky Spring church 
near Chambersburg; and in the fall of 1895 he went to Petersburg, Pa., 
where he still remains. His children are: Bertha, wife of Dr. William 
G.; Florence G., a teacher; and Elinor Mary, at home; his daughters are 
graduates of Wilson College, Chambersburg, Pa.
  Rev. William G. Finney was seven years of age when his father removed 
to Milton, Pa. After a few years' work in the public schools, he 
continued his studies under his father, and at the age of fifteen 
entered Lafayette College, Easton, Pa. Graduating in 1887, he taught 
for two years, at Corning, Ia., and at the Chambersburg Academy. In the 
fall of 1889 he entered Union Theological Seminary, New York City, 
graduating from the same in May, 1892. During the summer months of the 
years in the seminary, he had preached at Orbisonia, Pa., and, after 
graduating from the seminary, he became the regular pastor at 
Orbisonia. Life his father, he is Republican in sentiment, but strongly 
favors prohibition.