FINGER

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Generation 1 Johann Andreas Gottlieb Wilhelm FINGER and wife Wilhelmine (nee LENTZSCH) lived and raised 4 children in the town of Teutschenthal, Sachsen-Anhalt (Germany). The general location of Teutschenthal, Germany--the ancestral home of the FINGER Family Their children: Wilhelmine Emma FINGER was born 28 Oct 1844 in Teutschenthal, Sachsen-Anhalt and was baptized in the Lutheran Church there in November of 1844. Her sponsors were Friedrich HARING, Gottlieb LENTZSCH of Asendorf, and Louise ARCHILLES. Wilhelmine passed away at 6 years of age on 8 Apr 1851 in Teutschenthal. Wilhelm Ferdinand FINGER was born 19 Jan 1846 in Teutschenthal, Sachsen-Anhalt and was baptized in the Lutheran Church there on 25 Jan 1846. His sponsors were Friedrich FUNFHAUSEN, Ernst REYNE, Heinrich MULLER, and Gottlieb LENTZSCH of Asendorf. Wilhelm Theordor FINGER was born 14 Oct 1850 in Teutschenthal, Sachsen-Anhalt and was baptized in the Lutheran Church there in October of 1850. His sponsors were Johann LOHELER of Asendorf, Johanne Rosine KRUNTZLING, and Caroline WINTZER. Friedrich Franz Wilmar FINGER was born 18 Dec 1854 in Teutschenthal, Sachsen-Anhalt and was baptized in the Lutheran Church there in December of 1854. His sponsors were Friedrich WIEDE, Gottfried LENTZSCH, and Friedrich LENTZSCH. At age 29, Wilmar and wife Liberta (nee TELLE) emigrated from Germany to America.
Generation 2 Friedrich Franz Wilmar FINGER and wife Liberta Erdmuthe (nee TELLE) FINGER (both from Saxony) settled in Perry County, Missouri in the fall of 1883, buying 200 acres just south of the small town of Seventy-six for \\$1,300. Their first son Paul was born earlier in Germany and came over after the couple settled.
Wilmar and Liberta with their oldest 5 children: (left to right) Hugo, Paul, Arthur, Otto, and Hattie on Liberta's lap.
Liberta was the first school teacher at the "Ridge School", a Lutheran parochial school near Altenburg. She also kept in touch with relatives in Germany, taking her two surviving daughters back to Germany to visit in 1900. Wilmar was the Director of the Union Public School Board for a time in the early 1900s. Wilmar was known as a "gentleman's farmer", one who mostly rented out his land. His main occupation was as a salesman and distributor of a St. Louis German newspaper: the Westliche Post. In additon, the couple sold timber from their farmland and used their large farmhouse as a place for travellers to board from nearby Seventy-six landing (photo on right). Both Wilmar and Liberta died from "Bright's disease", a vague kidney infection also known as "elephant legs" because of the fluid retention and swelling caused in the exremeties. Wilmar died 19 Jun 1922 on his farm near Seventy-six and was buried 3 days later at Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg, MO. Liberta also almost lived out her days on the farm in her son Ted's care except for the last weeks she was with her daughter Hattie in St. Louis. She died there and was buried at Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg, MO along with a daughter Hedwig, who died when she was 3.
The Finger residence in Seventy-six, MO built between 1901 and 1904.
Generation 3 Paul Robert FINGER was born in Germany, raised near Seventy-six, Missouri, and was a farm laborer in Perry County in his early teens. At 18, he moved Bexar County (San Antonio), Texas to work for Western Union. There, he met and married Clara FISCHER and then later Goldie Edna LITTREL. Paul had 4 daughters. He died at his home and is buried in Oatmeal Cemetery, Bertram, Texas. Arthur Wilhelm FINGER was born and raised near Seventy-six, Missouri and was a farm laborer in Perry County in his early teens. He then moved to Allen County (near Fort Wayne), Indiana to work as a telegrapher for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. There he met and married Frieda (?). The couple had a son and daughter. He became ill visiting his brother Otto in McClure, IL and was taken to the hospital in Cape Girardeau, MO. He died there and was buried in New Haven, Indiana. Otto Michael FINGER was born and raised near Seventy-six, Missouri and in his mid-twenties was drafted as a cook in WWI. The war lasted a few months longer. Later he married Miss Rose JOHNSON, from Chester, IL and they were married at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg. The couple had one son. The couple moved to Dupo, IL for several years and then to McClure, IL in 1930. He had been ill and in the hospital in Cape Girardeau, MO when he died there. He is buried in the cemetery at Anna, Illinois. Hugo Ferdinand FINGER was born and raised near Seventy-six, Missouri then moved near Denver (Bremer County), Iowa to work as a farmhand for Herman BRUNS. It was through Herman that he met Bertha Maria HEIN (she was his housekeeper). The couple was married in St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Denver, Iowa on 11 Oct 1911 (photo below) and immediately moved to Seventy-six, MO, on the "Old Swank Place, an adjacent farm that Wilmar had purchased a few years earlier. The couple later moved back to the Denver area for 8 years and then back to Seventy-six, Missouri while raising 5 sons and 1 daughter. Bertha passed away in Seventy-six, MO in 1930 from tuberculosis and buried in Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery, Altenburg, MO. Some time after Bertha's passing, Caroline Wilhelmine GROSSE was hired to care for Hugo's smaller children. The couple was married in Perryville, Missouri by JP Homer M. GRAF on 24 Dec 1938 and they had 1 son and 2 daughters. Their family and older step-siblings then resided in Hilderbrand, Missouri. Later, the couple moved to Perryville, MO. They are both buried in Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery, Perryville, MO Hedwig "Hattie" Liberta FINGER was born and raised near Seventy-six and taught at many local area schools in her teens. She married Otto F. LEIMBACH at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Altenburg, Missouri. The couple resided in south St. Louis, Missouri and had 1 son and 2 daughters. Hattie was also interested in keeping family records and heirlooms. In fact, 99% of family photos and information have come from her and was inherited by her daughters. The LEIMBACH's became administrator of Liberta's estate when they purchased the family farm in her name back from auction. They also took Liberta to St. Louis to care for her in the last weeks of her life. The LEIMBACH family had a family business in south St. Louis and Hattie and her husband spent the rest of her days in there and both are buried in St. Louis, MO. Meta Selma FINGER was born and raised near Seventy-six. In her teens she married a family aquaintance from St. Louis, Otto BAULE and they resided in Kansas City. The couple had one son and daughter. Her second marriage was to Paul Charles WELLS. They lived in St. Louis and also bought the family farm in Seventy-six from Liberta after Wilmar passed away. Less than a year later, the property was returned to Liberta's ownership. Meta was widowed from P.C. WELLS and she later married Morris GOTLER and they lived near Rolla (Phelps County), Missouri. She spent her last days in Rolla and donated her remains to Washington University Medical School in St. Louis, Missouri. Theodore Walter FINGER was born and raised near Seventy-six, spent much of his life on the farm near Seventy-six (photo). Ted spent 7 years in St. Louis in his mid and late 20's. He met and married Esther Clara MEYER, who was a secretary at the Queeny plant in St. Louis, MO. Her father also happened to be a minister at the Lutheran Church in Altenburg, MO. The couple had 3 sons, the oldest was born in St. Louis. Before his mother's passing in 1933, Liberta officially sold the family farm to Ted. In 1934, the family of 3 moved permanently to the family farm in Seventy-six. From that time, he increased the acreage of the family farm and did much to preserve the farmhouse, its heirlooms and history. He lived in the farmhouse until 1975; a fire hit the house and Ted passed away inside. He and his wife are buried at Home Cemetery, Perryville, MO.
Generation 4
Hugo FINGER and his first wife Bertha (HEIN) FINGER
Hugo FINGER's children: Karl Ferdinand FINGER Frieda Liberta FINGER Lawrence Herman FINGER Otto August William FINGER Arlen Loren FINGER Norman Roland FINGER Claiborne Raborne FINGER Vera Heida FINGER Delores FINGER
Notes © 2002 Elsie Huddleston and Rick Finger Last Revision: 29 Jan 2002 E-mail Rick with questions or comments at refinger@hotmail.com