Horatio Goldsmith Finch
b. 12 June 1819, Connersville, Wayne County, Indiana, to John and Mehitable (Brown Chapman) Finch
d. 25 August 1893, San Francisco, California
m. 4 July 1872, San Francisco, California
Mary A. Casebolt
b. 1838, West Virginia, to Henry Casebolt
d. 10 February 1888, Suisun City, Solano County, California
Children with Mary A. Casebolt:
- Fabius Taylor (1875-1953) married Anna Pauline Wreden
The Finch family first came to Indiana in 1814, having moved to Connersville from North Bend, Ohio, where for several years they owned a farm adjacent to that of William J. Harrison. Horatio Goldsmith, as a newborn, moved with his family from Connersville to Horseshoe Prairie, Hamilton County, Indiana, in late August 1819. Just four months prior, Horatio’s uncles, Solomon and Moses Finch, Sr., along with their families had traveled 19 days on foot and by wagon, carving their way along the old “Indian Trail” from Connersville to the “New Purchase” (approximately 60 miles). Immediately following Horatio’s birth, his parents, John and third wife Mehitable, joined their Finch relatives and settled on the fertile prairie land two and a half miles north of William Conner’s trading post—just west of what is now Noblesville, Indiana. Horatio’s father, John Finch, was noted as being an esteemed Judge, a very capable blacksmith, and the builder of the first mill site in Hamilton County. John was the father of 17 children, of which Horatio was the youngest.
Horatio studied law as a young man and then moved to California in 1849 during the Gold Rush. According to the California Genealogical Society, both Horatio G. and Mary A. (Casebolt) Finch were cremated at the San Francisco Independent Order of Odd Fellows Crematorium. Their burial place, if any, is unknown.
Submitted by:
Lydia Finch Johnston
Danville IN