Obituaries: Finn, James J. May 8, 1925

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File contributed by: Robert G. Wilson
robert_g_wilson@yahoo.com September 6, 2009, 12:45 pm

OBITUARIES: FINN, JAMES J. MAY 8, 1925

"When the last chapter in the history of the Far West is
finally written, the just chronicler will accord a
preeminent place to the Irish. That history is indissolubly
linked with the mining industry, and on that the
adventurous Celt has left an indelible mark. The greatest
mines, from the Rockies to the Sierras, have been
discovered by Irishmen, and the greatest miners have
been of the same race. Daly in Montana, MacKay and
Fair in Nevada, Kearns in Utah, Clark in Idaho, Barns and
Walsh in Colorado, are but a few of the names that
suggest themselves in this connection. And, how many
know that the great Comstock Lode, named after a
loudmouthed pretender really discovered by Peter
O'Riley and Patrick McLaughlin?

One of that hardy race of pioneers who helped to
develop the Far West, a miner who left the imprint of his
personality on more that one of the great camps of his
generation, passed away at St. Joseph's Hospital,
Stockton, on Friday afternoon, May 8, when James Finn,
weary of earthly wandering, set sail for the fort of final
rest. Mr. Finn was a true Irishman, born in County Kerry,
and imbued with a love of everything a patriotic
Irishman should love. He was a Gaelic scholar, who wrote
and recited in Gaelic and sang the songs of his native land
in its native tongue.

He was in Virginia City and Gold Hill in the days when the
Big Bonanza of the Comstock was pouring forth its
cornucopia of gold and silver. He was in Bodie when the
lynching of "Frenchy" helped to fasten on the memory of
the West the immortal phrase, "a bad man from Bodie".
He was in Grass Valley and Nevada City when the famous
Allison Ranch Mine was still numbered among the
producers of gold.

And yet he spent more than forty years of his life in San
Francisco, only leaving here when his health began to
fail, about eighteen months ago, to spend his last days at
St. Joseph's Hospital in Stockton, where one of his
daughters, Sister M. Columba, O. S. D., is stationed. There
he passed many pleasant hours in the company of James
Caniffe, another Gaelic veteran well known to readers of
The Leader.

In addition to Sister M. Columba [Mary Finn], he left
another daughter, Sister Catherine Finn, of the Sisters of
Charity, now at Yaochow Ki, China. Of his other children,
James, Richard and Elizabeth Finn and Mrs. Paul C.
Hamann [Margaret L. Finn] reside in San Francisco, and
Mrs. Mark Poole [Ann Agnes Finn] and Mrs. Ray Grier
[Josephine Finn] in Oakland. His beloved wife, Ellen, died
here in the Fall of 1918. A daughter, Mrs. William
Geddes [Mary L. Finn], also preceded him to the tomb. A
Sister, Mrs. Thomas Baldwin [Ellen Finn] survives him
here.

A solemn requiem high Mass for the repose of his soul
was sung at St. Joseph's Church, San Francisco, on
Monday morning, May 11, beginning at 10 o'clock, with
the Rev. Henry O' Flynn as celebrant, the Rev. John F.
Dunn as deacon, the Rev. Francis Mulvihill as
sub-deacon, and the Rev. Father McCarthy of St.
Patrick's Seminary, Menlo Park, master of ceremonies.
The Rev. Father Martin, O. P., was present in the
sanctuary. Interment was in Holy Cross Cemetery."
Another obituary from the Stockton Daily Evening
Record, 9 May 1925, reads:

"FINN--In Stockton, May 8, 1925, James J. Finn, beloved
husband of the late Ellen Finn, loving father of Sister
Columba, James Finn of San Francisco, Richard Finn of
San Francisco, Sister Catherine of China, Mrs. Mark Poole
of Oakland, Mrs. Paul Hammond of San Francisco, Mrs.
Raymond Grier of Oakland and Miss Elizabeth Finn of San
Francisco, and loving brother of Mrs. Ellen Baldwin of
San Francisco; a native of Ireland, aged 76 years."

Source:
The Leader, San Francisco & Stockton Daily Evening
Record 1925