By now, his tombstone in Old Riverside Cemetery in Defiance is probably crumbled or sunken into the ground, but back in the 1970s, enough was still there to read - Finlay Strong, Mrs. A., and Miss ? Not much and no dates were there or at least readable at that time. The stone would have been old, as Finlay died on September 29, 1870 and his wife before him. But he packed his life full of service to his community and nation.
When only one line appeared in the Defiance Democrat stating that Finlay Strong had died, someone protested that a life such as Finlay's should have been better represented with a full obituary...and so the complainant provided one. His letter follows with addition information added along the way.
Defiance Democrat, October 8, 1870
"In Memoriam.
Mr. Greene
In your paper of last week was an announcement of the death of Mr. Finlay Strong
As Mr. Strong has been, for many years, a prominent citizen of our place, I have thought that his death demanded something more than a passing notice. By giving a place in your columns to the following brief memoir, you will gratify a large circle of the friends and acquaintances o the deceased.
Mr. Strong was born in Onondaga, New York, on the 6th of December, 1810, and consequently would have been 60 years of age in a few months from his death. He was the eldest in a family of six children and the first of the number to be called away. His father still lives in Syracuse in his 90th year.
The subject of this notice was a graduate of Union College, then under the Presidency of the celebrated Dr. Nott. Among his classmates were the two brothers, Clarke, who has since distinguished themselves in the literary world, and with whom he has for years maintained a friendly correspondence. Mr. Strong was a good classical scholar, and a man of fine literary tastes. His library, though small, contained some of the choice productions of modern authors."
Finlay was the son of Oliver Ripley Strong and Margaret McLaren. After his graduation from Union College, he headed to Cuyahoga County where he was listed in many tax records of the time. At some point before landing in Defiance, he married his wife, Eunice, and they had three daughters, Louisa, Mary and Jannet.
"By profession, he was a lawyer, having studied for the bar in Syracuse. He practiced law a short time in Cleveland, but concluding to come further west, he moved to Defiance in 1847, where he has since resided until the time of his death. Here he speedily gained the confidence of the people, and was chose County Surveyor, and afterwards was elected Auditor which office he held for four years. Subsequently, he consented to take charge of the Union Schools of this place, and occupied the position of Superintendent for two terms.
When the 111th Reg. Ohio Volunteers was formed, he was chosen Quarter Master, and went with that regiment to the field but finding the service too hard for a man of his age, he resigned after a service of 5 months."
Finlay was 51 when he enlisted into the 111th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company S, on August 13, 1862, as a First Lieutenant, soon chosen as Quarter Master. According to a history of the 111th by Thurston in 1894, their trek was not an easy one, mostly in Kentucky at the beginning. In September, they were in Louisville, October brought Shelbyville and Frankfort. On October 4th, they were on a march to Crab Orchard, Kentucky, at the base of the Cumberland Mountains where they "dogged the rebel rear guard out of the state. From there we marched to Bowling Green, Kentucky. We will always remember those cheerless marches, barren of results so far as we could see or know, the clouds of suffocating dust, the pitiless summer sun, the intolerable thirst which drove us to fill our canteens at horse ponds polluted by dead and dying mules."
"Then came on winter camp life, with nothing between us and the frost and snow except the sheet of canvas. Men were packed into tents 'like sardines in a tin,' sleeping upon the ground. Epidemics raged through the camp. The graveyard threatened to become more popular than the camp itself; and when spring came, over 200 men out of the original 1,000 had died or been discharged because of physical disability. Never in the history of the regiment was the mortality as great in the same length of time."
So Finlay Strong, as one of the older soldiers, was discharged from service on a surgeon's certificate of disability. One can only imagine his condition when he made his way home to Defiance.
"For the last seven years of his life, Mr. Strong occupied the position of Mail Agent on the Eastern Division of the Toledo and Wabash Road, shortly after leaving the Road, hewas attacked by the disease that ended his life on the 29th day of September, 1870.
Mr. Strong was a man of mild temperament, and gentle and unassuming in his manners. He was a Christian in faith, whose life gave evidence of the sincerity of his profession. A member of the Presbyterian church of this place, in which he held the office of Ruling Elder. He was an early and earnest friend of the temperance cause. A consistent man in all the walks of life. A loving husband and father, a kind neighbor, and a good citizen.
Sustained in his sickness by an unfaltering trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, he passed away in the full assurance of that 'crown immortal,' which our Savior has promised to those who are faithful to the end."
Finlay wrote his will on July 2, 1870, before his death in September. The will was short and to the point. Probated on October 3, 1870, he simply left all he had to his surviving daughters, Mary Strong and Janet Strong. The will suggested that his wife, Eunice, and daughter, Louisa, had preceded him in death. However, Eunice's short death notice appeared in the Defiance Democrat on November 30, 1872, page 3 :
"Died - On Friday, November 22, Mrs. Eunice A., a widow of the late Finlay Strong, aged 52."
So she may have been ill in mind or body at the time of her husband's death, and the remaining daughters were to care for her. Perhaps there are other speculations, too.
