Where Finger Got Its Name

 

Drive through any county, in any state, throughout the South and the Southwest, USA, and you will come across little towns, communities, and pigpasses, with quaint, colloquial and curious names. Not so much in the North, and I am not sure why, perhaps they lacked imagination. The above map of Stanly County is over one hundred years old, and reveals that in its day, the County was just chock-full of such little communities, most of which no longer exist, not to any popular use, at any rate. Some are still marked by a road, or a road sign. Others grew into towns, or cities, who may have absorbed the smaller communities near them. Some changed names, or were replaced by newer communities built along the railroad. Others are still there, on a whisper, cherished as their own by the small group of families who might call them home. One of those is a place called Finger.

Finger is located along Highway 73, on the road between Albemarle, in Stanly County, and Mount Pleasant in Cabarrus County. It's very near the Cabarrus County line, so much that some of its residents have Mount Pleasant addresses, despite being in Stanly County. Others have Albemarle addresses, despite being ten or twelve miles away. The map above is off on location quite a bit, as one would pass through Porter first, then Millingport, then Finger, before arriving in Mount Pleasant, seen only as "Pleasant" on the western side of the map.

Finger is not a town, but a community without exact boundaries, and is a place. It once had a country store, and a ring-a-ding diner, not very long ago, actually, and still is blessed with several businesses. There's a garage, a storage building lot, a storage facility and George's Plant Farm, where we go for our tomato plants and spring annuals every year. In fact, there's several other buisnesses and most of them agri-businesses of some sort. The citizens of Finger, in many cases, have lived there and farmed there, for generations. Many of the families names seen on documents from the 19th century, are the same family names you'd find on mailboxes there today.

Stanly News and Press

Tue, Sep 06, 1921 ·Page 6

But where did this unique little hamlet get it's name? Some places in Stanly County were named for their character, like Big Lick, which was named for a Salt Lick that exits there, or Millingport, which was the location of multiple Grist Mills and other milling operations. Others were named for a prominent family name in the area, like Lambert, or Porter, or Plyer, or even Richfield, which began as "Ritchie's Old Field". Others were given fancy names in order to impress somebody. Seriously. 

On the below map of the North Carolina Gold Region, Stanly County is still part of Montgomery County, which means it predates 1841, when they separated. Lawrenceville, east of the Pee Dee River, was the County Seat and one of the old County Seats, Henderson, is pictured above it. Both were located in what remains Mother Montgomery. There were few towns marked in what became Stanly, where the sparse populations were centered along the rivers and creeks. Allentown was the main town and population center at the time of the Revoluctionary War. 

But Allenton, being near water, would be plagued by thyphous outbreaks, as would Tindallsville, which was located where only marked by "FY" for Ferry, as it was across the river from Henderson and Lawrenceville. A community grew around the Narrows, known as 'Narrowsville', but was relatively short-lived, populated somewhat by folks who had came down from Rowan County. When the county split in half, the western half would be named for John Stanly, a politician from New Bern who was known to have participated in a duel, in order to impress State Legislatures and gain their approval. When the county seat was laid out upon a 50 acre tract belonging to the Hearne family in a central area of the new county near the junction of several smaller creeks into Long Creek, and where the old Salisbury Wagon Road forked, as seen on the above map, with one fork being the Fayetteville Road, crossing at the Ferry towards Lawrenceville and the other going south, crossing the Rocky River into Anson County at Beard's Post Office towards Wadesboro. The new county seat was named Albemarle, for George Monck, Duke of Albemarle, who was one of the early Lord Proprietors of North Carolina. 

New London, also was named to impress someone. Originally called "Bilesville" for the Biles family who had founded the town near a gold mine, marked on the above map, under the "P" that marked Pennington's Ferry. Seeking attention and approval from British investors, the name was changed. Several mines still exist in the northern part of the county in a gold belt that ran through several counties in NC, particularly Cabbarus, Rowan, Stanly, Montgomery and Mecklenburg. 

Norwood was named for the Norwood Brothers Store, that was located at a crossroads of one road that ran from Cabarrus County  to Allenton and the other that was previously mentioned that ran from Salisbury to Wadesboro. It was originally Center, a place in between the agricultural boomtown of Cottonville, named not for a person, but for the white gold that fiercly grows there and does to this day, and the trading town with an Inn, Allenton, named for the Allen Brothers who settled it, one of them, Mark Allen, my ancestor. 

Stanly News and Press

Fri, Jun 04, 1920 ·Page 3

Yet again, so where did the name "Finger" come from? Some suggested that perhaps it came from the shape of the community, a slim straight grouping of homes and businesses along the Concord to Albemarle Road, long ago referred to as the Morganton Road. But that is incorrect, as the community is actually spread out, along roads that intersect with the highway. 

Another suggested a story about a woodchopper that lost his finger. That too was the figment of someone's imagination. The truth is much less colorful. Finger was named for a person.

Stanly News and Press

Fri, Apr 03, 1936 ·Page 8

As you've been seeing in the community clips from old newspapers, several of the family names that lived and settled in Finger, match others of the county and counties, at large, Hahn, Herrin,  Eudy, Hatley, Burleson, Harwood, Lowder, Lipe, Shue, Cauble, Sides, Plott, and others. It was not one of the local citizens for whom the Town, and the following Post Office was named, but for someone who lived there briefly and gained their respect and attention. 

Rev. John Finger was neither born there or died there. 

Stanly News and Press

Tue, Jun 24, 1947 ·Page 8

The community really began as Herrin's Grove, from the family of my 4th Great Grandfather, Hezekiah Herrin, (1794-1884). Hezekiah married Amelia "Milly" Hatley, daughter of Hardy Hatley and Isabell Foreman Hatley. They had eight children, four sons and four daughters, and after a few decades, had created their own community and Hezekiah was part of the community who desired a church be built. That Church is now Oak Grover and Rev. John Finger was a minister to the community. As seen above, in 1947, the town of Finger had its own Baseball Team.

Stanly News and Press

Fri, Sep 13, 1940 ·Page 10

Others moved in to the community, some had married into the Herrin and Hahn families, early staples of the place. Soon, families from other parts of Stanly and Cabarrus County had joined the community, as fertile parcels were sold and business deals were made. By the 1940's new names like Mauldin, Lefler, Harkey and Ritchie were joinng the staples of the community like Harwood, Sides, Shoe and Lowder. There were no Fingers. Finger was a fingerless community. 

In the 1870 census, John Finger, 56, appears as a Methodist Minister, aged 56, living with his family in Cabarrus County. 

Name	John Finger
Age in 1870	56
Birth Date	abt 1814
Birthplace	North Carolina
Dwelling Number	59
Home in 1870	Township 8, Cabarrus, North Carolina
Race	White
Gender	Male
Post Office	Concord
Occupation	ME Minister
Male Citizen Over 21	Yes
Personal Estate Value	1000
Inferred Spouse	H E Finger
Inferred Children	Robt C FingerJames A FingerMary E Finger
Household Members (Name) Age Robt C Finger 3 Eliza Banner 15 John Finger 56 H E Finger 42 James A Finger 16 Mary E Finger 7

The family is listed in Township 8, Mount Pleasant area, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he lived in Cabarrus. As previously mentioned, Finger abutted the Cabarrus County line. Borders, especially in those days, were uncertain, fluid at best. Families who actually lived in Stanly were counted in Cabarrus. Families who actually lived in Cabarrus were counted in Stanly. It all depended on where the census takers mule took him before some family stopped and corrected him if he mentioned the wrong county. 

So, for a time Rev. John Finger had preached to the community around Herrin's Grove in the area where Stanly met  Mount Pleasant in Cabarrus. He made a significant impression upon them and so when they gathered to devise a name for their new post office in 1888, ran by Daniel Shue, or Shoe, one of them suggested Finger for Rev. John and the rest agreed. So, the community of Finger was born. 

One may wonder why it became Finger instead of "Shoe". Perhaps they preferred hands over feet in their decision. Bad Joke.

So, in the latter part of the 19th Century, to well past the middle half of the 20th, the little community of Finger grew and grew. 

They had a Beekeepers Club, and I've mentioned before, the infamous and fabulous Finger Grill that fed many a farmer, truck driver and out-for-visiting Sunday diners. 

Stanly News and Press

Thu, Jun 28, 2018 ·Page 17

Oak Grove Church, perhaps and probably founded by Rev. John Finger, remains the center of the community. The above clipping is from 2018, and announced the church's 133rd homecoming and revival, meaning the church was founded in 1885, around the same time as the Post Office was created. 

Stanly News and Press

Sun, Dec 19, 1999 ·Page 4

In 1989, it was reported that Mr. Frank Eury of Finger had a goat who had given birth to quintuplets. I can imagine that poor goat being barely able to walk. So, the history of Finger has spread out over 150 years. Who exactly was this charismatic Minister whose name it bears. 

Back to the 1870 census, where we first were introduced to Rev. Finger, we see that he seems to have done quite a bit of traveling in his life. He, his wife and oldest son, James, age 16, was born in North Carolina, while his 7-year-old daughter, Mary, was born in South Carolina. 

Title The Finger Family of Lincoln County, North Carolina: With Brief Sketch of Saint Matthews Church Author Nixon, Alfred, b. 1856

A history of the Finger family of Lincoln County, NC details that Rev. Finger was the only child of a David Finger and Mary Summerow Finger. He would have half-siblings later, as his mother remarried after the death of his father. He was a member of the South Carolina Methodist Episcopal Church southern circuit. He married Hannah Elvira Avery, of Burke County, NC and they were the parents of three children, James Avery, Mary Elmira and Robert Gage, who died at age 5 in South Carolina, and was listed on the 1870 census of Cabarrus County. 

In 1880, the family of Rev. John Finger is found in Williamston, Anderson County, South Carolina. Avery refers to son James Avery, who at age 25 was a teacher. Mamie was the nickname of daughter Mary, and the family employed a man named Peter as farm labor and Sallie, as a cook. The couples surname is not mentioned, but perhaps they were actually also Fingers. 

Title	The Groton Avery Clan 1, Pt.2
Author	Avery, Elroy McKendree, 1844-1935,Avery, Catharine Hitchcock Tilden, 1844-1911

The heritage of Mrs. Finger, Hannah Avery, is recalled in the book North American Family Histories under The Groton Avery Clan, Part 2.

Rev. John Finger died at the age of 70 on June 15, 1884, in Anderson County, South Carolina.

So the naming of Finger coincides with the death of Rev. John Finger. 

Hannah followed in 1905 and was given a very lengthy and descriptive obituary. Both of the Finger children went into the educational field, with James residing in Charleston, SC. and Mary in Bamburg.

It appears to me that the christening of the Finger Post Office by Postmaster Shoe, and others of the community, and the death of Rev. Finger at about the same time, suggests the Village was named in honor of Rev. Finger upon his demise. So, this is how a small community in Stanly County, North Carolina, was named for a Methodist Preacher from Lincoln County who moved to South Carolina.

The Finger home at Cabin Hill. 

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