James Bradley Finley

James Bradley Finley (July 1, 1781 – September 6, 1857) was an American clergyman.

Biography James Bradley Finley was born in North Carolina on July 1, 1781, where his father was working as a Presbyterian minister. The family settled in Virginia, and later emigrated to Ohio. A move to Kentucky was frustrated by land pirates, and the family returned to Ohio. James grew up as a backwoodsman, familiar with forests, their lore and their inhabitants. His father ran a school during the stay in Kentucky, and there James was schooled in the classics. James also studied medicine, and began a practice in 1800. Upon his 1801 marriage to Hannah Strane, he built a cabin and returned to the backwoods life.

He joined the Ohio conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1808, and was ordained as a minister in 1812.

He died in Eaton, Ohio on September 6, 1857.

Works His chief works are: Autobiography (Cincinnati, 1853) History of the Wyandott mission, at Upper Sandusky, Ohio (Cincinnati, 1840) Sketches of Western Methodism (1854) Life among the Indians (1857) Memorials of Prison Life (1860)