Finley McGrew



NOTES:

Older brother of James. For reasons not explained, he "let out my mind so far as to be married by a Priest," even though his bride, Dinah Cox, was also a Quaker, and also acknowledged the misdeed. This was actually Finley's second marriage, as his first wife had died.  The Quaker record of the event was in 1761, but county records show the wedding was in 1759. The Menallen Meeting seems to have been tolerant of this "sin," but their patience was exhausted some 25 years later by Dinah and Rebecca, the sixth and seventh children (of nine) born to the couple. Roughly 16 and 15 years old at the time of the crime, the girls were "disowned" by the Meeting for having "so far given way to a Libertine Spirit as to be Guilty of Dancing"--and then apparently refused to desist! No connection is stated, but just a year later the family sought permission to move within the boundaries of a different Meeting. The dancing must have been as good for Rebecca as the forfeited Quaker care would have been; she lived to the age of 82.

Finley and James, with various other brothers and cousins, were assigned to military units during the Revolutionary War, and were fined when they refused to participate in the training.

Faith Keahey gives the April 12 death date, and also favors 1735 as the birth date for both Finley and Dinah.