Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

2868 GEORGIA AND GEOEGIANSall connected with, the rising commercial activity of this rapidly growing city.Mr. Finch was born in Jackson County, Georgia, November 15, 1883, and isa son of John F. and Laura A. (FarabaJd) Finch, natives of this state.John F. Finch was reared and educated in Georgia and was a young manwhen the Civil war broke out. "With other youths of his locality, he enlistedearly in the war in the Sixteenth Georgia Infantry, with which organizationhe served four years, or until the cessation of hostilities. While he participated in a number of hotly contested engagements, he escaped wounds orcapture and when his military career was finished returned to the pursuitsof peace, strengthened by the discipline gained in army life. For a numberof years he was the proprietor of a livery and also engaged in the stock business, and his death occurred at Athens, in 1908, when he was sixty-five yearsof age. Mrs. Finch was born in 1853, in Georgia, was here educated, rearedand married, and died in 1898, at the age of forty-five years. There was onlyone child in the family: ^. R.W. R. Finch received his education in the public schools of Athens andwas graduated from the high school in 1900. At that time he secured a position with the Empire State Chemical Company, as a traveling salesman, andfor eleven years traveled over Northeast Georgia under Mr. Hodgson. Leaving the employ of that concern he entered the office of the brokerage concernof Rowland & Company, of Athens, where he remained from 1911 until 1914,in March of which year he came to Cornelia and established his presentbusiness. Here he handles all kinds of fertilizer, cotton and spray materials,and has built up one of the leading enterprises of its kind in this part of thestate, shipping to all points of importance in North Georgia. He is alsoagent for the Ford automobile at Cornelia, a line in which he has been verysuccessful, and is interested in orchard farming as secretary and treasurer ofthe Classic City Orchard Company of Cornelia. As noted, his career hasbeen one of steady and continued advancement, and one in which success hasbeen won with honor and without animosity. He is a democrat, but has foundlittle time from his business duties to engage in politics. However, he is abooster for Cornelia and its industries and interests, and allies himself withall beneficial movements. Fraternally, Mr. Finch is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and still retains his membership in theUnited Commercial Travelers, which organization he joined when he was aknight of the grip.At La Grange, Georgia, Mr. Finch was united in marriage, July 17, 1914,to Miss Mary F. Turner, daughter of Judge W. W. Turner, and a memberof a distinguished family of La Grange.ROT DAVIS STUBBS. Mr. Stubbs, who is now serving as mayor of Eatontonand enjoys extensive interests both as an attorney and as a planter, is one ofthe vigorous young men of Putnam County who have in a commendabledegree translated their ideals into actions, and are now carrying the heaviestburdens of professional and industrial enterprise in that community.Mr. Stubbs is only a little past thirty years of age, but his practical careerbegan at the age of eighteen, soon after graduating from the state university.He was born in Putnam County February 25, 1884, a son of Robert Davisand Maud (Middleton) Stubbs, being their only son and child. His motherwas the daughter of James Middleton, who came from South Carolina andsettled in Putnam County, Georgia. Robert D. Stubbs was born in PutnamCounty in 1854, a son of James and Elizabeth (Davis) Stubbs. James Stubbscame to Putnam County with his father many years ago, the latter being aprominent planter and slave holder. Farming has been the principal vocation in all the generations, and the family has not been without distinction inpublic affairs. Robert D. Stubbs was reared and educated in Putnam County,and is one of the largest planters in that section, being the owner and opera-