Ahnentafel Chart for 
Nicholas "Nicolai" Finley
David Charles “Chalk” 
Courchane March 18, 2009
 
First 
Generation
      1. 
Nicholas "Nicolai" Finley was born about 1816 in , , 
    
Nicholas married Suzette 
(Josephte), daughter of Cayuse and Palouse, on 4 Mar 1848 in St.Francis 
Regis,  
Second 
Generation
      2. 
Jacques Raphael "Jocko" Finlay was born in 1768 in Finlay Fort, 
Saskatchewan R.,  
      3. 
Teshwentichina.
Appendix A  -  
Notes
1.  Nicholas "Nicolai" Finley
REL: Letter to  
Felsman.
!REL: Letter to  
!CENSUS: 1860; US; W.T.; Spokane 
Co.;  
!CENSUS: Flathead 
Reservation.
!MAR/REL: Marriage record of 
Antoine & Rosalie Plouffe; St.Paul Mission;  
!BAPT/REL: Baptism of Francois, 
Nicholas & Suzette Finley; St.Paul Mission;  
!BAPT/REL: St.Paul Mission Church 
Records; p.9; #16; Josette Marie Finley.
!BAPT/REL: St.Paul Mission Church 
Records; baptism of Francois Finley.
!DEA: St.Francis Regis Mission; 
W.T.; Burial Book.
!REL: Gonzaga Notes; from Mrs. Leda 
Finley; 27 Jan 1988;  
Notes:
1.  
Occupation:  trapper and 
hunter.
2.  
According to Basil Finley's allotment record #1307.  He and Rose Finley were  1/2 brother and sister to Koostah, 
    
Miquam, Penache, & Margaret 
Finley.
    
1849 St.Francois Regis, p1:
    
Nicolas - 4 Martii Nicolas Finley 33 annorum nater ex Jacobo Finley ex 
uxor  Spocanne (above uxor is written 
    
sometime that is too small to 
read).
    
Patrinus Alexander Guerret (vulgo, Dumon)
4.  
St.Francois Regis  
    
Josette Finley (PS Nic.) sm/ 4 Mar 1849
                                       
1858
                                 4 Mar 
1849
   
From St. Francis Regis Mission,  
   
Listed alphabetically according to christian (or first) 
name.
   
(In this group of records is inserted a book that seems to list names 
in  some kind of census or status record 
thus:
   
No date has been determined for this book.
                  (Possibly 
means)
   
name                  tribe?    
baptism       census?       marriage?       Page
   
Nicolas Finley   sm        1 Mar 1849    1854          1 Mar. 1849
   
In  
   
He and "Clementia" Finley are witnesses to the wedding of Laurence 
Silimoultshe & Therese Wpial on 23 May 1852 at  
   
There is a discrepancy with his baptism date. It should be 4 Mar. 
1849
5.  
Rosa Finley:  son Louis; bapt. 
& born June 1862
6.  
St.Mary's  
    
Narcisse Finley born 24 Dec 1874; bt 9 May 1875
    
Father:  Francis Finley; Mother: 
Julia Finley
         NICOLAS FINLEY: aka Nicoli, Nicola, 
Niquala, & "Schwn-mui-miah"
     Nicolas was the son of Jacques Raphael 
Finlay and a Spokane Indian woman,  
possibly Teskwentichina, who was the  
mother of his sister, Margaret 
Finley Ashley.  Census records indicate 
his birth date is about 1816.  He grew up 
in the  
Spokane House area.  He probably traveled with his father and 
siblings on trapping hunts through out the Old Oregon  
Territory.  When his father Jocko died, Nicolas was about 
twelve years old.  Nicolas was a engaged 
in trapping and  
hunting at an early age as a "free 
trapper" for the Pacific,  
young to have been on John Work's 
Snake Brigades or preceding brigades, but he may have been on those of Francis 
    
Ermatinger and Tom 
McKay.
    
From Bruce M. Watson:
    
"associated with:
    
    
Thomas McKay's trapping party (1834-35) apprentice
    
Snake Party (1835-36) apprentice (1836-37) middleman (1837-39) 
apprentice?
     (1839-41 middleman
    
Flatheads (1841-43) trapper
    
Columbia Department (1843-44) trapper
Nancy Anderson [na
Fri 06/13/2008 1:18 
PM
From: A/B/20/V,  
Nicholas Finlay was one of the 
servants in the Snake District establishment, Oct. 1839 [41] Retired from the 
coast: Fort  
Langley, John 
Finlay.
They were 
everywhere!
How're you doing? Hasn't this been 
the worse spring possible? We are actually getting our first spring like day 
today --  
    
"...began work with the  
 In outfit 1844-45 money was owed to him from 
the previous outfit but he did not appear to work in 1844-46.  He later  
settled in the  
source: HBCA  
45,and York Factory District 
Statements 1833-34; 1835-36; 1836-37; &
1840-41, and Fort Vancouver 
[Columbia] Abstracts of Servants' Accounts 1836-37 17 years old, native, 3 years 
of  
service; 1837-38; 1838-39; 1841-42; 
1842-43; 1843-44 and 1845-46.
    
We again  notice him  in 1842-44 at  
Nicolas, son of Finlay, infidel" at 
the Finley Camp.  He himself was baptized 
on March 4, 1849 at St.Paul's  
     He was known to have had at least two 
wives:  Marie Iroquois and Suzette 
(Suzitt or Josette) a Palouse Indian who  
was often referred to as a 
Cayuse.  Her father may have been a 
Cayuse, but her mother was a Palouse.  
This is the tribe  
she probably lived with.  Not much is known about Marie Iroquois.  She is mentioned in an 1851 baptism as the 
mother  
of Nicolas' son, Francois.  How long she was with Nicolas or if Nicolas 
had two wives at the same time, Marie and  
Suzette is not clear.  Suzette was born about 1818-1823 in the 
    
Paul Mission,  
time, moving to  
     Of his children it isn't very clear who 
was the actual mother, Marie or Suzette.  
Suzette is usually given as the mother  
on the later Flathead Tribal 
allotment records.  Seven children are 
known.
     Nicolas lived in the  
Alexander Dumont.  In 1846 he lived near Tshimakain 
Mission.  The missionaries Walker and 
Eells mentioned him in  
their 
journals.
     Sometime prior to 1847, he moved south to 
work for Marcus Whitman at the Waiilatpu Mission near  
Walla.  Here he became associated with the renegades 
Tom Hill and Joe Lewis.  Early 
missionaries included him as  
partners in this group of 
killers.
     The following are excerpts dealing with 
his involvement in the Whitman Massacre:
     From WHITMAN  
WAIILATPU:  THE SAGERS WEST; both by Erwin N. 
Thompson.  From the former; 
p.65:
   
"With the wagons of 1847, a half-breed named Joe Lewis had arrived at 
Waiilatpu.  Whitman soon learned that 
Lewis  
was a troublemaker, but had no 
success in getting rid of him.  When the 
epidemic struck, Lewis told the Cayuse that  
Whitman was spreading poison in the 
air to kill off the tribe."  (A measles 
epidemic which killed hundreds of Indians  
was raging in the northwest.)  "The more desperate of the Indians believed 
Lewis and decided to rid themselves of the  
doctor who now seemed a man of evil 
design.  In this belief, they were 
encouraged by Nicholas Finley, another half-
breed living near the  
malcontents."
     
From the latter, Pages 87-88:
     "Mention must be made too of a shady 
figure who also has been named as being one of the plotters.  This was  
Nicholas Finley, a half-breed 
living in a lodge within sight of the mission and married to a Cayuse 
woman."  (Some
accounts say she was a 
Chinook.)  "Finley's exact role is not 
described by any of the survivors of that fall, except that his 
    
lodge was said to have served as a 
headquarters for the ringleaders and their followers.  This may well have
been true and it may be that Finley 
was at least sympathetic with the Cayuses; but the lack of evidence strongly 
suggests  
he was not a leader of the 
discontented and he was probably not an active participant in the events 
to
follow.  Mary Saunders, the wife of Judge L.W. 
Saunders, and one of the few surviving adults to write about the 
    
massacre said that Finley was 
sympathetic to the Cayuse.  But from her 
account it would seen that Finley's own survival  
was based partly on his being an 
ex-employee of the  
enough to stay alive.  His concern for Whitman was outweighed by his 
concern for himself."
     From MARCUS AND NARCISSA WHITMAN AND THE 
OPENING OF OLD  
p.201; Clifford M. Drury; The 
Arthur H. Clark Co.;  
     "Joe Lewis moved into the lodge of 
Nicholas Finley..."
     p.211:
     "McBean, in his letter of November 30, 
1847, to the officials at  
the half-breed, Nicholas Finley, 
who was the first to carry news of the massacre to  
Finley, the Indians killed the 
Whitman’s in retaliation, believing that Dr. Whitman was poisoning them in order 
to get  
their property.  Furthermore, Finley claims that Andrew 
Rodgers had told the Indians that he had overheard Whitman and 
    
Spalding plotting to poison 
them.  Finley claimed that Rodgers had 
been induced to tell what he had heard by being  
promised immunity by the 
Cayuses.  Of this McBean wrote:  It was reported that it was not their 
intention to kill Mr.  
Rodgers, in consequence of an 
avowal to the following effect, which he is
said to have made and which nothing 
but a desire to save his life could have prompted him to do.  He said, `I was one  
evening lying down and I overhead 
the Doctor telling Mr. Spalding that it was best you all should be poisoned at 
once,  
but that the latter told him it was 
best to continue slowly and cautiously and between this and spring not a soul 
would  
remain, when they would take 
possession of your lands, cattle, and horses.'  
Since Rodgers had been
killed in spite of the supposed 
immunity promised him, some explanation of this had to be made, so, according to 
    
Finley's report to McBean, it was 
claimed that `One of the murders, not having been acquainted with the above 
    
understanding, shot Mr. 
Rodgers.'
     "McBean refused to believe such an 
incredible story.  In his report to 
    
Indian reports, and no person can 
believe the Doctor capable of such an action without being as ignorant 
and
brutal as the Indians 
themselves.'
     "It is time to say that because McBean 
considered the Indians "ignorant" and "brutal" and so was already biased to 
    
anything Nicholas Finley would have 
said.  He and later authors, such as 
Clifford Drury, were certainly prejudiced for  
the Whitmans, who probably did not 
conspire to poison the Indians, but certainly wanted their land.  Why would  
Nicholas Finley say that Rodgers 
bargained with the Indians in the first place, if he was not involved with them 
some  
how.  Certainly some motive is missing.  Like Whitman, Rodgers was only human, facing 
certain death sometimes makes  
people act differently that they 
normally would under pleasant circumstances.  
Besides Nicholas Finley has a "clean  
record" before and after the 
Whitman incident, a man who was at the wrong place at the right time, and who 
took the side  
of the 
losers.
     "Whitman decided to ask Nicholas Finley 
what he knew about any supposed plot.  
Finlay was sent for and when he  
arrived, Whitman asked him:  `I understand the Indians are to kill me and 
Mr. Spaulding.  Do you know anything 
about it?
'  
Although Finlay was fully aware of what was to happen, since the 
conspirators had met in his lodge when they agreed  
on their course of action, he 
brazenly professed ignorance by replying:  
`I should know doctor; you have nothing to fear;  
there is no 
danger.'
     p. 223:  
"This is when he should have left the country, but maybe he did think 
that things would be okay.
     "On the day of the Whitman Massacre three 
half-breed boys escaped to Nicholas Finley's tepee, where he cared for 
    
them.  On November 30, 1847 when he got the chance 
Nicholas slipped them into  
been said that Nicholas and the 
other employee, Joseph Stanfield, went about the chore of milking the cows 
almost  
casually in the midst of the 
carnage that day."
     Footnote on p.229 of MARCUS AND NARCISSA 
WHITMAN:  "The two Manson boys, John and 
Stephen, were  
present during the first day of the 
massacre and were then taken to  
     From pp. 234-235:  "In the meantime, Mrs. Saunders, not knowing 
what had happened to her husband or the  
Whitmans, and fearing for the 
safety of all the white women and children, decided to make a desperate appeal 
for mercy  
to Chief Tiloukaikt through 
Nicholas Finley.  She bravely ventured to 
leave the comparative safety of her room in the  
emigrant house in order to call on 
Finley in his lodge.  John Manson was at 
the lodge when Mrs. Saunders arrived and  
has given us the following account 
of what happened.  Since he was able to 
understand what the Indians were saying, his  
recollections have special 
significance.
     "`Soon Mrs. Saunders came up to the lodge 
where Mrs. Finley (an Indian woman), her sister and several other Indian 
    
women were standing.  Besides the Cayuse Indian women, there were 
some Walla Walla Indian men.  The women 
    
seemed friendly to Mrs. 
Saunders.
     About four hundred feet away from the 
lodge was a hill that had three Indians on it looking over the plains.  (Possibly  
looking to see if anyone was 
approaching.)  One of the Indians rode 
down to kill Mrs. Saunders, but Mrs. Finley  
expostulated with him and he rode 
off.  Then Chief Tiloukaikt rode down, 
shaking his hatchet over his head.  He 
    
threatened Mrs. Saunders with it, 
but again Mrs. Finley urged him to desist and he rode off.  Then Edward Tiloukaikt, 
    
the oldest son of the Chief, rode 
down very rapidly, shaking his tomahawk over his head and that of Mrs. Saunders 
with  
fury.  She had sunk down on a pile of matting in 
front of the lodge.  But the Indian women 
shamed him and talked to him.
  
Then he rode off.
     Mrs. Saunders then came to see me (John 
Mason) and kneeled down.  She begged me 
to interpret for her to the Chiefs,
 as she did not understand the language of the 
natives.  She said: "Tell the Chiefs that 
if the Doctor and the
men were bad, I did not know 
it.  My heart is good and I want to 
live.  If they will spare my life, I will 
make caps, coats,  
and pantaloons for 
them."
     John interpreted for her as she pled with 
Tiloukaikt for the life of her husband and for the women and children.  In all  
probability her husband by that 
time had been killed, but of this she was unaware.
     "What do they say, 
John?"
     "They are talking about 
it."
     After some consolation, Tiloukaikt and the 
other chiefs agreed that none of the women and children would be killed.  
Mrs. Saunders then begged to let 
all who were in the main mission house to go to the emigrant house.  Tiloukaikt gave  
his consent.
     Mrs. Saunders then turned to John, while 
still on her knees, and begged: "John won't you go home with me?"  John  
replied:  "I do not dare to go, but I will ask."  Tiloukaikt then told Stanfield to take Mrs. 
Saunders back to her
quarters and to get her some 
meat.  John's account continues:  "Then Mrs. Saunders rose from her knees and 
went with Joe  
Stanfield.  The Chiefs and all the natives then left the 
lodge.  They went to Dr. Whitman's 
house.  Very soon, several 
    
shots were fired there.  Mr. Finley came and told us that three more 
had been killed.  They were Mrs. Whitman, 
Mr.  
Rodgers, and Francis 
Sager."'"
     From page 243:  "McBean was alarmed at the news that Hall had 
brought to him.  Eager to get more 
information as to  
what had actually taken place at 
Waiilatpu, he sent his interpreter, a man by the name of Bushman, on Tuesday 
morning  
o make inquiry.  In the meantime, Nicholas Finley left the 
mission with the three half-breed boys that same morning for 
    
McBean for Finley to carry in which 
she listed the names of eleven people she thought had been killed.  She included the  
names of Osburn and Canfield, as 
she was unaware that both had escaped.  
Catherine, in her account of what happened  
on Tuesday, said that when Bushman 
arrived at
Waiilatpu, he was so frightened by 
what he saw and heard that he `came only to the door and as soon as they assured 
him  
that it was so, he 
left.'"
     From page 267:  "In the meantime, Finley with three 
half-breed boys had arrived at the fort.  
Finley delivered to  
McBean the letter that Mrs. 
Saunders had written which listed the names of those she believed had been 
killed.  On the  
basis of this information, McBean 
wrote that Tuesday evening to the `Board of Management' at  
reported what he had heard.  He also repeated a rumor that Finley had 
brought to the effect that the Cayuses were  
planning to attack  
    
"Even after the massacre he is said to have slandered the Whitmans, for 
some reason he did not like them.  
Although  
the superior air of Narcissa would 
be reason enough for resentment and her discourtesy and rudeness to Indians and 
half-
breeds would make them dislike 
her.
     "He next journeyed north to his homeland, 
the  
were fearful when they heard he was 
on his way north to see his brothers and the Spokanes."
     From NINE YEARS AMONG THE SPOKANES: The 
Diary of Elkanah Walker -
1838-1848; Clifford M. Drury; 1976; 
The Arthur H. Clark Co.;  
     "Several weeks of agonizing suspense 
followed the arrival of Old Solomon on December 9, 1847, with the first news 
    
of the Whitman massacre.  A number of questions cried out for an 
answer.  What had happened to Spalding 
and his  
family?  What was the fate of Perrin Whitman and 
Alanson Hinman at  
held captive at Waiilatpu?  But the most disturbing question of all was - 
what was to happen to them at Tshimakain?  
A  
frightening possibility haunted 
their minds - would the hostile Cayuses attack their station and seek to kill 
them?  This  
was the situation at Tshimakain - 
they did not know what was going to happen -- events to follow in succession 
after the  
ordeal at Waiilatpu were -- the 
Cayuse War, the rescue of Perrin Whitman and Hinman, the captives at Waiilatpu 
were  
released mostly to Peter Skene 
Ogden's efforts, and the Spauldings were safely protected by the Nez Perce.  But the  
Tshimakain people were still 
jittery - Walker and Eells hoped
the Cayuse would stay in the 
south.
    
"It was .... early in February when the missionaries heard of an attempt 
being made by the Cayuses to induce Half-Sun,  
or Sakatal-kukum, to join them in 
their expected conflict with the American soldiers.  Half-Sun was a child of the 
"
Kowalchins" or "
that the Cayuse offered him "60 
horses & 40 cows, the property of the (Whitman)  
Fortunately for the missionaries, 
Half-Sun refused to become involved.
The possibility of the Cayuses 
moving into the Palouse country alarmed Chief Factor Lewes at  
urged the two missionary families 
at Tshimakain to take refure in his fort.
    
"A still more serious threat to the safety of the two families at 
Tshimakain came early in February when Nicholas  
Finley arrived at the Finley- 
Dumont settlement for the purpose of persuading them and the Spokanes to join 
the Cayuses  
in their war against the 
Americans.  If Walker and Eells had only 
known the extent of Nicholas' involvement in the  
Whitman massacre, they would have 
added reason for being alarmed.
    
"
Finleys (Nicholas) who has been 
sometime with the Cayuses.  The report is 
that the Indians are collecting from all  
quarters & that the whites are 
determined to make a grand sweep of the native in the whole land & that the 
Americans  
were going to fight the (H.B.) 
Company as well as the Indians & that he had come up to get his friends to 
go down &  
join the Cayuses & also that 
the Cayuses had said that we should not be molested.'
    
"Wednesday, Feb. 9, 1848:  `I had 
a quiet night's rest but awoke in rather low spirits this morning.  I have been most  
anxious about the coming of 
Nicholas.  I fear he has some evil design 
against us.  Our Indians are 
much
moved, more I think than we 
are.  I have tried to compose myself but 
without effect.  I have had much talk 
with the Chief  
ut he does not afford me much 
consolation.  The idea that (Nicholas) 
has come up after his brothers & the people to join  
the Cayuses makes it very evident 
that he is deeply implicated with them, or else he has to deal for his own 
safety--which  
is difficult to tell.  One thing is very certain, that if his 
brothers & the Spokanes join him, we are placed in a very 
    
precarious situation & it will 
be impossible for us to remain here with any safety. .... I know not what course 
they will  
pursue.  My prayer is that God would lead them in the 
right course....O Lord, we are here to do thy work.  I pray Thee  
sustain & defend us & thy 
truth.
     `The people are much alarmed on account of 
the report that the half breed brought, that all the Indians from this 
    
region in the  
report got up to induce the Indians 
in the upper country to join them.  What 
effect it will (have) none can tell......
     "Thursday, Feb. 10, 1848:  `I have suffered more from excitement to day 
than at any previous time this winter.  I 
have  
been at the Chief's once or 
twice.  He does not seem well pleased 
with the movement of things.  I have 
been
expecting the half breeds all day 
but they have not made their appearance, I prayed, if ever it I did, that God 
could bring  
all his (Nicholas') councils to 
nought & think that they will be frustrated so that the remainder of the 
wrath
of man will be 
restrained.
     `The report is to night that all the 
Spokans are going to join the Cayuses, at least that was one report but it seems 
that  
it was modified & that the 
chief at Spokan had sent word to our chief to remain here & take care of 
us......'
     "Friday, Feb. 11, 1848:  `I went with Mr. Eells after the horses & 
had a very pleasant ride.  I have felt 
more calm to  
day.....We heard to night that the 
half breed (Nicholas) who came up went back alone, but what his brothers will 
do, we  
cannot tell.  They do not appear to say much.  I had worship with the people this 
evening.  Some few 
attended.....'
     "Sunday, Feb. 13, 1848:  `I received another letter from Mr. Chief 
Factor Lewes, stating that things at that place had  
taken a very serious turn & 
that they had been under arms ever since three o'clock that 
morning......'
     "Monday, Feb. 14, 1848:  `I wrote Mr. Lewes this morning giving him as 
fair account of things as I could and  
requesting him to make some 
arrangements with the Finleys & Dumont to come here & stop awhile with 
us, until we  
should see how things would go with 
us.  I had a long ride after the 
horses.  I did not like to go far from 
home & so left a  
part of them.   In the afternoon I sent an Indian to drive 
them in.....I went to see the Chief.  He 
does not seem to mend  
much.  The people are anxious to know what course we 
are going to pursue & seem well satisfied with the idea of our 
    
taking our families to  
     "Tuesday, Feb. 15, 1848:  `I had last night some very interesting 
thoughts  to me.  I had a more hight & exalted view 
    
of the happiness of heaven than 
common & what would constitute that happiness....I have not felt well to day 
& have  
been low spirited all day.  I spent considerable time at the lodges.  Some Indians from above came in to day & 
reported  
that none of the Spokans was 
induced to follow Nicholas.  If this is 
really the case, it is encouraging....'
     "Nicholas Finley had sided with the Cayuse 
Tribe after the Whitman ordeal and had been with them in the skirmishes 
    
with the Americans on the Umatilla 
on Feb. 24 and Feb. 25, 1848.  The 
missionaries could breath easier once Nicholas  
left the country, Cushing Eells 
wrote,  `Thursday 30, Near night, reached 
the half-breed settlement.  Here are four 
    
families by the name of 
Finley.  The other man (
Kayuse woman for his wife.  He, together with his family, is at the 
encampment of the Kayuse murderers.  It 
is reported  
that Nicholas is detained against 
his will, or if he leaves, shall not be allowed to take away his property.  The statement is  
very improbable.'  
camp.  He says the Kayuse murderers were separated 
from the Paluses & gone off in an easterly direction; that Nicholas 
    
Finley with his family is coming 
this way.'
     Later Nicholas and two of his brothers, 
one said to have been Xavier, attempted peace overtures with the government 
    
commissioners.  From THE NEZ PERCE IN  University of  
     "The evening after the fight between the 
forces of Gilliam and the Cayuse Indians, just after the Whitman 
incident--
February 1848--`Nicholas Finlay and 
his two brothers, who had been with the Cayuses, came into the American 
camp.  
Nicholas was already suspected of 
having played a role in arousing the Cayuses against the Whitmans, and Newell 
wrote  
that he "is a friend to the enemy 
in My opinion."  However, Gilliam gave 
him a letter, which he promised to deliver to  
McBean.'  But fearing to be hanged he 
fled."
     From MARCUS AND NARCISSA WHITMAN; pages 
309-310:  "(Joe) Lewis is reported to 
have settled in the Jocko  
Valley in the Flathead country, in 
what is now  
he was joined by Nicholas Finley, 
in whose lodge at Waiilatpu the conspirators had
met to plan the killing of the 
Whitmans.  Nicholas had a Flathead 
mother; this may have been the reason why he returned  
to that part of the country. 
....Lewis is reported to have been killed in an attempted stagecoach robbery in 
1862, nearly  
fifteen years after the Whitman 
Massacre.
     "Before he left the  
night Pishnot (Patrick Finley who 
was called Bish-ca-nah) & Nicholas Finley came in.  I met & spoke with them.  They  
rather put themselves in my way or 
came out of their own to speak with me.'"
     There is a sort of census that was made by 
the priest at the St.Paul's  
sometime in the 1850s which 
shows:
     Finley,  
Nicolas
              Josette
              Angele
              Francois
     From FLATHEAD AND KOOTENAI; Olga W. 
Johnson; The Arthur H. Clark Co.; Glendale; p. 277; 
Footnote:
     "Nicholas or Nicoli Finley, son of Jocko 
was sometimes with two of his brothers and their half-breed friend  
who had settled near what is now 
    
Koostah (evidently Augustus, also 
referred to as Yoosta) are mentioned in various accounts as residing in the 
    
country during this period.  A Finley descendant, Mrs. Arnold Trahan, 
writes that Nicholas was employed in 1846 at  
Tshimakain, where he pitched his 
lodge."
     On January 1, 1851 his son Francois was 
baptized at St.Paul's  
mother and Francois Morigeau as 
godfather.  Francois was born on December 
6, 1850 which indicates that his
parents were wintering in the 
    
have been only an 
affair.
      From St.Regis Mission,  
      In baptism number 47 on May 23, 1852 he 
is listed as godfather.
     1860;  
shows:
Dwelling #136; Family 
#94
Phinley, Nicolas  age 32  
trapper & hunter  born in 
    
                                            
$600.00 value personal property
         Susate   
age 41                    born in 
    
         Angale   age 18                      "   "   
"          "
         Francis  age  
8                      "   "   
"          "
         Mary     age  
4                      "   
"   "          "
     1886 Flathead Indian Census 
shows:
#1054  Finley, Nicholas  age 70
#1055          Suzitt    age 63 (note great age difference with 
above census)
#1056          Timothy   age 28
#1057          Francois  age 22
     Carrie Orr's List of Nicholas Finley's 
children:
     Nicholas
     ?
     Francois
     Angelle Plouff
    
Angelle Plouff
     From FIRST WHITE WOMEN OVER THE  
Arthur H. Clark, Co.;  
     "Thurs. 6 (Apr. 1848) -- `The Finlays have 
gone to bring off their brother from the Kayuses.'
     "Sat. 8 (Apr. 1848) -- `The Finleys turned 
back & did not go for their brother.'"
     p. 337:  
"One of the Finleys arrived from the seat of war.  There had been one engagement.  More than 300 
Americans,
 200 half breeds, 200 or 300 Kayuses were 
waring.  100 Nez Perces on their way to 
join the Americans.  I hope matters 
    
may be brought to a speedy close 
and the land again enjoy rest.."
    
and p. 288:  "Tues. (Dec) 2 
(1845)  Traded this morning with one of 
the Finleys.  Brought nine prs. of shoes 
& seven  
deer skins for which I paid a 
kettle, knife, spoon, fire steel, a few pins & needles, a shawl, an old 
coat
of C's & an old dress of my own 
& a piece of Baize worth 20 loads.  
He seemed pleased with his trade & I am sure the 
    
skins & shoes are worth more 
than I gave for them & probably the things are worth more to him than he 
paid for them...."
List of Servants - HBC - Film 
#1M7865 - Section B, Class 3, Sub.-Div.F - Piece 17:
Nicholas Finley -  
                     "       1839  
(Piece 19)
HBC Film #1M802; Section 
B239
page 43  Columbia Servants & Trappers - 1833 - 
piece 13
page 43                                 1834 -  "    
14
page 41                                 1835 -  "    
15
page 43                                 1836 -  "    
16
page 122 Native Apprentice 
    
page 53                                 1838 -  "    
18
page 61  Native Middleman Snake Party   1839 -  
"    19
page 84  age 21                         1840 -  "    
20
    
Two people who have shown some interest in Nicholas Finlay are Warren 
Louis "Tuck" Forythe of Ellensburg,  
Washington (forsythe@televar.com), 
who compiled the book "Whitman Mission 29 Nov 1847 Families including some 
    
Cayuse and Nez Perce", 1998; and 
Jean Roth, who wrote several articles on the Whitman Mission and at least one on 
    
Nicholas Finley for the  
work somewhere) and it seems to be 
a rehash of my article that has circulated for a number of years, with some of 
her  
own conclusions.  I understand she has a manuscript prepared, 
but I don't know it's title.
  
 
  My name is Stephenie Flora. Return to [
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