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Finley, Jesse Johnson

soldier, state senator, congressman, was born Nov. 18, 1812, in Wilson county, Tenn. He was elected to the state senate of Arkansas in 1841. He removed to Memphis, Tenn., in 1842, and was elected mayor of Memphis in 1845. He removed to Marianna, Fla., in 1846, and was elected to the state senate of Florida in 1850. He was elected a presidential elector on the whig ticket in 1852, and was appointed judge of the western circuit of Florida in 1853, and was elected to the same office in 1855 and again in 1859. He was appointed judge of the confederate states court for the district of Florida in 1861. He resigned and volunteered as a private in the army of the confederate states in March, 1862, and was successively promoted to the rank of captain, colonel, and brigadier-general. He located at Lake City, Fla., in 1865, and resumed the practice of law; removed to Jacksonville, Fla., in 1871, and continued practice there, and was elected to the forty-fourth congress.