Finley, Samuel, 1715-1766

Samuel Finley, fifth president of The College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), was a Scotch-Irishman who came to this country when he was nineteen. One of the original trustees of the college, Finley succeeded Samuel Davies as president on May 31, 1761. His presidency was marked by a steady growth in enrollment, and he was respected and beloved by the students.

Samuel Finley was a British army surveyor in America who surveyed much of Pennsylvania. He accompanied Henry Bouquet on his 1764 expedition against the Indians of central Ohio. Though little is known about Finley's early life, he and many members of his family likely emigrated from Armagh County in Northern Ireland, and settled in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, in 1734. In 1761, Finley became an assistant to Colonel (later General) John Armstrong, was next commissioned lieutenant in Captain William Piper's company, and by 1763 was a part of Lieutenant Colonel Asher Clayton's Second Battalion.

In September 1764, Bouquet appointed Captain Samuel Finley of the 2nd Pennsylvania Battalion and Ensign Thomas Hutchins of the 60th Royal American Regiment to be assistants to the chief engineer during his campaign. They accompanied Bouquet and his regiments of Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland volunteers, under orders from Commander-in-Chief Major General Thomas Gage, from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, along the Tuscarawas and Muskingum rivers, into central Ohio. There they negotiated the return of over 300 white captives from the Indians and signed a peace treaty between English settlers and a number of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio tribes. Along the way, Hutchinson created numerous maps of the area and Finley kept detailed field notes of the journey.

After the expedition, Finley continued to practice surveying throughout Pennsylvania. He laid out many town plots and invested in several land ventures himself. During the Revolutionary War, Finley served as quartermaster in Colonel Samuel Culbertson's battalion of Pennsylvania militia, and fought in Philadelphia, Trenton, and Princeton (1776-1777).