Person:Joseph Fenimore (3)

   One of Alexandria's first important craftsmen also rests here.  Joseph Finnemore/Fenimore  was a blacksmith--a worker of iron and metals, maker of tools, and farrier to horses.  Joseph was born in Ross County, Ohio, February 25, 1816.  In 1836 in Ohio, he married Sarah Griffey, born on August 21, 1822, also in Ohio; they traveled west together, settling where Alexandria was developing.  Because of his occupation, Joseph would have been a very important figure in the daily activities of the community.  Blacksmiths not only kept horses shod, and therefore usable, but also made and fixed anything metal: farming and lumbering tools, household utensils, lamps, door and window fixtures, parts to wagons and wheels, etc. In other words, Joseph Finnemore, the area's first "smith," would have been indispensable to a thriving community.  Joseph and Sarah had ten children: John, Lydia, Martha, Sarah, Daniel, Frederick, William, Joseph, Alice, and Charity.  Joseph was also one of the first members of the IOOF, and he died on his fifty-sixth birthday, February 25, 1872.  Sarah, who died July 5, 1882, is resting next to her husband.

1. ↑ Indiana Wills Phase II 1851-1880.