The Fighting Finches

The Fighting Finches (1937) at the WHS. My mother's maiden name is Finch. These are distant relatives of mine. The book, 'is composed entirely of stories told to W.P.A. field workers as they collected Wisconsin folklore in the late 1930s. They heard many tales about a 19th-century family named Finch who rustled cattle and stole horses throughout Rock and Jefferson counties before the Civil War. The 'Fighting Finches' terrorized south-central Wisconsin for three decades from their hideout in London swamp, just west of Lake Mills. Only about 200 copies of this booklet were made. They were printed by mimeograph, bound by W.P.A. workers in the Milwaukee Handicraft Project, and distributed to public libraries.'