The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-03-14
ONE WHO KNEW HIM WELL
 TELLS IT.
Captain J. r. Foster telrx the Remark able story of the Irish Lad, who Became one of the Noted Steamboat Men of the
 south.

Capt. J. F. Foster writes In the Will COX Progressive Era story of absorb ing interest on the life of Captain owen Finnegan, the famous river man and steamboat captain who died few days ago in Mobile. No man Is better qualified to write of the halcyon days of the river. now passed away. than Captain Foster. Much of his life hav- ing been passed on the river.
 He writes:
 Another link in the chain of ante bellum days is broken. true man and sincere friend has passed the portals of death; and as the editors life was associated until 1861, with the celebra- ted Dispatch Line' of steamers, and having had an intimate acquaintance with those floating places and their crews. and having been bonded by the ties of friendship with the deceased for more than half a century. he feels that 1t Is but justice to repeat the sto- ry of this mans life. so that to all who begin life without friends, influence or wealth, it may be the incentive to rise as did our friend, Capt owen Finnegan who died at his home in Mobile. Alabama. March lst. 1909. at the ripe old age of four score years and ten, possessed of all his faculties, and In full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.
 We cannot recall a single life the parallel of this one. Kinney. Cox, Otis. Wainright and the Johnstons were ei- ther born on Alabama soil. or had friends to assist in their advancement. and were in their day rulers of the Alabama when 1t was second only to the Mississippi. and when the port of Mobile stood next to that of New Or leans In receipts of cotton and the shipment of goods. We who are now left do not wish to be classed as living only in the past--but no pen can write of the sacred memories that clustered around the days of the floating palaces of the Alabama River and the good old times in Dixie.'
 During the year 1920. there was born son into the County of Louth, in the province of Lienster of the Emerald Isle. a land ruled by the iron hand of the Briton,and yet a hand Of the poet and the warrior alike. the statesman and the hardy man of totl-and at the altar of the Church of Rome. was Gods blessing asked by the rich-rob ed priest upon the life and fortunes Of owen Finnegan. who at the early age of sixteen started out himself to carve his name and fortune by turning his face toward the west where then the star of empire took it's way"-that new and untried land where no poten- tate wielded a scepter. and where the true and honest, of whatever nation or cline, might venture to scale the ladder of prosperity and the hill of fame, and rise and overcome all ob- stacles by the sheer force of his own worth and exertton.
 From the deck of a small sailing vessel, owen Finnegan stepped to the levee at New Orleans in the year 1886. ull alone and unaided. and with no hope nor promise of succor save that which he could look for from his strong body, his ready hand. his hon. est and impulsive heart. From the be- ginning he chose the river as his call ling. and for over stxty-five years he has. at times. filled every laborious position offered aboard our high-pres- sure steamers; He was first on the great Father of Waters. then on the Mississippi Sound. and last he made the beautiful blue waters of our own Alabama his Nome.
 As fireman at the doors of the Sea Bird. he made his first trip up the Mis- sissippi he was afterward on the splendid steamer Nashville plying be- tween New Orleans and Louisville. and when asked if he could not clear out the boilers of that four boilered pack ct. he replied, "I will try and do my best" and the work was so satisfac- torily accomplished that the engineer asked that he be transferred to him us striker-his first promotion.
 At the close of the Mexican War. we find him at his chosen profession on board the Gen. Taylor, neat lit tie packet which was afterwards bought by Capt. Hamilton IT, Johnston. and brought to Mobile to run on the Bigbee in the interest of the Colum- bus and Aberdeen trade. and owen Finnegan was aboard as watchman and second mate; afterwards he was made mate. from which position he rose to one of the leading commanders In the history of Alabama waters; in deed we cannot recall any one man who has had command of a greater number of our packets. or who has owned, in whole or in part, more of our floating palaces than has Owen Finnegan-nor has Mobile ever had a warmer supporter or a more deserv- ing patron than this true and noble hearted son of old Ireland. against whom. in her varied career. whether In poverty or wealth. whether in depres- sion or amid her flush times. he has never once turned his hand and influ- ence And his name Is not alone and favorably known to Mobile, but In ev- cry hamlet, hill and dale. from the Coosa's rapids to the Gulf, and to the furthermost branches of the Little Bigbee. 1t is a household word. and his spontaneous wit the theme that draws many together. when is related some original thought and sparkle of mirth. which he had let slip upon some fitting occasion. and which one and all delighted to hear oft and again,
 In the city of New Orleans. Capt. Finnegan was married to Margaret Houghery, a young woman who was born In Ireland, who after many years of welded life, left him on the 26th of December last to await his coming in a better land. Theirs was beauti- ful life together; indeed the greatest virtue that crowned the career of owen Finnegan was his devotion to her. who had forsaken all oth>~s. to go with him and urge him onward and upward. He always addressed her af- fectionately as Ma" and always spoke of her as Mrs. Finnegan-never as the "old woman"
 Capt. Finnegans first charge as monarch of all." was the stamer Montgomery. and if the writer Is not mistaken. he next became associated with Capt. w. W. Buckley. then with Capt. Charles Miller on the handsome Sallie Carson. and latterly with Jas A. Mooring, a popular clerk and also captain in ante-bellum days. He afterwards flung his pennant to the breeze from the flag staff of the Jen nette.
 Capt Finnegan thinks his greatest boating feat was the making of eight successive trips in one season to Aber- deen, going and coming, guards to- He afterwards took charge of the Jennie Beale. Duke and others. during