Robert Finley

Robert Finley (1772 – November 3, 1817) was an American Presbyterian clergyman and educator who is known as one of the founders of the American Colonization Society, which established the colony of Liberia in West Africa as a place for free African Americans. He was a pastor for 20 years at a Presbyterian church in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, and also taught in elementary school and at a boys' academy. He served briefly in 1817 as the president of the University of Georgia before his death. Born in Princeton, New Jersey, Finley had graduated at the age of 15 from the College of New Jersey (later developed and renamed as Princeton University). Early life Finley was born in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1772 to James Finley and his wife Ann Angrest. His father, James Finley, was born 1737 in Glasgow, Scotland, where he was trained as a yarn merchant and where he became acquainted with Rev John Witherspoon, then a pastor in the town of Paisley about six miles from Glasgow. His father immigrated from Scotland to New Jersey in 1769. His paternal grandparents were James Finley from Paisley, and Ann McDonald Finley.