According to family legend, one of my ancestors (Charles H. Finger)
worked in England as a tailor for a company that made clothes for the
Royal Family.  Any leftover "Royal" fabric was supposed to be
destroyed, but the tailors commonly took it home to make clothes for
their families.  Unfortunately, Charles was caught doing this and
imprisoned.  After that, he could not find work in England and so
moved to America.  This would have been about the late 1800's, maybe
1880's or so.

What I'm looking for is either: 1) Record(s) confirming this account
(newspaper article, court record, or ??), or alternately, 2)
information or records which prove it couldn't have happened.  I'm not
sure quite what would prove it didn't happen, but if you find anything
like that, I will accept it as an answer.

---

Clarification of Question by fstokens-ga on 22 Apr 2004 18:22 PDT

Thanks for pointing out the census records!  Those definately look
like the correct family.  However, the "Charles Finge" at
fingerfamily.com appears to be someone else.

What a fascinating story and totally believable.

I live in the UK but I suspecr that it may be very difficult to get a
fix without a more precise date.

Perhaps an initial enquiry into the US Immigration Records might be helpful?

But, even then .... I'm not overly optimistic.

By the way, I am NOT a Researcher and so it is quite possible that one
of these amazing creatures will quickly prove me wrong.

I do hope so.

All the Very Best.

According to the British Census 1881 "Charles Finger", tailor, lived
in London, together with his wife Julia and 4 children:
http://www.familysearch.org/eng/Search/census/household_record.asp?HOUSEHOLD_CODE=1881BR_99501&HOUSEHOLD_SUB=1&frompage=5

The 1891 Census ("information available to subscribers only"):
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?gsln=finger&db=uki1891

If Charles Finger would have been in prison during the 1891 census it
should be possible to find him by entering his initials:
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?gsfn=C&gsln=F&db=uki1891

However, I couldn't find any "C. F." (aged 51, born in Germany). 

His wife Julia is mentioned in 1891 (aged 49, married, living with two
of her children):
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?viewrecord=1&db=uki1891&F0=LNDRG12_23_25-0403

It is next to impossible to prove that things didn't happen; much
easier to prove that they did.

As the story has been handed down through the ages, I would take it to be true.

Mike

I know the spelling is different, but this book is listed as a source
for verifying the death of Charles Finger on this geneology page:

Fingar Family History   by Ruth Gloor Fingar

http://www.fingerfamily.com/html/d0002/g0000037.html

Maybe the details can be found in the book, or possibly from someone
on the website?

Unfortunatley I cannot find the book for sale or at any libraries.