3/9/1886 - 12/10/1889

George W. Finger (1857-1899), attorney and land commissioner, was born on June 21, 1857, in Tarrant County, Texas, the son of Louis and Christena (Pless) Finger. He entered Mansfield College at age seventeen and graduated three years later. He then studied law in several Fort Worth law offices and was admitted to the bar in 1878.

On December 19, 1880, he married Jessie L. Butler; they had at least three children. Finger spent the next several years in Arlington, during which time he was elected the first mayor of the town.

He then moved to Fort Worth and practiced law in the firm of Stedman, Ayres, and Finger until 1891. He served as reading clerk for the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-second legislatures. He was chief clerk in the Twenty-third Legislature and temporarily presided over the House of the Twenty-fourth Legislature. In 1894 he became legal examiner for the General Land Office and on January 16, 1899, began his duties as land commissioner. Finger's brief service as commissioner did not allow time for any major changes in the land office. He preferred landless buyers as recipients of state lands.

He died on May 4, 1899, in Marlin, TX, and was buried at the Arlington Cemetery, 801 Mary St. Arlington, TX 76010.