Comments on: ‘My name is Mike Fink!’ was the curt reply http://www.appalachianhistory.net/2010/08/my-name-is-mike-fink-was-the-curt-reply.html Stories, quotes and anecdotes. Sun, 19 May 2013 20:12:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: robert dewalt http://www.appalachianhistory.net/2010/08/my-name-is-mike-fink-was-the-curt-reply.html#comment-57023 robert dewalt Mon, 03 Jan 2011 01:24:30 +0000 http://www.appalachianhistory.net/?p=4260#comment-57023 Thanks for the clarifiation, Dave, and more generally for a very enjoyable and informative site. My own (half-serious) belief re Fink– Pennsylvania German of Swiss origin. Note his penchant for shooting things off people’s heads a la William Tell! Happy New Year.

]]> By: Dave Tabler http://www.appalachianhistory.net/2010/08/my-name-is-mike-fink-was-the-curt-reply.html#comment-56367 Dave Tabler Sat, 01 Jan 2011 21:15:00 +0000 http://www.appalachianhistory.net/?p=4260#comment-56367 Blair and Meine quote an 1829 article by one Timothy Flint titled “The Last of the Boatman” in which Flint explains Fink’s spelling of his name. “He had but little knowledge of letters,” says Flint, “especially of their sounds and powers, as his orthography was very bad, and he usually spelled his name Miche Phinck, whilst his father spelled his with an F.” In other words Fink spelled his name that way not because of French Canadian roots, but simply because he was a poor speller.

The reference I used that stated Fink was French Canadian was an MNBC article at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5581029/ns/news-the_mighty_miss. The article has no byline, and does not cite ITS sources. Not a very strong citation to use for my own article, I admit!

]]> By: robert dewalt http://www.appalachianhistory.net/2010/08/my-name-is-mike-fink-was-the-curt-reply.html#comment-55658 robert dewalt Fri, 31 Dec 2010 23:51:21 +0000 http://www.appalachianhistory.net/?p=4260#comment-55658 Hi

Just a question. Is there a source for Mike Fink’s supposed French Canadian background? The standard scholarly treatment of the Fink legend– Blair and Meine, U of Chicago P, 1956– states on page 1: “It has been assumed that his parents were Scotch-Irish, as were many people in the settlement[Fort Pitt], but there is a strong liklihood that they belonged to the Pennsylvania German contingent.” Nowhere in the many published tales collected in Meine and Blair is Fink’s ethnicity stated, and French ancestry is probably the least likely possibility , given the demographics of Western Pennsylvnia after the fall of Fort Duquesne and the withdrawal of the French to Detroit. The settlers of the area after the French and Indian War were largely Scotch-Irish, English and Pennsylvania “Dutch,” that is, German.

]]> By: Granny Sue http://www.appalachianhistory.net/2010/08/my-name-is-mike-fink-was-the-curt-reply.html#comment-9332 Granny Sue Wed, 11 Aug 2010 13:09:15 +0000 http://www.appalachianhistory.net/?p=4260#comment-9332 hey Dave,

I was talking about Mike Fink all summer for children’s library programs–the theme this year was Make a Splash, so I traveled creeks and rivers from my home to the ocean and told stories about each one along the way. Mike Fink, of course, starred in the Ohio River/Mississippi River section of the program. This is a great story here.

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