Biographical Text
Ruth Finks was born February 29, 1896 on her family farm near Maurertown Virginia. The mother of seven children, she did her share of hard work on their family farm observing in one interview “I have done everything but plow the land… I have helped to gather the corn, shucked it, ran the disc, harrowed the land, took care of the sheep, hogs, cattle, and the work horses.”
After the death of her husband in 1944, Ruth managed the farm by herself for three years before going to work as a housekeeper for a Woodstock family. Over the next thirty years she also worked various other odd jobs as a baby sitter while living on Spring Street in Woodstock Virginia. Outside of work she was active in the Maurertown Brethren Church, teaching Sunday School and leading their missionary society.