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Gustavus Finkelnburg

judge, soldier, and politician (1837-1908)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ214857 ↗
Source-derived summary

Gustavus Adolphus Finkelnburg (born Gustav Adolf Finkelnburg, German pronunciation: [ˈɡʊstaf ˈfɪŋkl̩nbʊʁk]; April 6, 1837 – May 18, 1908) was a United States representative from Missouri and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

Education and career

Born on April 6, 1837, near Cologne, Prussia, Finkelnburg immigrated to the United States in 1848 with his parents, who settled in St. Charles, Missouri. He attended St. Charles College, then graduated from the Cincinnati Law School (now the University of Cincinnati College of Law) in 1859. He was admitted to the bar and entered private practice in St. Louis, Missouri starting in 1860. He served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was a member of the Missouri House of Representatives from 1864 to 1868, serving as Speaker pro tempore in 1868.

Congressional service

Finkelnburg was elected as a Republican from Missouri's 2nd congressional district to the United States House of Representatives of the 41st United States Congress and as a Liberal Republican to the 42nd United States Congress, serving from March 4, 1869 to March 3, 1873.

Editorial summary

“Gustavus Finkelnburg” enters the record as judge, soldier, and politician (1837-1908). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Gustavus, Finkelnburg and judge can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1837, 1908, 1848, 1859—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1837-04-06. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Gustavus, Finkelnburg and judge.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Gustavus Finkelnburg” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Gustavus, Finkelnburg and judge provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q214857. VIAF identifies the subject as 73477119. The Library of Congress control number is no98107891. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1837, 1908, 1848 and 1859.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

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  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Gustavus Finkelnburg”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Gustavus Finkelnburg primary sources, Gustavus Finkelnburg archive and Gustavus research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Gustavus Finkelnburg” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.