Pioneer, farmer, school teacher, auctioneer.

Born along the Paint Lick Creek in Madison County (now Garrard), Kentucky, Abner settled in the forks of the Chariton River when Missouri was still a territory. He married Rebecca Jordan Parks in Chariton County, Missouri, on 22 October 1826. Together they had 14 children, four of whom died young. The last of Abner and Rebecca's surviving children, Milt, died in 1946 in Kansas City.

In 1826 Abner began teaching at one of the earliest schools in Salisbury township, located in the southeast quarter of section 19, on what is now Windmill Road, near New Hope cemetery.

In the Big Neck War of 1827, he served as an elected officer in the local militia company commanded by Major Daniel Ashby. His title of Captain dated from this military experience.

In 1829, Abner purchased 80 acres of farmland in Township 53 North, Range 18 West, Section 22 (eastern half of southwest quarter). This land is just off what is now Bill Bass Avenue, southwest of Price's Bridge. At the time of his death thirty-five years later, Abner owned 286 acres of farmland.

Abner was murdered late in the Civil War. With Sterling Price's Confederate army retreating across Missouri, Northern forces felt emboldened to settle old scores with the Southern citizenry in that region of northcentral Missouri known as Little Dixie. The month before Abner's death, Bloody Bill Anderson had slaughtered soldiers of the 39th Missouri Infantry Regiment in what became known as the Centralia Massacre. Because the 39th's mission was to suppress civilian support for Southern guerillas in Missouri, Anderson viewed this Union regiment with loathing. Many of the massacred soldiers were first tortured and their bodies mutilated. Understandably, the 39th was in no mood for forgiveness or restraint when it rode through Chariton County several weeks later.

On 31 October 1864, a group from the 39th Missouri Infantry Regiment visited Finnell's farmhouse. They asked for food and water. Discerning the soldiers' real intentions, Abner sprinted for the cover of his barn just across the road. The soldiers pursued him on horseback and shot him through the head before he reached the barn. He was unarmed. Abner's wife and youngest children witnessed his death.
Finnell was one of several local citizens, mostly old men and boys, murdered that autumn. Days before they were themselves killed, Abner and his neighbor Moses Hurt cut down the body of James Stark, a local teenager who had been hung by Union soldiers for not divulging the whereabouts of his father.

Abner was originally buried in the family graveyard (Finnell Cemetery #2). After the war, his body was reinterred in newly established Asbury Methodist Church Cemetery. The church is now a community center, Asbury Hills.

Abner died without a will. By law, his widow, Rebecca, received 1/3 of Abner's land. She continued to live at the Finnell home until her death. The rest of Abner's real estate was divided among his children.
The Finnell cabin no longer stands.