CLEVELAND -- Atheria Finney's father, John Ramsey Tinsley, laid the first brick to build St. John A.M.E. Church in Tuskegee, Ala.

It is this type of history that Finney, 100, says is important to pass along to family members. This can happen if families "love each other and stay close together," Finney said.

Finney, one of 21 siblings, was born Jan. 5, 1907. She has four children, eight grandchildren, 21 great grandchildren and eight great-great grandchildren.

Finney reached a milestone at the beginning of 2007 that many people only dream of accomplishing. She turned 100 years old. At her jubilee celebration, all of her family -- those who lived in the city and across the country -- attended.

Submit Photo With Your Family History

Her husband, Jeff Finney, is deceased.

In the Finney family, she is the matriach. All of her siblings are deceased, and even a niece who was comparable in age to Finney died at 102 years old four years ago.

"My oldest sister was born in 1856, and she had a daughter -- my niece -- who was four years older than me," Finney said without pause.

Finney has a sharp memory and she is able to recite poems, important dates and old negro spirituals.

Without provocation during the interview, she sang the old negro spiritual "The Solid Rock":

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not rust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
When He shall come with trumpet sound, Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

When she finished, she said, "That's my favorite song."

Finney said she converted and accepted Christ as her savior when she was 12 years old.

"I worked in the church until now," she said. "I would say, 'Lord, let me work in the church and do what I can do. Don’t let me rust out. Let me wear out.' "

Finney grew up in Tuskegee, Ala., and said she remembers seeing George Washington Carver.

"He would walk up and down the campus, like a tramp, but he had a head on him," Finney said.

Carver devoted his life to research projects related to southern agriculture and is most famous for his invention of peanut butter.

She also said that her family had a syrup mill and they would make syrup out of sugar cane.

"The horses would go round and round (motorizing the mill) to get the juice," Finney said, explaining the process of extracting juice from sugar cane that would then be boiled into syrup.

Kim Boxley, Finney's granddaughter, said it is stories like these that make it necessary to record the family history that only her grandmother can provide.

"A DVD was made on her birthday and she is talking in it and some of our relatives are talking on it as well," Boxley said.

Eleanor Leonard, Finney's daughter, said many understand the wisdom and knowledge that her mother possesses.

"Many come to break bread with her," Leonard said, adding that on Sunday's their home is particularly busy with friends and family visiting.

Finney is mobile, but unable to attend church services as frequently as years prior, particularly during winter months. But on the first Sunday of each month, a clergy member from Finney's church, Greater Avery A.M.E Church, brings her communion.

"They love me so much," she said. "They send me cards. It makes me feel like somebody loved."

She has been a member since 1926 and is also the eldest member of the congregation.

Even though Finney does not make it to church service every Sunday, she is steeped in her faith and continues to read her Bible.

When asked about her secret to a long, healthy life, she leaned forward in her recliner chair and said, "serving the Lord and loving people."