The Zink Family

Brief History of The Settlement of Anton Zink
by Frank B. Zink
supplemented by Max J. Zink

Anton Zink, farmer from new Germany, son of Xaiver and Theresa Zink, was born in Fautenbach bei Achern , Baden, Germany, May 6, 1846. At the age of fourteen he received permission from his parents to come to America in 1860. He came directly to the farm of his uncle, Alois Glaser (mother’s brother), where he made his home, the present Zink residence in New Germany.

He attended Aley School, located on Kemp Road at that time. Anton Zink was a devout Catholic and a charter member of holy Trinity Church, located on the corner of Fifth and Bainbridge Streets, Dayton, Ohio. This church was built in 1861.

At the age of eighteen he joined Company K, 82nd Regiment of the United States Infantry. He was with the intrepid Sherman on the glorious march to the sea. While in the service he was wounded in the right hip.

Being adventurous, he took a trip west in the hope of taking up a claim of land from the United States Government, but finding nothing to suit him, he returned to his uncle’s farm to manage it for him in his old age.

In 1876 he took another trip to Germany, and deciding America was the most wonderful country to make a home, he introduced his future bride, Anna Ketterer (born August 10, 1858), daughter of Burgomeister of Fautenbach, Germany, to come to America, after which they were married in Holy Trinity Church, February 13, 1877. His uncle built a home for him on his farm, where they lived a long and happy life.

In 1881 he bought fifty acres of land which he farmed in addition to his uncle’s one hundred and fifty acres of land. He was the father of ten children: Christine, Alois, Karl, Anthony, Herman (died in infancy), Louise, Otto, Theodore, Frank, and Max.

In 1910 he bought the McLain Smith farm of one hundred and one acres in Bath Township, adjoining his farm. He died at the age of 82 years, 8 months, on January 3, 1929. Anna, his beloved wife for 50+ years, died twenty-two months later November 2, 1930.