Zink family commemorates 100th wedding anniversary
of ancestors Anton and Anna Zink at Trinity Church in Dayton, OH.
Original Article by Betty Chandler, Beavercreek News Feb 1977
Anton and Anna's 100th
Togetherness of the sort seen in the Zink family is rare. Going back home with uninterrupted regularity is routine with the many descendants of Anton and Anna Zink, natives of Germany who came to make their home in Beavercreek where they spent their lives together on a farm, raising a family of 10 children. Since the offspring tend to settle nearby, they didn't have far to travel home. And that's still how it is.
Even the teens in their dating years heard mom and dad instruct that Sunday night was always to be held open to go to grandma and grandpa's house. Devoted as the young ones might be to the grandparents, a date with one's sweetheart of the moment seemed urgently more exciting ... naturally.
Although it has been 100 years since the pair married and only one of their children remains, the faithful family still gets together. Without fail a sizeable part of the clan gathers the first Tuesday of each month at New Liberty Hall on National Rd. for a covered dish dinner.
But last Sunday 123 of the Zinks assembled for a unique celebration. The occasion was a Commemorative mass honoring Anton and Anna on the 100th anniversary of their wedding at Holy Trinity Church on Fifth St in Dayton, the church in which they became man and wife on Feb 13, 1877. Special invitations bearing their wedding photograph were prepared and the faithful Zink flock and some friends came to enjoy the event which included a carry-in supper at the home of granddaughter, Mrs. Jerome Westendorf in Dayton.
Celebrant of the mass was the great-grandson of the couple, The Rev James Manning. Reading were done by the first and eldest grandchild, Mrs. Charlotte Wassenich and the twentieth and youngest one, Jim Zink.
Leading the offertory procession was the last surviving child of the pair, Max, 79, whose idea it was to honor his parents in this unusual way. Rita and Otto Zink joined him in the procession.
Actually, Anton Zink, son of Xavier and Theresa Zink, who was born in 1846 at Fautenbach bei Achern, Baden Germany, received permission from his parents to come to America at 14. He came directly to the farm of his uncle, Alois Glaser (his mother's brother), where he made his home, the present Zink residence in the northwest corner of Beavercreek Township.
Anton attended Aley School, located on Kemp Rd at that time. A devout Catholic, he was a charter member of Holy Trinity Church, built in 1861 at the corner of Fifth and Bainbridge Sts in Dayton.