(Sorry -- I can't believe I hit "send" before I wrote the note!)
I'm editing a collection of letters originally published in a 19th-century
children's magazine, and hope I can exchange information with someone. One
letter-writer travelled through Texas in December, 1853; and he stayed with
a man named ZINCH, who I'm trying to identify. The letter has this to say
about Mr. Zinch:
"The next day we passed through Fredricksburg, which is a German settlement
on the Perdenales, which empties into a branch of the Colorado. ... Three
miles farther on, we passed Fort Martin Scott, and toward night we stopped
at a very nice looking log-house. The inhabitants said we might stay there
if we were willing to all sleep in the same room. The master was a German
gentleman, by the name of Zinch, who had been formerly in the employment of
King Otho, of Greece, as a topographical engineer."
I know who Otho was, but I've been unable to find Mr. Zinch in the U.S.
census, or in the histories of Texas that I've consulted. I'm hoping that
perhaps he fits into someone's ZINK family, somehow.
Does a topographical engineer named ZINCH sound familiar to anyone? I
admit this is a long shot, but I'm rather running out of options. I'd be
grateful for any information anyone can give me and happily share whatever
information I find.
Pat Pflieger
feste(a)keystonenet.com