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Classification: Query
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Message Board Post:
It appears that the main source of recent information on the internet in regard to the
Jacob Zinn family of Cocalico Twp. Lancaster Co PA is two books. One is E. Maurice Gross’
(1949) “Generalogy of the Zinn Family of York and Lancaster Counties Pennsylvania.” (It
is available in different genealogical libraries in Lancaster Co. PA) He believed that
the Johannes Friedrich Zinn of York Co and the Jacob Zinn of Cocalico Twp were brothers,
so he included a history of both families. The second is the 1937 “History and Genealogy
of the Zinn Family” by Mabel McFatridge-McCloskey. (I shall hereafter refer to the author
as Mcloskey because it is the catalogue author name used by the Allen County Public
Library at Fort Wayne IN where I accessed the book.) She focuses her attention on a
succession of three successive Jacob Zinns taking the family into Indiana .
Gross admits that much of the material in his book cannot be authenticated, and my own
research indicates that he got in wrong in regard to Jacob Zinn’s namesake and apparently
first-born son, Jacob Zinn, Jr. . (Gross and McCloskey provide similar information, and
share the short-coming of both books is that they do not document their findings or list
their sources.) Gross lists a Jacob Zinn II as (1749-1815) for a son who I believe was
actually baptized as John Jacob Zinn in 1756 in the records of Rev Waldschmidt for
Cocalico. To wit : “John Jacob of Jacob Zinn and Catharine, b. Ocb 21, 1756, bapt. April
5, 1757” McCloskey lists alternative 25 Nov 1749 or 21 Oct 1756 birth dates for a Jacob
Zinn,Jr.
The correctness of a 1756 birth date for Jacob Zinn Jr. is suggested by other records of
the same Rev. John Waldschmidt. Both Gross and McCloskey list a grandson John Jacob Hauser
b. Aug. 20, 1770 to daughter Suzanna , and Rev. John Waldschmist later recorded the
baptism at Epler in Berks Co of “John Jacob of Jacob Hauser and Susanna, b. August 26,
1770 (sic) bapt. November 17, 1770. Sponsers Jacob Zinn and Catharine.“
What makes this second Berks Co entry of personal interest to me is that the record of
the grandson John Hauser baptism immediately follows the Rev. Waldschmist listing for the
1770 baptism of a John Linck, Jr., the first cousin of my 4xg grandfather John Zinn who
was born in Berks Co. This would seem merely coincidental were it not for other
information which connects his Uncle John Linck Sr. to the Jacob Zinn of Cocalico.
Because so many uncertainties remain, any one who can supply supporting document for the
Gross and McCloskey works would be making a significant contribution to Lancaster Zinn
family history.