J H Rinker

RINNKER

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 3/10/2009 at 11:31:08

J H Rinker, is the owner of a valuable farm of 120 acres situated on Sec 16, Beaver township, where he has resided since 1895. He was born near the Atlantic coast, his birth having occurred Woodstock, Shenandoah county, Virginia, May 1841. He is a son of Rev Henry St John and Mary (Fravel) Rinker, both of whom were natives of Woodstock, Virginia. The father began studying for the ministry at Woodstock. He attended the high school at York, Pennsylvania, fro two years and afterward became a student in Marshall College at Mercerburg, Pennsylvania. On the completion of his literary course he took up the study of theology, having determined to devote his life to the holy calling of proclaiming the gospel among men. For over a half century he devoted his time and energies to the work of the ministry in the Reformed church, and his influence was of no restricted order. After his marriage he took charge of what was then the Mill Creek work and held it for twenty-five yeas, gaining the live, confidence and esteem of all with whom he came in contact. He was then called to Lovettsville, Loudoun county, Virginia, where he served the congregation acceptably for sixteen years, and at the end of that time returned to his old home in the valley of Virginia, where he spent his last days, dying in February 1900. At his funeral there were fourteen ministers present, representing different denominations. His loss was deeply and widely felt, for wherever he was known he had gained the respect and confidence as well as the friendship and love of those with whom he was associated. Many were led to choose the better way of life through his teachings and his influence, his memory remaining as a blessed benediction to those who knew him, His wife passed away on April 7, 1895.
Their marriage was blessed with fourteen children, the eldest being Jonathan H, of this review. The others are: Robert D, proprietor of a livery stable in Newark, Ohio, Jacob G, a railroad bridge builder, living in Corning Arkansas, Anna Margaret, who resides upon the old homestead in Shenandoah county, Virginia, Joseph F, a clerk in Grottos, Rockingham county, Virginia, Susan E, who resides upon the old homestead in the Old Dominion, N Eugene, a traveling salesman for a dry good house in St Louis, Missouri, Calvin H, a farmer near Woodstock, James William, who died at the age of a year and a half, on that died in infancy, and Kirby I, who is an agent on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad at Brunswick, Maryland, having charge of the transfer in the freight department.
To the public school system of his native state. J H Rinker of this review is indebted for the educational privileges which he enjoyed. He spent the day so f his boyhood and youth under the parental roof and continued a resident of Virginia until 1870, when he removed to Ohio, where he reside for two years, during which time he followed teaming. He then removed to Illinois, locating near Arrowsmith, McLean county, where he lived until March 1, 1877. His next home was in Ford county, that state, but March 1, 1886, he returned to McLean county, and from there came to Iowa in 1895, when he took up his residence upon his present farm in Beaver township, Boone county, having purchased this property three years before. He now has a well improved and valuable tract of land and carries on general farming and stock raising. In his work he is prosperous and has a well developed place, upon which are seen all the evidences of advanced farm methods.
Mr Rinker was united in marriage to Sarah C Hoover, a daughter of Reuben and Rachel Hoover, of Woodstock, Virginia. Her father was a captain in the state militia and during his business career carried on farming, his death occurring in Woodstock, in 1866. His widow afterward removed to Illinois, where she located in 1888, there remaining until 1895, when she came to the Rinker home in Beaver township, Boone county, Iowa, and here died at the very advanced age of ninety-one years. Both Mr and Mrs Hoover were members of the Reformed church. Unto our subject and his wife have been born twelve children: Mary M, who did in infancy, Harvey H, who is married and is engaged in farming near his father, John Casper, who was born March 2, 1867, and died April 2, 1877, George J, a farmer of Amaqua township, Lizzie A, the wife of Albert E Rose, a resident farmer of McLean county, Illinois, Willie, who died in infancy, Lucy A, the wife of M S Wise, a dealer in farming implements, in Arrowsmith, Illinois, Sallie M, the wife of Burton Van Pelt, a resident of Amaqua township, Robbie, who died in infancy, Charles R , a resident farmer of Amaqua township, and Milton J and Ernest E, who are the home with their parents.
Both Mr and Mrs Rinker hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church and take an active part in its work. He votes with the Democracy and has served as road supervisor and school director of his district, having held these offices for five years. Although he is one of the recent arrivals in Boone county, Mr Rinker is already widely known as an enterprising and progressive farmer and as a valued citizen ,and he and his estimable wife have a large circle of friends in this locality.

1902 Boone County History Book