North Carolina SINKS

The following paper was compiled by John Edward Sink, son of Edward Carl Sink, and grandson of William (Will) Erastus Sink. In 1970, John Edward was the Art Director for the Herald and Sun newspapers in Durham, and lived in Raleigh.

SINK FAMILY ORIGINS

by John Edward Sink, 1970

Sink is the anglicized form of the German name, Zink. Proof of this abounds at Old Pilgrim Church In Davidson County, N. C. where one may follow the transition on tombstones from Zink to Cink and Sink.

Apparently, the “C” spelling has not endured but its brief adoption in the evolution from “Z” to “S” well Illustrates why our ancestors felt compelled to anglicize the name. In the German language Z’s are pronounced more as English and French pronounce the soft C or S. Circle for example is spelled Zirkel in German, with their Z sounding very much like our C. But an S at the beginning of German words is usually pronounced as we pronounce our Z. Thus the German verb senken (to sink) sounds like “zinken.” When their English neighbors in Davidson County pronounced the name with a “Z” sound, our German-oriented ancestors must have been, offended, for this was associating their name with the unpleasant connotations of the German verb, to sink.

Ironically, this anglicizing well served only the German-speaking Sinks; their English-speaking heirs were thereafter saddled with the “to sink” connotation which they had managed to rid themselves of. This would not speak well of character and/or education of the early American Sinks. However, the modern appearance of Zink as a family name in nearby Winston-Salem would indicate that not all of the family elected to anglicize the name.

The following tombstone record at Old Pilgrim would indicate that this name change was accomplished between 1750 and 1800: Philip Cink was born in 1755. Elizabeth Cink was born, in 1764. Mary, wife of Michael Zink, died in 1788. Emily, wife of William Zink, died in 1830. The earliest Sink I have been able to find on the tombstones was Noah Sink who died in 1828. But aging has by now rendered many of the older stones illegible.

Paralleling the earlier Sink ignorance of language is the enduring misconception in some quarters that we are of Dutch descent. The German word for German is Deutsch .- sounding very much like Dutch. The Sinks of Davidson County are no more Dutch than the so-called Pennsylvania Dutch. Both groups are of German origin, although it is probably that most of thorn soiled from Dutch ports to the Now World and some families may have spent considerable time in Holland waiting for a ship.  After talking with modern Germans, consulting ancient German lexicons, and checking telephone directories during a 1965 tour of Europe, I am satisfied that Zink is predominantly a south German name.

While there are more Zinks in Germany than Sinks in America, the name is still uncommon enough in Europe to allow historical and geographic tracing with reasonable assurance that one is tracing his own general bloodline. By contradistinction, for example, a person named Martin might claim the German Martins, the English Martins, the French Martins or even the Italian Martinis as his antecedents. But the Zinks of Europe tend to cluster historically in the upper reaches of the Danube River (or Donau, as it is labeled in its German portion, where it forms from Alpine sources.) This is the general region where Germany. Austria, Switzerland and France all come together.

According to the modern divisions of Germany. The Sink concentration may be said to center in the states of Baden-Wurtemburg and Bavaria, both states lying totally within the West German Republic and as far from Holland or sea-going Germany as one could get. Modern Baden-Wurtemburg is the geographical cite of the ancient Frankish concentration . . . from which tribes Charlemagne began the building of his empire. Modern France and modern Germany both, evolved from this common power center. Before Charlemagne, the Roman Empire had extended to this portion of southern Germania. All things considered, we may reasonably speculate that Sink stock was among the founding fathers of Europe as well as among the founding fathers of America. Which is not to say that we are of landed aristocracy. Rather, the record seems to show merely that our fore bearers were more artisans, craftsmen, artists and burghers than they were peasants.

Fortunately for the contemporary Sink historian, some of these artisans and artists left their mark on European culture and are therefore recorded. From these records we learn that Sink is only the last in a line of spelling changes which the family name has undergone. Before Sink there was Cink. Before Cink there was Zink. Before Zink there was Zinck. Before Zinck (Old German) there was Zincke and Zinckh. Concurrently with Zinckh there was Zingg—and Zingg persists today in Switzerland, as I can vouch for my 1965 perusal of Swiss phone books The thing we must bear in mind here is that all these spellings sound more like “sink” with the Germanic Inflection than with the English inflection. Preserved in time and space is the sound, not the spelling.

Matthias Zink, born in 1665, was an artist from Donaumunster, Bavaria (Donau being German for Danube.) Alternate spellings listed for his name in the encyclopedia of German artists are Zinck and Zinckh. George Michael Zing, who died in 1945, was from Augsburg, Bavaria. Alternate spellings listed for him in the same lexicon are Zinck and Zingg. Interestingly, my own grandfather from Davidson County was also Mathias Sink, and quite an artist with wood, I’m told, having performed many furniture miracles and fashioned his own violin, which reportedly had the sweetest tones in Winston-Salem.

This historical repetition of Matthias is curiously echoed in the repetition of Michael and John. Another Michael of the same 18th Century vintage has already been reported at Old Pilgrim Graveyard. John Sinks are even more abundant. Hans (a German form of John) Jakob Zingg was a Swiss artisan who obtained some fame for his pewter works. John Melchoir Zingg (Zing) was an 18th Century painter whose exact dates I seem to have misplaced. 19th Century John Sinks may be found on tombstones at Old Pilgrim and nearby New Pilgrim churches. 20th Century John Sinks are even more abundant, your author being one. But the notable fact about these Johns is the early adoption of the English spelling. In addition to John Melchoir there was “Big John” himself who apparently gave rise to most of the Davidson County Sinks and who is recorded by Old Pilgrim records as the first Zink to help build the church. His spelling was “JOHN”, the same as my own. According to my Aunt Ora, now in the 70’s and otherwise vague on the subject, “Big John” was the nickname given one of two Zink brothers who were the first to settle in the Rich Fork Creek end of Davidson County.

I would tentatively conclude that Jacob Zink was the brother of Big John and the cofounder of the Davidson County Sinks. According to the Raleigh records, this Jacob was granted 300 acres east of the Yadkin River in 1768 by King George III. This would seem to be part of a 12,500 acre grant to Henry Eustace McCulloh by King George II. My notes show that Jacob had a son named Philip and two grandsons named Michael and Philip, Jr., who continued the land acquisition. But when and from whom are facts not therein recorded. These notes were obtained In Raleigh by my father, Carl Sink. According to him, Abbott’s Creek is the focal point of the Sink land acquisition. Brushy Fork of Abbott’s Creek was the center of the main holdings; Rich Fork of Abbott’s Creek was the secondary center of land holdings.

My own wing of the family seems to have stemmed from the Rich Fork holding, where I have found my great grandfather’s house still standing, but now occupied by “Auslanders.” William Erastus (Will) Sink, who was brought up here, migrated to Winston-Salem where he along with other migrating Sinks established Sink clans within the same city who deny kinship one to the other.

This is of course foolishness. Obviously, we all descend from Big John and Jacob or their brothers and cousins who may have come over on the same or very next ship. This foolishness was amusingly documented by my father two or three years ago when he found himself on Sink Road and decided to pay his respects to an unknown Sink who resides thereon. Sink Road is the official name of this beautiful hilltop asphalt strip which has a two or three mile run in the neighborhood of Old and New Pilgrim Churches. Every other mailbox is lettered Sink. The homes are mostly farm homes with sturdy silos, pretty pastures and marvelous vistas — including peeks at the Uwarhi Mountains to the east. My brown-eyed father was affably received by a blue-eyed Sink, somewhat his elder, who insisted that the green-eyed Sinks down the road at the next mailbox were actually no kin to either of them.

If kinship were proved by physical characteristics, this elder Sink on Sink Road could certainly put all the scholarly research down. For example, two of the more famous Sinks are anatomical opposites. I refer to Christian Friedrich Zincke (Zink) who was one of several official portraiturists for George Ill, and to General Sink of Lexington, who was a WW II hero and later commander of the world’s largest military base, Fort Bragg, N. C. General Sink was well over six feet tall while King George’s artist was humorously chided by the king himself for being so short. I have translated the king from the German account but at this writing cannot find my notes. As I recall it, George was wondering why his largest artist was the smallest physical specimen. I further recall that two artists had come over from Germany and both were shorties according to George. My grandfather. Will, and all his sons (my father and uncles) achieved well less than 6 feet.

It has been my observation that Sink children tend to acquire the physical characteristics of their mothers. Our own branch is strongly mixed with the Conrads of Davidson County (Julia Conrad being my “Mama Sink”) and most of her children are strongly Conrad. Other Sinks I have met from other branches scorn to run the gamut of physical typos. If they share any one feature, it is probably a proclivity for large noses, which brings up another Interesting point about the origin of the name.

If Zink derived from an anatomical observation, as many European family names did, then it should be reported that Der Zincke meant “one with a large nose” in Old German. More generally, Zinke or Zincke meant a tooth like projection, which could be a geological formation or the tooth of a comb. (I capitalize the noun here in traditional German style, not to imply a proper name.) Overlooking beautiful Wolfgangsee, (lake) in Austria is a mountain named Hohezinken and a village named Zinkenbach . . . literally “high Zinks’ and ‘Zinkbrook” On the chance of finding some family history here I checked out both, but the villagers informed me the Zink in these cases derives from zinc mines in the mountain. Zinc is spelled zink in German. But the family name very definitely did not derive from the metal since the 19th Century discovery of the metal is centuries newer than the family. It is temporally possible that the metal took its name from the family, but I have uncovered no evidence to support this speculation I found no Zink families in this lake country south of Salzburg — “The Salzergammergut” although one may find some Zinks In the Salzburg telephone directory. The most easterly dwelling Zink I turned up in the ancient lexicons (these old German encyclopedias were called lexikoneir in German) was an artist who lived in Vienna.. and as I recall he was Immediately traceable to a Zink stronghold in Dresden (now East Germany.) This Dresden family of Sinks which produced several generations of recorded artists is the single notable exception to the more westerly clustering around the upper reaches of the Donau.

Another possible source of the family name may be viewed in Old Salem Museum. Here, in a glass case, are two Zinke, or wooden trumpets. While these musical instruments are now considered obsolete, it is recorded in the Moravian records that an early band at Salem was not considered complete until they arrived from Europe, at which there was rejoicing. So, unless someone comes up with more specific information, we Sinks could have taken our name from an Instrument we played, from a geological feature of our ancient habitat, from our noses or some other physiological feature better not discussed.

At this point I cannot resist adding that while the contemporary Sinks may no longer share a common physical characteristic I have nonetheless noted a common personality trait Perhaps I have willed this observation out of proportion, perhaps it Is something a reporter from any other family would wish to claim — but I should be less than honest if I did not report that all the Sinks I have ever known or read about, be they male or female and with a new name, were cussedly individualistic. People from other clans in Davidson County have volunteered this some opinion. People from other clans In Davidson County have volunteered this same opinion at family reunions there is disputation on all subjects. Hoyle Sink was not the archetypal Judge and Bob Sink was not the archetypal General. My own father, Carl, switched from mechanical supervising to writing at about forty and published in some national magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post. My Uncle Conrad could shape a perfect billiard ball (or machine bearing) from wood or clear a poolroom table in less than 15 strokes—consecutively. My Uncle Tom switched from his lifelong church in his late sixties because its outlook had become too liberal, yet he is an archliberal active worker in the Democratic Party. Papa Sink, their daddy, designed a cotton gin before Eli Whitney and a stamp dispensing machine that worked ten years or so before another inventor got his patented not to mention his famous violin or the ton foot long wooden shoe that used to be as much of a landmark in Old Salem as the nearby tin coffee pot. As for myself, I have never met a Sink with whom I agree.

The more recently famous Sinks seem to have arisen from the branch (branches?) that stayed the longest with original Sink holdings in America .. as might have been predicted. The Lexington Sinks produced both the Judge and the General, and have long controlled the press and government there. Lexington is known across the state as “Sink property.” Driving recently from Charlotte to Durham, I gave some fellow newspapermen an impromptu tour of Sink Road and vicinity, including Old and New Pilgrim. It was a truly beautiful tour in the Fall of the year with the neat pastures framed by golden woods and a Bavarian steepness on the contours. At about the twentieth Sink mailbox the passenger exclaimed, “This is all very pretty. You Sinks have a nice country. Tell me, have y’all ever thought about joining the Union?”

Mary Sink Smithey of North Wilkesboro, N. C. recently wrote me among other things, that Hoyle Sink had at least begun a Sink family history. I should not be surprised to learn that others of the Lexington Sinks have done likewise. It is most probably that these “home-based” efforts shall contain much more interesting and specific data than I have collected. I shall urge her to seek out these other efforts — and offer to them the present report for incorporation or documented rejection. I never met either Hoyle or Bob. From a distance, but as a member of the Fourth Estate, I can vouch that the Judge was Tarheelia’s most colorful jurist – as Bob was its most colorful West Pointer. Aside from the many anecdotes revolving around Hoyle, another item which his own record may not convey is his reputation as the State’s “hangingest” judge. Most of the stories tell about his compassion with simple folk and his humor with himself, but the record stands that he also sent more offenders to the ‘gallows’ than any other N. C. judge Incidentally, Sink criminals are virtually unknown, for all the Sink individuality. Aside from the Judge who once fined himself (mildly) for a traffic violation, and myself with numerous traffic violations, I know of only one other Sink criminal in my forty-some years of reading newspapers.

The colorful character of “Colonel Bob” is well recorded in a 1967 book about World War II: CURRAHEE (We Stand Alone) by Donald R. Burgett. This book is condensed in the 1967 Volume 3 of Reader’s Digest Condensed Books. (Editors note: In the fall of 2001, the book was made into a TV Series entitled, Band Of Brothers, which aired on HBO.) Let me quote three sentences from this book:
“Colonel Bob Sink gave us a speech of welcome. Colonel Bob is the type of man you meet once and never forget. A real man with plenty of guts, he did more for the enlisted man than any other officer I have known.”

While Colonel Bob was commanding the 101st Airborne Division at the Normandy invasion, my cousin Lt. Bill Sink was flying bombing missions over Germany from a base in England . . and your author, then Sgt. John Sink, was navigating an Infantry Regimental Headquarters through the Italian mountains from Montecassino to Brenner Pass. Of the three, Bill did not come home alive, going down over Dessau, Germany on next to his last mission before rotation, his B-24 bomber being suicide-crashed by a German Stuka. Hopefully, the Lexington Sinks will add more WW II combat records to this account. Tombstones at New Pilgrim record Sink participation in the Civil War, for the Confederacy of course, but reports of Sinks in places like Ohio and Illinois (just a few, it seems) would imply Union Sinks as well. This is especially likely since Sinks next most abound in Pennsylvania, where it seems most of the Moravians and Lutherans first landed.

Sink history in America is also church history. They came from a Roman Catholic stronghold in Europe and established a Protestant stronghold in the New World. There can be little doubt that our forebearers were in flight from the Roman Church, whatever other incentives (such as free land) may have been in the offing. My reading of Moravian history indicates that other Central Europeans had blazed the trail from Pennsylvania to what would be Old Salem before the first Moravians arrived. A German speaking settlement at Abbotts Creek is mentioned in the earlier Salem records. These were our ancestors at Abbotts Creek and they may have arrived before the Moravians left Count Zinzendorf’s estate in Saxony.

Or they may just as well have followed on the heels of the Moravian exploration and, having found the prime land taken and the communal life of the Unitas Fratum not to their liking, moved on another 20 miles to the fertile soil of the creeks that feed the Yadkin, in what would later be called Davidson County. (Then Rowan County)

In either case, we may understand that the Moravians and the Lutheran Reform Zinks both arrived in Carolina at about mid-century (1750). Both were German-speaking and both were strongly anti-Rome. Whenever the Germans at Abbott’s Creek were without a preacher, according to the Salem records, the Moravians loaned them one. Without going into a long explanation of why,] have assumed that the Abbott’s Creek settlement and the Salem settlement were both Protestant experiments sharing much support and rapport from both their ethic and philosophical bonds, As it turned out, the communist philosophy of the Moravians failed to endure while the individualism of the Sinks has survived to the point of monstrosity. Ironically, when the Moravians converted to capitalism, Wachovia Bank with all its marvelous assets was the product; whereas the Sinks, having nothing to convert since they were already converted, had to settle for mere accrued political dominion over one of 100 counties … or so I generalize, as I rue the fact that only latter-day Sinks are Moravians.

After numerous questions about a Sink coat-of-arms (whenever this wing of the family had its reunions), I consulted a commercial surveyor of such things. It’s description and pertinent data are (not) here attached. I do not vouch for its authenticity, though the source book cited is an authentic heraldic reference work. I would guess from my small knowledge of heraldry that this is a very ancient shield shared with other families. Even the peasant soldiers of medieval times bore identifying shields in combat. As a rule the more simple designs were also the more ancient and least particularized as to specific bloodline. Moreover, aristocracy is supposedly denoted by the helmet shown in profile, whereas ours is shown in three-quarter view. If verified, this would seem to be a fine basic design to which a Sink branch with a particularly outstanding member could add its own symbol, as was the ancient custom. The General’s family, for instance, might superimpose the shoulder patch of the 101st Airborne Division without being guilty of ostentation.

Or the family-at-large (all of us who stem from Davidson County) would be justified in superimposing a symbol of the graphic arts IF it could be firmly established that we descend specifically from the rather impressive list of German artists which my own research has uncovered. Being an artist myself, this line of earlier Zink artists has come as a perplexing revelation. For other Sink branches who are meeting me here for the first time, I should explain that I am Art Director for the Herald and Sun newspapers in Durham, N. C, known in the business communities of Durham and Raleigh as a commercial artist, but probably known better to the news-reading public as an editorial cartoonist. I should therefore be suspected of manufacturing this art-family background, but the truth is I could find Zink only In the Deutsche Kunstlor (Artist) Lexikineu. Compounding the mystery is Papa Sink who was truly an artist with wood. Born a simple farm boy, none of his progeny seem to know where and when he learned his skills … which included playing as well as carving his own “Stradivarius.” On the other hand, the furniture capitol of the World, Thomasville, is less than 20 miles from the Mathias (Tice) Sink homestead, and woodcarving is a major occupation along the upper reaches of the Donau . . . really exquisite wood sculptures being available here today at ridiculously low prices.

It is unlikely that I shall much further research the family history. Hopefully, other branches will add their own findings to these pages end some younger Sink will publish a book after all the information is in. If the Sinks run true to form, the editor of such a book will have his work cut out, so diverse will be the data.

Therefore I shall offer my own summary as a mere theory:

The first European Sinks were Celts. They may have come from India where Singh is today a familiar family name. They may have come from the Far East where Sink, as in Sinkiang, is a root sound. Or they may have been part of the lost tribe of Dan, which some historians theorize as having named the Danube River. In all cases, they came from the East, up the Danube, perhaps from its mouth at the Black Sea.

The second European Sinks were Franks, the race which spilt along the Rhine into French and German. Our family stayed at home east of the Rhine, probably because it was comfortable with either land or crafts that provided well. As German Franks, our family was subjected to Roman culture more than the rest of the Germans and not much less than the French. We were probably the German troops which manned the Roman garrison at the Empire’s northeastern extremity. If so, this is where and when the Sinks and the Conrads first got together. While Conrad (or Konrad) is a commoner German name than Zink, Conrad may be traced to an outstanding Roman General who pioneered the concept of manning Roman lines against the Germans with “civilized” German troops, Today, one may drive (as I have done) from Italy to Switzerland or Germany and see the service station signs change from Conradi to Conrad in just a few miles. In the Teutonic towns he will most likely find a Zingg or Zink in the telephone book. Or one may drive to New Pilgrim Church on Ridge Road, Davidson County, and land a majority of tombstones lettered either Sink or Conrad. Eerily, there is also a stained glass window there donated half “in memory of Carl Sink” and half “In memory of John Sink” — Carl and John being my own father/son combination, but neither daddy nor I ever attended a service there. Albeit, our common distant grandfather is recorded as a founder of nearby Old Pilgrim.

The third European Sinks were Catholic German artists and artisans who got themselves recorded in history and achieved a sort of Golden Age for the family. Here we find the first documented Zink, the earliest Sink on record, and contrary to all the other evidence, a hint of aristocratic beginnings. I refer to one Esaias Zinkgraeff . . . graeff being the old German spelling for Count or Earl, this name could be literally translated as “Count Sink.” He came from Nuernburg, Germany where others are recorded as plainly Zink or Zinck. He was a goldsmith, which in those days made him an artist, not simply an artisan. In 1633 he was sculpting and casting a golden throne for the Czar of Russia in Moscow. He must have boon the best the “Western” world had to offer at the time. Another goldsmith, Paul Zink from Dresden, died in 1622. Could this have been the father or family tutor of Esaias? In either case, we may reasonably presume that both were born in the 1500’s, which is no small distance to trace an American family. The English King’s portraturist may be traced to the Dresden Sinks. Since they retained the Z-spelling through several generations that stayed In England, it is unlikely that they directly spawned our own American tribe that was still having trouble with the English language after 1750. Rather, they may have been cousins who influenced George Ill to grant the 300 acres at Abbott’s Creek to Big John Zink. If we descend from the German artists, the more likely founder of our line was one

Matthias Zink of Donamunster, Bavaria. These recorded artist Sinks may be chronologically listed as follows:
Paul Zinke (Zink) the elder
Born 15?? Died 1622. Goldsmith, Dresden.
Paul Zinke (same name son)
Born 1608. Died 1678. Goldsmith. Dresden.
Esaias Zinkgraeff
Born 15?? Died after 1633. Goldsmith. Dresden Nuernburg.
Matthias Zink (Zinck, Zinckh)
Born 1665. Died 1738. Born in Donamunster and died in Southern Germany.
John Michael Zink. Matthias’ son
Born 1694, Died 1765. Painter of fame equaling his father, Neresheim. In modern Neresheim there is a street named Michaelzink Strasse. Visited his church, an onion-domed tower now condemned and padlocked. Famous monastery overlooking town contains frescos which he helped paint. More research due here.
Wolf Zink
Either born or died in 1736. My poor translation gathered that he was related to those above and was a Bildschnitzer from Pegau. Bildschnitzer means literally picture-cutter.
Hans Jakob Zingg
Born 1702. Died 1756. Pewter artist. Swiss.
Bartholomaus Zingg
Born 1703. Died 1771. Steel engraver and book designer. Saint Gallen, Switzerland. Three pages of biography in the Kunstler Lexikon.
George Michael Zing (Zinck, Zingg)
Born or died 1745. Painter. Augsburg.
John Georg Zink – Also son of Matthias
Also of Neresheim and listed as a student of John Jakob Mettenleiter, 1765 may have been his birthday according to my poor translation. Was he son of John Michael.
Nikolaus Zink
No born and died dates but was building the “long house” of Thomas Church in Leipzig in 1745. My translation says he was both painter and architect.
Adrian Zingg (son of Bartholomaus)
Born 1734. Died 1816. Copper Etcher. Born in St. Gallen. Died In Leipzig. Also listed as a landscape artist.
Christian Friedrich Zinke (Zink)
Born 1685. Died 1767. Enamel painter and portraiturist. Born in Dresden, Germany; died in London, England.
Paul Francis Zincke (Zink)
Undoubtedly son of next above, but I am lacking dates. He was a portrait painter in London. The German lexicon says he is recorded in several English books (which I not researched) and he was nicknamed “The Wicked Old Zincke.”
Jules Emile Zingg
Born 1882. Died 1942. Painter and “Graphiker” in Paris, France.

This I deduce that the artist-Sinks who earlier went to Switzerland eventually wound up in Paris. Those who went to Dresden wound up in London. And those who stayed home the longest in Catholic Germany got the most hurt by the religious wars and wound up in America as Protestants.

There was a Paul Sink majoring in art along with me at UNC in 1946 or 47. Unless he continued his Interest, I am the only Sink of my generation, known to me, who carries on the recorded art tradition. But I should hastily add that the Lexington Sinks are very much in the graphic arts with their newspaper. As a result of my son, John Richard, enrolling at Duke University last year, I learned from the Freshman Dean that there is a Sink tradition there. Without looking into it during my numerous war-interrupted years at Chapel Hill, I had rather supposed the Sinks had favored UNC. I myself have learned to dislike both schools equally, but I would gather that the bulk of the modern professional Sinks have done their time in one or the other. Here again, the Lexington Sinks have much to add to this record. (I cringe every time I make the plural of Sink with an “s”. Better would be the German “en” — Sinken. For my assistant at the office reports having come to know a Mrs. Sinks, who is married to a Mr. Sinks now working on his PhD at Duke … both from Washington, D. C. Such a mutant could throw all the Sink research into a purple fog unless we soon consolidate all the data that may now be solidly tied to geography.)

When Sinken were all-Catholic, they were nonetheless divided by national boundaries: Swiss, German. Austrian. After they further divided into Protestant and Catholic the Protestant branch was caught up in the American Revolution, which probably further divided them into Americans and Loyalists. I can imagine brother against brother grappling for land — especially since “modern Sinken” living side by side disclaim blood ties. There was a proper time for division. And now is the proper time for reunion. Not political, religious, legal or even spiritual reunion. But the time is very ripe for intellectual reunion. America needs all the historical perspective it can gain … and we pioneer “Sinken” have much to give.

John Edward Sink
1970