SAMUEL C. RINKER

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491

     SAMUEL C. RINKER lives about one mile east from Hesseltine where he owns an estate of one-half section.  It is good land and in a high state of cultivation.  Mr. Rinker has a good residence, buildings and all other improvements needed on the farm. He is one of the earliest settlers in this section and he has labored incessantly for the improvement and upbuilding of the country and stands now a man of influence in the community.  He is well respected by all and has gained this by a life of straightforwardness and industry.
     Samuel C. Rinker was born in Indiana on June 1, 1844.  His father, Washington Rinker, ** was born in Tennessee and a worthy farmer.  He was a pioneer to Indiana, and later moved to Iowa and finally journeyed west to Kansas where he died.  The mother, Mary (Haselton) Rinker, was born in Missouri.  Her brother, William C. Haselton was a noted orator.  Our subject was educated in Iowa and Kansas.  He remained with his parents until the death of his father, and then conducted his mother's farm.  During the Civil War he saw considerable service in the state militia.  After the war, his mother sold the property and they returned to Missouri, where he farmed for some years.  In 1876, he returned to Kansas and took land.  It was 1883, when Mr. Rinker came to his present location, took a homestead and later bought a quarter section.  Since coming here, he has devoted himself entirely to farming and the result of his labors are the well tilled and valuable estate that he now owns.  When first settling here, Mr. Rinker was obliged to meet the hardships of the real pioneer and each summer had to go to Walla Walla to earn money for the support of his family.  He began to raise wheat as soon as possible and threshed it out by the horses treading it and winnowed it in the old fashioned way by throwing it against the wind.
     In 1867, Mr. Rinker married Miss Caledonia, the daughter of Philip and Elizabeth (Keys) Askins, natives of Tennessee and Indiana, respectively.  The father was a well-to-do farmer before losing his property in the Civil War.  Mrs. Rinker was born in Arkansas, June 12, 1853.  She received her education in Missouri.  To Mr. and Mrs. Rinker the following children have been born, Washington, * a farmer at Hesseltine; Philip, a farmer in Douglas county; Mrs. Ida Tucker, on a farm near Hesseltine; Harvey and Valley.

* This Washington Rinker married Cora Seaton, oldest daughter of Thomas B. Seaton, great grandfather of Cousin Sam.

** Research link for Washington Rinker 1805-1866:
http://records.ancestry.com/Washington_Rinker_records.ashx?pid=5352764
caution: the information at this link can be unreliable.