Zinser - Family History & Genealogy Message Board

Re: ZINSER - Pittsburgh

rjarthur188 — 2008-09-13 00:22:11Z

I spoke with my father, Jay R. Arthur (b.1923) and got this clarifying information.

My great-great-grandfather was Adolph Zinsser. Adolph was born in Germany and came to the US shortly after the US Civil War. He had several children and his oldest son was also named Adolph (called "Dollie"). Wilhelm, my great-grandfather was born about 1875 in Pittsburgh. He had brothers, among them was Dr. Harry Zinsser. The earlier information I gave about Harry, who delivered my father,was incorrect. He had a son who was about my father's age and he practiced medicine until his early death shortly after returning from WWII. The elder Harry was in charge of one of Pittsburgh's largest hospitals for several years.

Wilhelm ran a bakery in Lawrencville section of Pittsburgh where Butler Street is located. My father did not know of any other family members who had a bakery, but said it was possible. "Willie's" family lived above the bakery in a large house. There was a piano there that had once been played by Rachmaninoff. That house, which the neighboring Catholic Church had wanted to buy for a long time, collapsed after the Zinsser's moved out (in the 30's) but ran as a rental property. That lot is now part of the church.

It may be possible that the bakery in the county history may have been in my grandmother's (Louise)name as she was, of the five children, the one favored by Adolph.

My dad will look to see if he has a record of the names of "Willie's" brothers and sisters. He may not know of Fredrick because he was out of the area when my dad was young. Also, the Zinssers appear to have been inclined towards family fueds - they seemed to quarrel and pick sides, often never referring to the "outcasts" on the other side of the quarrel.

The neighborhood also had a "pecking order". My grandmother's mother's family - the Millers - although German were "second rate" in the eyes of some of the Zinssers. My father said the Millers were "fun loving".

Anyway, the factors (bakery, relation to Harry, and the dedicated use of the family pool of names - Adolph-Fredrick-Charles-William) suggest that this is your husband's family.

I will be glad to send a file of the names, places and dates for Adolph's line back to the time of the Thirty Year War. (It is an excel file and cannot be sent via this webpage.) I understand that the family is related to Koch, the famous bacterologist.

Contact me at rjarthur@lycos.com I would very much enjoy reading anything you may have on the family.

Richard Arthur
Clemmons, NC

Re: ZINSER - Pittsburgh

Charlet137 — 2008-09-08 16:50:55Z

From: Charlet137@aol.com and Herman Charles Zinsser Grace in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

I don't know how to thank you for all this information. I have been researching my husband's grandfather's family now for over a year and haven't gotten very far in identifying his German family.

Grandpa Herman's birth name was William Herman Zinsser, born Dec. 15, 1885. His father was Frederick Zinsser, who died here in Santa Fe age 40 (he was born in about 1855) and emigrated from his birthplace in Prussia before 1874. He married Lizzie and they had two sons in Pittsburgh: Charles b. 1875 and Adolph, born 1881. Then, Lizzie died and he married Ernestine Williams (formerly Ernestine Wilhelm). He and Ernestine had three children: Wm Herman (my husband's grandfather), Ernestine Louise, died as a baby; and Frederick Vincent Zinsser. After Frederick died in 1895, his wife remarried Alex Baca and after 1903, they moved back to Pittsburgh.

Frederick Vincent, born Nov. 10 or 12th,1889,in PGH. He married Evelyn and they had 5 children: Elizabeth, Charles, Richard, Ester, and John. When Fred Vincent registered for the draft in 1917 in lived with his parents at 23 Union Alley, Etna. In 1930, he worked at a brewery.

His son, Richard, born 1920, registered for WWII draft in 1942. He died 2/25/1992.

It would be fantastic if my husband, Herman, could connect with the descendants of his Zinsser descendants, some of whom might still live in PA. Also, there were 1/2 brothers and sisters from the Baca marriage. Manuel Baca, born in PGH in 1902, is listed on the 1930 census as living in McKees Rocks, PA.

I wonder if Frederick Zinsser, born 1855, was a son of Adolph, your gg-grandfather? Our g-grandfather, Frederick, had a brother named Adolph William, born between 1862-1867, who also moved to New Mexico and then moved to Denver, Co. in 1900. His wife was also came from Germany. Her name was Anna Orlowsky.

I have a lot of facts from warranty deeds and the census. I have been in contact with Sue, who is a grandchild of the medical doctor, Dr. Harry F. Zinsser, but we just couldn't connect the dots to connect our Zinssers to hers.

I would like to send or email you the stories I wrote on the Zinssers. I wrote the Herman Charles Zinsser Grace Family Tree book on Ancestry.com, and I would like to find out who his great-grandfather's parents were before I finish it.

If you have any more information to share, I would be grateful.

Re: ZINSER - Pittsburgh

rjarthur188 — 2008-09-08 00:59:35Z

This is relevant to my family.. and yours.

I mis-typed the spelling of the Zinsser when I first made this entry, but this is my family.

My great-great grandfather was Adolph Zinsser who was born in Germany. I have the complete lineage of his father's line back to the days of the Reformation and will post it here if you would like.

It is true that the family ran bakeries in Pittsburgh, they also owned a lot of land in that area of Pittsburgh as landlords. In Germany, the family had manufactured paint and dyes since the time of guilds and products made by their family such as paint, stain and primer are still sold in Europe and the US to this day under the brand name Zinsser. Shortly before WWI some of the family - I know Willie was among them - traveled to Germany to sign over any shares of this enterprise. During that trip they attended a large military review just a few months before the Archduke was assisinated and the world went to war.

My great grandfather was Wilheilm ("Willie") (died 1930) who had five children: Katherine (roughly 1890 to 1980);Charles an engineer with US Steel(whose son's obit appears on this string of notices) Louise Sophia (my grandmother 1897-1988)
Mildred and Gertrude. I knew all of these and can provide details of their lives. They were a great family.

When the Zinssers arrived in America (circa 1870) Adolph forbade his family from speaking German at home. He said they would be Americans now and would speak only English.

My limited resarch shows that the family tended to sick with the same names and used them over and over across the family and down generations. This will frustrate any research. I believe, from what I saw at the Zinsser plot in Allegheny Cemetary in Pittsburgh (where most of Zinsser clan and their spouses as well as my brother and sister are buried) that they may have actually named subsequent children the same name as some that previously died in childbirth. My siblings died of cystic fibrosis as infants and the family tree appears to have many indications of this occuring in previous generations as well.

My grandmother Louise Sophia Zinsser Arthur worked in her father's bakery which was on Butler Street in the part of Pittsburgh called Lawrenceville. This was an area filled with a lot of German, Irish and Polish immigrants. My grandmother graduated from Fifth Avenue High School - which would have been a trolly ride away - in 1915. Many of the houses the Zinsser's owned were in this general area.

Dr. Harry Zinsser was a Pittsburgh physician and was a cousin - I do not know how close a cousin - to my grandmother. He was practicing medicine into the 1960's. I never met him.

The Zinssers are related in some fashion to the author of the book "Rats, Lice and History" which discusses the impact of disease on the course of history.

Other Zinssers have been associated with Time Life magazine and some are there, I beleive, to this day - usually reporting on science. One Zinsser was a photograper and (I have been told) took the famous picture of Rita Hayworth that was on the cover and used as a WWII pinup.

My sources are my father and grandmother who gave me these stories firsthand.
RJ Arthur
Clemmons, NC

Re: ZINSER - Pittsburgh

Charlet137 — 2008-08-30 14:59:27Z

You posted five years ago, so I don't know if you are still interested or active. I have tried to find the parents of my husband's ggrandfather, Frederick Zinsser (with 2 s's)who was a baker and lived on Butler St PGH in 1880 with wife Lizzie and son Charles, 4. Lizzie died after giving birth to Adolph, born 1881,and Fred married Ernestine Williams (Wilhelm) and had 3 children: Wm Herman, 1885; Ernestine Louise, 1887; and Frederick Vincent, 1889.

For some reason, the couple moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico about 1890 and Fred died five years later at the age of 40.
His widow remarried a man named Baca and moved back to Pittsburgh. Adolph, Charles, and Fred Vincent moved back with her and we never heard from them again. Their son, Wm Herman (called Herman) stayed in Santa Fe, married, and in 1915 moved to Denver. He is my husband's grandfather.

I would like to know more about the Zinsser's relationship to the bakery business in Pittsburgh because so many of them were bakers. A Louis Zinsser is found as owning a bakery in Allegeny co. history. Article states Adoph Zinsser owned bakery too.

I have been in contact with a member of Dr. Harry Zinsser's family. The family names are so similar, my ggf is probably related somewhere in this tree, but don't know where.

Do you know why some spell it with one "S" and some spell it with two?

Re: Family

cfarrall_1 — 2008-05-07 15:43:41Z

My grandmother's maiden name was Zinssar. Gertrude Zinssar. She had several brothers: Walter, John, Charles, William, Fred, Kenneth.

Re: Johann Zinser/Katherina Meyer family from Schmieheim (arrived US 1868)

JeanWheeler74 — 2007-08-05 23:08:11Z

Someone from Baden contacted me through email yesterday re. this family, but my provider eliminated the message--so please try again.

Arthur Zinser in Connecticut High School Class of 1929 Photo

Not_A_Relative — 2007-05-30 06:00:21Z

Arthur Zinser in Bloomfield High School, Bloomfield, Connecticut Class of 1929 Photo

http://www.familyoldphotos.com/6c/2b/bloomfield_high_school_...

Search over 18,000 old photographs
at http://www.familyoldphotos.com

Re: George Zinser Civil War Letter

2006-10-18 03:24:57Z

Richard,
Thank you so much for the letter! I will print out the images tomorrow. I'm sure it will be very interesting reading.
Dave

Re: George Zinser Civil War Letter

2006-10-17 17:28:01Z

Dave,
Yes, it is the same Zinser. My great grandfather Carey C. Wright lived in Washington, Tazewell Co., IL . They both served in the Company B of the 47th IL Vol. Infantry Regiment during the Civil War. George W. Zinser is on the roster located at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilcivilw/r050/047-b-in.htm He is listed as entering service as a private on Aug. 16, 1861 and mustered out as a corporal on Oct. 11, 1864. This is a letter that was written during the war and is dated Sept 4. Not sure of the year, but probably late in the war. At the time I think my great-grandfather was recovering from "ague" (malaria) in a hospital. The letter was posted at Tuscumbia, Alabama. It is an interesting letter describing some of the conditions they lived under and some speculations about the course of the war. I will send you the original images, which are four .gif tagged images.

Re: George Zinser Civil War Letter

2006-10-17 03:10:05Z

Richard,
Though I'm not directly related, I have a George W. Zinser in my family tree. He was born in 1838 and died in 1918, so he could have served in the Civil War. He was married to Sarah Jones in 1866 in Tazewell Co., IL. They had two children that I'm aware of: Hattie, b. 1867, and Maude, b. 1870.
Does this seem to match the individual who wrote the letter?
I would like to see an image of your letter. Thanks!

Re: Johann Zinser/Katherina Meyer family from Schmieheim (arrived US 1868)

2006-07-19 02:02:26Z

Jean,

Sorry, I have not checked this site for a long while as you can see and yes, my em has changed.
Please let me know what information you may have about the Meyer family of Schmieheim.
Thank you,
Sharon S

George Zinser Civil War Letter

2006-06-14 23:36:46Z

I have a letter from George W. Zinser written during the Civil War to my great grandfather Carey C. Wright. Both men were in Company B of the Illinois 47th Regiment (Infantry) during Civil War. At the time the letter was written, Carey Wright was in the hospital recovering from "Ague", i.e. malaria. If anyone in the Zinser family is interested, I will send a jpeg image of the letter via e-mail.

Zinser from Wuerttemberg

2006-04-12 19:05:30Z

If you are searching for your Zinser ancestors emigrated from Wuerttemberg I can offer you my help. Send a mail to Markogen@aol.com
Martin

Re: Zinser Family - Indiana and Ohio

2006-04-09 14:04:25Z

hi,
am posting because i recall clearly zinser's that lived in delhi, where my family settled. my names are kayser/kaiser/kizer. they also started in new alsace, indiana. sound familiar at all? thanks so much.

Re: RE:Zinsers New Alsace, Ind.

RZinzer — 2006-02-10 01:20:04Z

I would love to purchase a copy of your book, where can I find it? My Great Grandfather was John Mathew Zinzer, born in Wuerttenberg, Germany 4/65 and came to America 1882. His father was John Zinzer and Mother was Agnes Keon or Kern????? I am hoping to find his fit somewhere as I can't seem to locate much information on him prior to the 1900 census in Washtenaw Co. Mich and haven't located his port of entry. Thank you!

Re: Johann Zinser/Katherina Meyer family from Schmieheim (arrived US 1868)

JeanWheeler74 — 2005-12-15 15:54:00Z

Yes, it sounds like it really is the same family! I'll contact you at your email address and give you more details.

Re: Johann Zinser/Katherina Meyer family from Schmieheim (arrived US 1868)

JeanWheeler74 — 2005-12-15 15:54:00Z

Sharon,
I'd love to share information with you. Why don't you email me directly. (I tried emailing you, but the address they had for you didn't work.)
Jean

Re: RE:Zinsers New Alsace, Ind.

2005-09-23 19:33:00Z

Hi Rosie:

If you'll send $20.00 to me, I'll be happy to supply you with a copy of the Zinser book.

My address is:
Jim Lieland
407 E. 11th St.
Rushville IN 46173

thanks!!

Re: Johann Zinser/Katherina Meyer family from Schmieheim (arrived US 1868)

2005-05-24 17:36:56Z

Katherina Meyer may belong to my paternal ancestors who came to America from Schmeihiem, Baden about that same time frame. (I am not at my own computer so don't have my files to cite dates.
My father's grandmother, Mary Meyer, was just a young teen when she immigrated. She wrote a letter describing their voyage. What she failed to mention were the names of the others on that same voyage. She mentioned her father, brothers and sisters and some other people also from the same town who made the journey with them.
They left Schmeihiem via the port of LaHarve, France, taking a tour through Strausburg, she describes the clock in that town that had doors that opened on the hour and etc.
The family arrived in NY, made their way to Illinois settling in Boone Co., IL. My feeling is they may have had family that preceeded them who were already in Boone Co.
Mary Anna (Meyer) Trigg lived to 100 yrs. I was fortunate to have been able to see her as a young child.
I have gathered some information but don't have all the pieces to the puzzle yet. Her mother died prior to their immigration to America, she tells how old she was when her mother died in the letter. Mary's father, whom I believe was Johann Meyer.
Mary attended a Luthern school in Germany and also talks about a wonderful school outing at Lake Louise and information about other things.
Family 'lore' that persisted when I was a child was that the Meyer family actually were from France, had vineyards on the Rhine and crossed over into Germany (for what reason and what time-frame?) - were hidden out in a cellar by a German family and assumed the name Meyer (name change from what? to Meyer?) -
So far, I have not found any evidence to substanstiate this family lore.
If you would like more information please let me know. If you have any more information about Katherina I would lke it.
I will look at my files tonite and see if I have her listed. Some of the brothers and sisters have been identified by name.

Zinser Family Info