A Lost Sheep of Shenandoah
Charles Edwin Rinker of Virginia and Harry Bernard King of Iowa: DNA Reveals They Were the Same Man
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Charles and Emma Rinker plunged into parenthood seven months later with the birth of a female “no name Rinker,” on 12 August 1884, identified as Ethel Verne Rinker. Three additional births were registered to the couple: Edna Dare 1886, Nettie 1888, and Earl Edwin 1890. Nettie remains a mystery since she disappears from records. In 1900, Emma was living in her father’s farm household with those three children plus another daughter, Ella R. Rinker, born July 1892. Ella’s birth was not registered, nor is she named as one of Charles Rinker’s children in the Rinker book. By 1910, Emma was the owner and head of the farm household with the two youngest children, Earle E. and Ella, at home. Emma reported that she had 4 live births and 4 living children. Charles was absent. This account appears in The Rinkers of Virginia: Charlie told his drinking buddies he was tired of married life and was going west; about the time his youngest child was born he disappeared from this area overnight, leaving his family behind. The year was 1890. Some years later, a stranger showed up one day at Pete Rinker’s store at Rinkerton. After purchasing some cheese and crackers, he struck up a conversation with Pete Rinker. He subtly steered the conversation around to Charlie Rinker’s wife and children, inquiring about their welfare and what they were doing. Pete Rinker took a closer look at the stranger, and even though he had aged, and wore a heavy beard, he recognized him. After about twenty to thirty minutes of conversation, Charlie left, went to Mt. Jackson and caught the train, and was never seen again. Where did Charlie go?
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About the Book
DNA Reveals Imposter: Charles Edwin Rinker Changed His Name to Harry Bernard King One Man, Four Families: DNA Reveals Harry Bernard King aka Charles Edwin Rinker Why would a young man leave the beautiful blue ridge mountains of Virginia and move to the flat fields of Iowa, by himself, without any apparent relatives nearby? Harry Bernard King appeared in Worth County, Iowa, in 1894, about 27 years old. He married there in 1896 and had five children. His obituary in 1919 said he was born and raised in Virginia, but no documentary evidence was found for him in that state despite thirty-five years of research by nationally recognized genealogists. Thanks to DNA that linked Harry to his Virginia origins under another name, Charles Edwin Rinker, along with two additional marriages and an illegitimate son, Harry was really Charlie, a lost sheep of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Shenandoah, Virginia. Charlie could change his identity, but he could not change his DNA!
About the Author
The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Forde and her husband, Ronald S. Beatty are recognized as Fellows of the Swedish Colonial Society where they serve as co-genealogists. Cynthia Forde created the DNA Project for the Swedish Colonial Society; she is the author of Spirit in the South, Stories of our Grandmothers Spirit, and the administer of five additional FamilyTreeDNA groups. She used DNA to research three hundred and fifty years of the James Leas of Caswell County, North Carolina, soon to be published. Cynthia became interested in genealogy and pursued her ancestry with vigor but was stymied by one great-grandfather, Harry Bernard King, who arrived in Worth County, Iowa in 1894, who was born on 17 Dec 1866 near Mt. Solon, Virginia, whose obituary asserts that his mother died when he was four and his father died when he was fourteen. For thirty years, Cynthia analyzed the Ancestry census records every imaginable way, hired professionals to hunt for Mr. King several times, trying to authenticate him in Virginia. She is an education junkie as an undergraduate at Dana College, Blair NE (fine arts) and The University of New York (Bachelor of Science), Houston Graduate Theological Seminary (Master of Theology), Lutheran Seminary Program of the South in conjunction with Wartburg Seminary (Master of Divinity), Graduate Theological Foundation at Notre Dame, Indiana (Doctor of Ministry in Spiritual Direction and a Ph.D. in Ecumenism). She is a retired Lutheran pastor and spiritual director.