George L. Zink. Senior member of the firm of Zink & Cline, attorneys at Hobart, George L. Zink is like his partner one of the pioneer lawyers of Southwestern Oklahoma. He and Mr. Cline have been associated in partnership as lawyers since 1907.

Born at Litchfield, Illinois, March 27, 1875, George L. Zink is a son of George L. and Gillie R. (Cave) Zink. The Zink family is of German descent, with an admixture of Irish stock, and Mr. Zink is also related to the old Pennsylvania Quaker family of Browns. George L. Zink, Sr., was born in Smithfield, Ohio, in 1838, and died at Litchfield, Illinois, in 1902. He was a lawyer, and early in his career moved to Litchfield, where he married and where he practiced his profession until his death. In 1861 he enlisted in the Sixty-second Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry, but was incapacitated after only a short service. His wife was born near St. Louis, Missouri, in 1840, and the only child is George L., Jr.

He received his education in the public schools of Litchfield, graduating from high school in 1893, and then completed the junior year in the collegiate department of the University of Illinois, having specialized in chemistry. In 1896, after leaving university, he took up the study of law in his father’s office and was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1901. At the opening of the Kiowa and Comanche Reservation in 1901 he came to Hobart as one of the first lawyers, and also was a lucky drawer of a claim of 160 acres eleven miles southeast of the town. He developed that claim and sold it in 1907, but in the meantime had carried on a general law practice ever since coming to Hobart. Mr. Zink is also a veteran of the Spanish-American war, having enlisted in 1898 in Company K of the Fourth Illinois Regiment, and saw some duty in Cuba, being mustered out May 2, 1899. He went out as a lieutenant in his company and returned as captain.

Mr. Zink is a republican and is now a member of the Republican State Committee and has served as chairman of the County Central Committee of Kiowa County. He belongs to the County and State Bar associations and has served on several important committees of each association. His fraternal affiliations are with Lodge No. 881 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Hobart.

At Hillsboro, Illinois, in 1904, he married Miss Nellie I. Miller, daughter of John Miller, who was at that time sheriff of Montgomery County, Illinois, but is now living retired at Hobart. Mrs. Zink died on the 30th of March, 1916, after a brief illness. They have one daughter, Marguerite Rebecca who was born September 4, 1905, and is a student in the Hobart public schools.