Linck

John Otto Linck was born in 1876 in southern Illinois. His wife, Anna Minch Linck, was born in 1880 in southeast Missouri. They were married in Patton, Missouri, in 1899.

In 1906 the family, consisting of two children, moved to Arkansas. They first stopped in Brownville, Arkansas, near Heber Springs, where he worked in white oak timber, making and hauling stave bolts to Heber Springs and Batesville. On his return trip he freighted groceries for local stores.

After 1 1/2 years at Brownville, the Linck family decided to return to Missouri. Enroute they came through Marshall and Yellville, down Crooked Creek road to Rea Valley. After purchasing 25 pounds of flour and a can of tomatoes from Trammell Rea, they had a half-dollar left. When they got to where the roads forked with one leading to Buffalo City and the other to Flippin, they tossed a coin to decide which direction to take. Heads up! They took the road to Flippin. This was in the early spring of 1908. Their possessions were two children, a large mare, a one-horse hack and their bedding and clothes. They knew no one and had no money but did have a lot of courage.

The first people they met were Joe and Johnny McCracken, who offered them a job of making cross ties. They accepted the job and moved to McBee's Landing on White River, just two miles up the river from Cotter where Fallen Ash Creek joins the river. The railroad had been completed four or five years earlier and the steamboats no longer freighted to Marion County.

1908 was a trying year for the Linck family. On July 26, their third child, Bill, was born and on August 27, their oldest son, Chris, died. Neighbors prevailed and they overcame. The death of the two-year old was the primary reason for their settling here, so they could be near the little grave in the Flippin Cemetery.

On December 22, 1910, twin boys, Matt and Mark, were born. By that time John and Anna decided to buy some land and build. They purchased 40 acres, 2 1/4 miles southeast of Flippin, from W. R. Jones. They built a two-room house and moved there. This became the homeplace and is still in the family. Of course, the house had to expand beciuse the family number grew to ten children. In 1913, a girl, Mary, was born and in 1915, twin girls, Cora and Dora. In 1918 a little girl, Mikie, was born but lived only thirteen hours. Dora, the twin, died two weeks later. In 1919 a boy, Ike, was born. The oldest daughter, Safrona, died in 1962, but five of the six now living are Marion County residents. They are: Bill, Mark, Mary, Cora and Ike. Matt lives in Long Beach, California.

John and Anna never gained a lot of worldly possessions but they left their children something more valuable -- love and respect for their fellow man. To them "honesty is the best policy" and "honor lies in honest toil."

John 0. Linck was a citizen of Marion County for 48 years. He died in 1956 and Anna Linck died in 1964.