The Hinck family of Denmark can trace their heritage as far back as Valentin Hinck who was born at Copenhagen in 1700. The surname "Hinck" has both English and German roots, but how the name came to belong to a Danish family remains a mystery.

The first Hinck to move to the United States was Andreas Christopher Hinck, who changed his name to Andrew after immigrating. He was born in Copenhagen on April 25, 1815, the only son of Morten Jorgensen Hinck and Gotfriede Elizabeth Moller. Very little is known of Andrew's early life in Denmark. His father died when he was just seven years old.

In 1842 he fathered a son named Peder and later married the boy's mother, Maren Andersen in 1844. Fourteen years later, he became acquainted with missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints who were proselytizing at Copenhagen. He was baptized a Mormon in 1858 and the following year, immigrated to America. For unknown reasons, neither his wife nor his son accompanied him.

Adnrew's journey to America began April 1, 1859 when he departed Copenhagen on the steamer L.V. Hvidt. He arrived in Grimbsy, England five days later and traveled by rail to Liverpool where he and 724 other immigrants (mostly Mormons bound for Utah) boarded the H.M.S. William Tapscott, on April 11. The journey took 31 days and was noted for being a generally mild passage, with only one death occurring en route. After reaching New York harbor on May 14, the ship continued up the Hudson River to Albany where Andrew joined a train of immigrants and traveled by rail to Detroit (crossing Canada) and then south to Quincy, Missouri. A steamboat then delivered him to Florence, Neb. on May 26. At Florence, a handcart company was formed to make the final 1,100-mile journey by foot to Utah. Andrew arrived in the Salt Lake Valley September 15, 1859.

By 1861 he had married a young widow, Mary Angeline Tuttle Bates, and settled in Tooele, Utah. Two children were born to this union: Eliza Adelaide (1862), and George Albert (1864). Shortly after George's birth, the couple divorced.

In 1865, Andrew married Mary Gillilan Mathie, a young immigrant girl from Scotland who had arrived in Salt Lake just two years before. At the time of the marriage Andrew was 50 and Mary was 16.

At Tooele, the Hinck family farmed and raised livestock. Eleven children were born on the homestead there: Mary Christina (1866), Andrew Franklin (1869), Robert Lorenzo (1871), Elizabeth Josephine (1873), Joseph Peter (1875), Margaret Mary Ann (1877), Clara Johanna (1878), Lauretta (1881), William Martin (1884), James Odin (1886), and Mary Sophia (1887).

By the late 1880s, a number of Mormon families were moving to Star Valley, Wyo., where the timber industry was thriving. Andrew & Mary relocated there in about 1888 and settled at Thayne where their oldest sons Andrew & Robert went to work hauling lumber between Star Valley, Wyo. and Ogden, Utah. Robert was killed in this endeavor in 1890.

Two more children were born to the Hinck family at Thayne: Francis Lyman (1889), and Effie (1893). When their youngest child was just one year old, Andrew died on Sept. 28, 1894. His wife died Nov. 16, 1926.

He lived 79 years and fathered 16 children on two continents. His descendants were involved in pioneering throughout Utah, Idaho, California, and Alberta, Canada. Andrew and Mary are buried together at the town cemetery in Thayne, Wyoming.