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Family
Marriage: Children:
  1. Henry Zimmerman: Birth: 1836 in Perth, Ontario, Canada. Death: in Canby, Clackamas, Oregon, USA

  2. Adam Zimmerman: Birth: 02 JUN 1837 in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Death: 03 APR 1899 in Canby, Clackamas, Oregon, USA

  3. Cathrina Zimmerman: Birth: 1839 in Perth, Ontario, Canada. Death: 17 AUG 1888 in Minnesota, USA

  4. Peter Zimmerman: Birth: 02 AUG 1842 in Canada. Death: 06 FEB 1894 in Racine, Mower, Minnesota, USA

  5. Christian Zimmerman: Birth: 22 AUG 1848 in Perth, Ontario, Canada. Death: 17 AUG 1934 in Yamhill, Yamhill, Oregon, USA

  6. Philip Zimmerman: Birth: JAN 1851 in Perth, Ontario, Canada. Death: 21 AUG 1941 in , Fillmore, Minnesota, USA

  7. Person Not Viewable


Sources
1. Title:   Zimmerman Family Tree
Author:   Forrest Zimmerman
2. Title:   Britzius, Zimmerman, Maurer Research
Author:   Goettel, Steve Lloyd
3. Title:   Zimmerman History Packet Received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005
4. Title:   Minnesota, Marriages Index, 1849-1950
Page:   Database online.
Author:   Ancestry.com
Publication:   Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2011;
5. Title:   Census, Federal - 1880 - Fillmore, Minnesota, Spring Valley Twsp. ED86
6. Title:   History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
Author:   Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman
Publication:   Name: written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983;

Notes
a. Note:   H53
Note:   From History of Zimmerman Family in Altheim "Both brothers (Johann Christian and Johann Heinrich) received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario." They emigrated to Canada in 1832. (Sebringville is now part of Toronto. DZS-2005) p. 25 "The ancestors line of the emigrator Johann Christian Zimmermann, and his brother Heinrich, is demonstrated herein without a missing link. In 1907, the old framework house of the family Zimmermann in Altheim, where Johann Christian and his sisters and brothers were born, was tested off. A new house was built, high 1 1/2 story with attic, and the door entrance was overbuilt with a story. Mrs. Kata Haag, born Zimmermann, is actually living in the house with her family, house in Altheim, Nr. 35 Main Street. She was married with the local policeman Jakob Haag since 19.12.1942, who died the 26.12.1974 in Altheim." This next section is an updating of the work of Anna Zimmerman Nelson, and shared with us by Fern Zimmerman of Santa Ana, California. During the year 1832, there came into the affairs of Christian Zimmerman a simple little circumstance which changed the course of his whole life. One Sunday afternoon, Christian and his younger brother, Henry, were sitting on a fence not far from their home, when a group of young men about their own age joined them. These young men were discussing the fact that the English Sovereign was giving away one hundred acres of land in Canada to anyone who would go there and live on it. This looked like a wonderful opportunity to these boys who worked for a few cents a day, or perhaps received only thirty dollars for a whole years work, out of which they had to furnish their own clothes, which were made by hand. It was not an unusual thing during the busy season for these boys to rise at three o'clock in the morning and thresh grain with a flail until late at night. So the Sovereign's offer of one hundred acres of land brought forth quite a discussion. Some contended that here there really might be a great opportunity. Others thought that the hardships to be endured were too great. The long and perilous journey to the new world was in itself considered dangerous, and if the trip were made successfully, the hardships to be endured after arrival were almost unsurmountable. Were there not great risks from sickness and hunger; from wild beasts and uncivilized people? So the discussion went on. The majority thought that they would like to avail themselves of this opportunity, if it were closer at hand; but that under the circumstances, the adventure to secure it was attended with too much sacrifice and danger. Christian was very much interested in this offer of the English Government, and finally decided that it was an opportunity which he must seize, and he made up his mind that he would go to Canada and have one of those farms. He realized that in Germany the opportunities of ever having a home of his own were not very good. Many of his friends tried to discourage him by telling him that rattle snakes and bears would kill him, and that he would never make the journey safely. The ocean voyage had to be made in sail ships at that time, and it took from six to fourteen weeks to come across the ocean. Christian could not be discouraged or turned from his purpose, and in due time made the journey. Christian Zimmerman was born in 1800, so he was thirty-two years of age when he came to Canada and settled at Sebringsville, Ontario, Canada. His brother, Henry, came in 1837. Christian had his hundred acre farm. The hundred acre plots were laid out in long narrow strips so that each farm would touch the highway. Christian's plot was one-fourth mile east of the present village of Sebringsville, on the south side of the road. The Buffalo and Lake Erie Railroad ran across the farm in later years. The old log house stood about ten rods away from the highway. When Henry came, he took a farm about fifty miles farther up the railroad. Modes of communication and travel were difficult in those days, and it was a very easy matter to get out of touch with one's relatives. Although Henry lived only fifty miles from Christian, we know very little about his family. We do know that Henry came quite frequently to visit Christian and his family, even after Christian's death. Henry was a cabinet maker by trade, and during the long I winters he made such furniture as he could use or sell. He made a very wonderful bureau with secret drawers for keeping his money. Banks were not much used in those days, hiding places for money were always in demand. In some way or other this piece of furniture came into the possession of. Christian's son, Henry. Henry also had a table made by his uncle, Henry. It was a wonderful piece of work, and took the prize at a provincial fair or show. We know that Christian's brother had a family. There was a boy named Dan who was a very fine penman, which was quite an accomplishment in those days'. There were also several daughters in the family. Another person important to our family who came to Canada in 1832 was Elizabeth Knoll. Her home, Rolland discovered, was about four houses from the Zimmerman home. Whether the decision to come to Canada was mutual, or whether, as Anna Nelson recalled, their friendship on the long trip was the inspiration for their later marriage, we will never know. Elizabeth's father had died and left the mother with a family to raise.Elizabeth had the same dream that many early colonists brought to America ... that this was a land where one could get rich quickly and then return home and make the lives of their loved ones easier. She was determined to come to Canada. Her mother was very opposed to this idea. She feared she would never see her child again. Elizabeth told her Mother not to feel badly, that she would soon be back with a nice little fortune to help her fatherless family. But she never went back. Her mother and grandmother lived to be very old, both reaching the, ripe old age of about ninety years.In later years, she often spoke to her children about her brother, Philip,who seemed to have been an exceedingly clever and successful man. Her mother and Grandmother lived to be very old, both reaching the ripe old age of about ninety years. Elizabeth and Christian complied with the custom of those days which was that a wedding must be announced for three successive Sundays in the church before the young people could be married. They were devoted to each other, and their wedded life was exceedingly happy. Elizabeth was a great help to her husband, not only in making a happy home for him, but also in clearing the timber from the land. She helped him pile and burn brush, and sometimes get the logs off the land. She did whatever else there was to do that a woman could do. She was always well, happy and busy, being of the industrious type of woman. She was of medium size and weight, with slightly rounded shoulders. In her later years, she became decidedly round-shouldered. Her eyes were very dark blue, and her hair a very dark brown, almost black. Her hair never turned gray, even in her last days. Christian had brown eyes, dark hair, and very pretty rosy cheeks with a nice clear complexion, better than many women have. He was not skinny, but was a slender man of medium height and weight. They were both devoted Christians, and had a simple, beautiful faith in God, similar to that of other Christian people-of their time. One Sundays during a heavy storm, the wind was beating the rain into the barn where the freshly threshed grain was lying. Elizabeth, after watching the storm for awhile, suggested that they had better go out and try to keep the grain dry, but Christian thought that they ought not to break God's Sabbath by doing manual labor, and suggested that God knew-that they needed the grain, and if He wished them to have it, He would save the crop without their breaking His Holy Sabbath Day. In Germany they were Lutherans, but in Canada they joined the German Evangelical Church, and in this church they trained their children in Christian living and in the doctrines of religion. All their children joined the church and led Christian lives, probably much above average. Christian was not a very good sportsman, not having had an opportunity for such things in his youth. In Europe, this privilege was reserved for the wealthy landlords. But in Canada there was an abundance of deer for all, and other wild game was very plentiful. He seldom shot anything, even if the deer such such on his garden. One day a big deer came into the yard, and with an old, rusty gun, Christian shot it. But the gun gave him such a kick, and he felt so badly as he saw the beautiful animal lying dead before him, that he never tried shooting again. Elizabeth and Christian built a log cabin on their place. It had two windows, and on one side an addition which they used for a summer cookhouse. This was their happy home. In the winter they would clear the land of brush and timber, and in the summer they would raise their crops. After the grain was hauled into the barn and threshed, Christian would spend an hour or two daily during the Fall throwing grain to remove the chaff. Some years later they sold two acres of their farm, one acre for the erection of a blacksmith shop, and the other to build a tailor shop on. Then a school house was built across from the little log house and a short distance down the road. The little village of Sebringsville grew up about a quarter of a mile from the school house. Elizabeth and Christian had a family of five boys and two girls. Henry, the oldest boy, married Mary Krusp. Adam, the second son, married Eve Hopp, and for his second wife, Elizabeth Britzius. Peter, the third boy, married 'Katherine Rhiel. Christian, the fourth boy, married Louise Nolde. Philip, who was the youngest of the family, married Ernestine Krause. Katherine, the oldest girl, married George Hopp. The younger daughter, Elizabeth (Betsie), married Christ Regal. Adam and Katherine both married into the same Hopp family and had a double wedding at Preston, Minnesota. Betsie died at the birth of her first child, the child dying, also. Philip was the youngest of the family. He was born January 10, 1851. That spring when the plum trees were in bloom, which must have been in May or June, his father died. Christian was only about 48 years old. For almost a week lie had been busy building a dam which had necessitated his standing in cold water and mud most of the time while he was at his work. This brought about his death. He was sick only three or four days. lie was buried in the Sebringsville Cemetery with a wooden tombstone on the grave, but now the exact spot of the grave is not known. Around 1890, the old cemetery, which was back of the Sebringsville church, was moved to higher ground because the graves filled with water. Such graves as had no one interested in them were abandoned. There were no relatives of Christian living there when this was done, so those who might have been interested did not even learn of the change until long after it had been made. So the body was never moved, but lies somewhere in the old cemetery which has been abandoned. Who knows, but it may also be petrified. It is an interesting fact that of the bodies moved, three or four were found to be perfectly petrified, which often happens when bodies are buried in low ground. At the time of Christian's death, the older boys were fourteen and thirteen, and Philip was only five or six months old. Very sad and lonely hours followed 'the break-up of the once so happy home. The church formed a council of which a man by the name of John Kastner was one of the leaders. The council decided that most of tile property should go to the oldest boy, Henry, which was an English custom, and that the other boys should help Henry until they were sixteen, and go to school six months out of every year. But Henry was too young to understand and manage family affairs properly, and one of the results was that the boys had very little opportunity for education. Philip went to school only about three months out of the year, and after he was thirteen never attended school again. lie was anxious for an education, and seemed to realize its value, but he was too timid to insist that he be given the opportunity. For more than twenty years, that school was conducted by a Mr. Hamilton. He was a school master of the old type, who did not believe in spoiling the child by sparing the rod. In the home, too, children were punished most severely, sometimes at very slight provocation. Philip has told of how a lamp chimney was broken in some way, and someone thought he could have prevented it if he had been watching the children more carefully, so he had to be whipped. Thirty-nine strokes was the punishment. An inheritance came for Elizabeth from the old country, but a man by the name of Henry Zimmerman, no relative at all and who had no right to it whatsoever, succeeded in getting it away from her. For a number of years, until Henry, the oldest boy, was ready to marry, the mother and family carried on the work of the farm together--.She built a large wooden barn, and made a few other improvements. Elizabeth had a little cow, "Daisy", that she kept for twenty-two years. Eventually Henry lost the family farm. In later years, he became successful in the business of selling honey. Peter Zimmerman and his brother Christ, came to Minnesota after the Civil War ended in 1865. They worked in a shingle mill all summer in Stillwater, Minnesota. Each earned about $14.00 a week, and Peter saved about $1,000. The next spring, they went to Stillwater again, but the river was too high to work at the shingle mill, so the brothers came to Preston and found work there. Because he was afraid he would be robbed, Peter pretended to be poor, and worked his way down the Mississippi on a boat, and left the river at Winona. Peter was a serious, quiet man with dark hair, a sandy mustache, and intense deep gray eyes. He was very proficient in reading and writing the German language, but sometimes had difficulty with English. He wanted his family to use the German language at home, but Catherine thought that this would be wrong, as they were Americans now. Christ decided to go west and pan for gold in Montana, where he earned $7.00 or $8.00 a day. Later, during the gold rush, he moved on to Oregon. Finally, he went back to Canada where he married Louise Nolte and settled on a farm. In later years, he operated a prune orchard. Peter stayed in Minnesota where he bought 160 acres of land in Racine township of Mower County. It was the last section to be cleared, and he paid twice as much for it as others had paid for the land around it.At the same time, he could have bought land where St. Paul now stands for less than half of what he paid for the land he chose. He built a three-room house with a kitchen, bedroom and a pantry. Later, whenhe was courting Catherine Rhiel, he walked twenty-five miles to Preston to see her. Another time he borrowed a buggy from old man Felch to make the trip. Catherine had come from Canada when she was. twenty-one, and stayed with her half-sister, Mary Long. Peter and Catherine were married January 14, 1868, and lived in the frame house near Racine. The first winter, Catherine was so homesick that she rode to Preston in a bobsled, sitting on a box. She stayed a week and then was ready to come home. They had six children, all born at Racine. Anna married Sam Anstett, divorced, and moved to North Dakota. George died when he was eleven. Margaret Lydia married Julius Krause, and they went to California. John William married Zora Haas, and they remained on the farm at Racine. Matilda married William Hunnerkoch of Red Wood Falls, Minnesota, and they moved to Montana. Ida (Katie) married Roy Drummond, and they lived in Austin, Minnesota. In Canada, after Henry was married, he built a brick house for himself, but his mother continued to live in the old house. Some time later Henry sold the place to a Mr. Strasser, and then Elizabeth came to Minnesota to live with others of her children. She always grieved because 11 Henry did not succeed as well on the old place as she thought lie should have. Whatever property she may have had was lost in some way through Henry's mismanagement. When Philip was fourteen years old, Henry, being in need of money, advised Philip to work for someone who would pay him a salary. So it came about that he was employed by an old Scotchman for six months for ten dollars a month and board and room. When the six months were up, the Scotchman paid him the salary in silver dollars. Philip carried those sixty silver dollars home six miles to Henry, who gave him seventyfive cents out of it for spending money. This was the first spending money Philip had ever had, and the first thing he bought was a comb for himself, thinking how fine it would be to have one all his very own. Then, as most boys would have done, he bought a jack-knife, and with the money he had left, lie bought a candy treat for his brothers. He was badly in need of a suit of clothes at this time, so that he could go to church and Sunday School, but that seems to have been out of the question. Adam, who was next younger than Henry, and who was now living in theUnited States at Preston, Minnesota, made a visit to Canada about this time. When he returned to the states, he brought Philip with him. Elizabeth lived with her children in Minnesota until her death, October 18, 1888, at the Adam Zimmerman home three or four miles north of Preston. She was ill only a very short time. Early in the evening of October 18, when asked how she felt and whether she would have any supper, she replied that she did not need any supper, and that by ten o'clock she would be gone to her home in Heaven. Adam's family thought she was delirious, but really not seriously ill. Just before ten o'clock that evening, she passed quietly and peacefully away. No one realized she was going until she was gone. Then they remembered that she had said she would be gone by ten o'clock. She was 78 years and 9 months old. She is buried in the Preston cemetery, with services being held at the German Evangelical Church. Elizabeth had a certain strain of severity in her nature which, occasionally when conditions were right, showed itself. She was a fine disciplinarian and seemed to understand human nature better than most people. She was very tidy about her person, and her room, and was quite saving. She was always fair in her dealings with her fellow-man, but she also expected them to be fair with her. She disliked pictures and statuary very. much, and used to say, "ach solcha gotza" (Oh, such idols!) To her, they suggested images, and made her think of idolatry, which was considered a sin. This probably is the reason that we have only one photograph of her, and none of her husband. She was always glad to help along any good cause, but always had so little money to spend. Something always happened to her property because of Henry's mismanagement. She said she did not care much for money for her own use, but that she would like to have had money so that she might give to the church, and help the poor, and give wherever there was a need. She loved to go to church, but it hurt her not to have more to give. Hers was a beautiful life of hardship, sorrow and trials, culminating in a great and glorious victory, and how can we know but that the discipline of this lower life perfected her, and made her ready for that higher service above. "A home in Heaven; what a joyful thought As the poor man toils in his weary lot, His heart oppressed, and with anguish drives From his home below to his home in Heaven." When Rolland was in Germany in 1983, he found the church records which gave accurate facts of the early history, and these have been used.


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