Samuel Zimmerman (1815 - 1857)

Born 17 Mar 1815 in Huntingdon County Pennsylvania, USA

Husband of Margaret Ann (Woodruff) Zimmerman — married 15 Aug 1848 in Ontario Canada

Descendants

Died 12 Mar 1857 at age 41 in Hamilton, Wentworth, Canada West

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Biography

Sources

• Birth: Mar. 17, 1815

Huntingdon County Pennsylvania, USA Death: Dec. 3, 1857 Hamilton Ontario, Canada

Buried with his wife although his name does not appear on the monument.

Family links: Spouse: Margaret Ann Woodruff Zimmerman (1828 - 1851)

Burial: Saint David's United Methodist Cemetery Niagara-on-the-Lake Niagara Regional Municipality Ontario, Canada

Created by: Honoring our ancestors Record added: Aug 19, 2011 Find A Grave Memorial# 75183982

http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/zimmerman_samuel_8E.html

ZIMMERMAN, SAMUEL, businessman; b. 17 March 1815 in Huntington County, Pa; m. first 15 Aug. 1848 Margaret Ann Woodruff (d. 1851), and they had two sons; m. secondly 16 Dec. 1856 Emmeline Dunn, sister of Timothy Hibbard Dunn*; d. 12 March 1857 near Hamilton, Upper Canada.

Of German descent, Samuel Zimmerman was the fifth son in a family of seven sons and one daughter whose parents were “in humble circumstances.” He received little formal education and began to work, originally as a labourer, at an early age. While employed on construction and public works projects in his native state he gained the basic experience which was to make him a rich man. In 1842 or 1843 he came to Thorold, Upper Canada, to become involved in the reconstruction of the Welland Canal being carried out by the Board of Works, in which the canal was widened and deepened and the original wooden locks were rebuilt in stone. By his own account he arrived “not with more capital than he knew what to do with” but he was ambitious and energetic. Between 1846 and 1849 he built, under contract to the board, four locks and an aqueduct. Though he required an extension of time to complete his contracts he gained a reputation, according to Francis Hincks*, as “one of the best and most successful contractors that had ever been employed by the Government at that time.” This reputation was achieved at least in part by his refusal to allow work to be stopped on his projects during a series of strikes by canal workers. He afterwards claimed that he and other contractors had been close to bankruptcy during their work on the Welland but there is no doubt that he ultimately made a considerable profit, which became the basis of his later fortune. By 1848 at any rate he was able to travel widely and in comfort. In that year he married the daughter of a businessman and politician, Richard Woodruff of St Davids, and settled near Niagara Falls.

http://www3.gendisasters.com/ontario/8824/hamilton-on-train-crashes-through-bridge-mar-1857 THE TERRIBLE ACCIDENT ON THE GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD.

FURTHER PARTICULARS -- LIST OF THE KILLED.

FROM SIXTY TO EIGHTY LIVES LOST -- ONLY TEN SAVED.

THE TRAIN PRECIPITATED SIXTY FEET INTO THE WATER.

Toronto, Friday, March 13. We learn the following particulars of the railroad accident at Hamilton from a gentleman who left the scene of disaster this morning. The accident occurred on the Great Western Railway, at the bridge over the Des Jardines Canal, which is elevated some sixty feet above water. The bridge swings, and it is supposed that the train which passed for the East a short time before had sunk the Bridge so much that the locomotive of this train was obstructed by the atutments to such a degree that the passenger cars were raised up and thrown into the canel. The train was the local accommodation from Toronto to Hamilton, and left Toronto at 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon. The number of passengers was estimated at from seventy-five to one hundred, of whom only fifteen were taken alive from the wreck, and of these five have since died. The water in the canal is eighteen feet deep, and all those not immediately killed were drowned. The engine and tender, with the engineer and fireman, were pitched headlong into the canal, and are buried twenty feet below the surface. The baggage car and two passenger cars are completely shattered and one of the latter turned bottom side upwards and nearly submerged. The remains of MR. ZIMMERMAN will be taken to his residence at Niagara Falls this afternoon. He was in the baggage car at the time of the accident.

http://niagarafallsmuseums.ca/pdf/s-zimmerman.pdf

Samuel Zimmerman-The Founder of Niagara Falls, Ontario

I’ve just finished reading a new book titled, “End of the Line” by Don McIver. This interesting book talks about a major train wreck in nearby Hamilton, Ontario. It also contains lots of facts about Samuel Zimmerman who died in the train wreck. Zimmerman, who was in his early 40’s when he died, was a railway contractor but he was much more than this.

In the mid 1850’s he lived in Niagara and owned most of the land near the falls. The entire west side of the present day Clifton Hill was owned by Zimmerman. One remnant of his ownership is the Zimmerman Fountain pond built in 1853 at a cost of $15,000 (lots of money in those days) which still remains today at the northern entrance to Queen Victoria Park.

This was the same year that he pushed for the incorporation of a town near the falls called Elgin. A few years later it was renamed Clifton which later became Niagara Falls.

Hence, Samuel Zimmerman can be truly called the founder of Niagara Falls, Canada.

Possible parents of Samuel: https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=71145866