Abraham Lincoln Zimmerman (1862)

Born 1 Mar 1862 in West Union, Adams Co, Ohio

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Etta (Bone) Zimmerman — married 1 Feb 1882 in Ohio

Descendants

Biography

Abraham was born in 1862. He is the son of Valentine Zimmerman and Elizabeth Brandt.

From the Compendium of History, Reminiscence, and Biography of Nebraska

ABRAHAM LINCOLN ZIMMERMAN.

Abraham Lincoln Zimmerman, one of the leading, business men of Sherman county, Nebraska, is an extensive dealer in real estate, has a factory for manufacturing cement blocks, and various other interests in his part of the state. He spent six years in the ministry in central Nebraska, and he and his wife have been important factors in the religious and educational life of Sherman county, both always ready to espouse the cause of right and progress.

Mr. Zimmerman was born near West Union, Adams county, Ohio, March 1, 1862, youngest of a family of ten children, seven sons and three daughters, born to Valentine and Elizabeth (Brandt) Zimmerman, both natives of Pennsylvania. He was reared on a farm in his native state, and received the usual educational advantages accorded farmers' sons in the district schools of the time. His father was a soldier in the civil war, and at the time of his discharge was captain of Company F, Seventieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, the promotion from the rank of lieutenant to that of captain given for gallant conduct on the field of battle. He died in Ohio in 1876, at which time Abraham L., was in his fourteenth year. Being the only son at home, be cared for his mother and the responsibilities of the farm. Later he engaged in the tombstone business with a brother, George, at Cynthiana, Ohio, which they closed out in 1880, and in November of that year came to Sherman county, Nebraska. George Zimmerman brought his wife and three children, and took up a homestead six miles west, of Loup City. In 1883, the mother came to the county, accompanied by her daughter, Alice, and the lather's husband, James Bone. She lived with her son, Abraham L., until a few months before her death in the latter months of 1892, passing away at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Alice Bone. Another son, John Zimmerman, came to Nebraska, and for several years was a minister in that state, in the service of the United Brethren church.

Another son, Valentine A. Zimmerman, also became a resident of the state, and a daughter, Alverda, (Mrs. Charles Whitmore) came to Nebraska with her husband in 1885. Those of the children who now live there are Abraham Lincoln, the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Bone, Mrs. Whitmore, and Reverend John Zimmerman, who occupies a pulpit at Orchard, Nebraska. The other members of the family are scattered into several states . Abraham L. Zimmerman eventually took up a homestead in the same locality as his brother George, and at that time had few neighbors, few homesteads having been filed in the neighborhood, so that the two were among the pioneers of the region. In 1882 be returned to Ohio to be married, and there, February 1, 1882, he was united with Miss Etta Bone, a native of McConnelsville, Ohio. Her parents, Jacob and Elizabeth (Harkless) Bone, were also natives of the Buckeye state. Mr. and Mrs. Zimmerman began housekeeping on the Nebraska homestead, where they .lived until 1892. Prior to the time the railroad passed through Loup City, in 1886, Mr. Zimmerman had a small general merchandise store on his farm, and was instrumental in securing a postoffice there, known as Cleoria, of which his wife was postmistress. They were also the prime movers in securing the erection of the first school building in the neighborhood, and the first protestant church edifice in the county, it being erected by a congregation of the United Brethren. During the years 1892 and 1893, Mr. Zimmerman lived in Loup City, but returned to the farm in 1894, and in the following year he entered the ministry of the United Brethren church, serving three years as pastor of three congregations near Gibbon, two years at Marquette, and one year at Aurora, during which time he resided two years at Gibbon, two at Marquette, and one at Aurora, In 1901 he abandoned the ministry, and returned to his farm, at that time embarking in the real estate business in company with Mr. O. Gunnarson. In 1903 he brought his family to Loup City, where they expect to make their permanent home. They have a modern, comfortable residence there, pleasantly located near the central part of town, During the many years he carried on agricultural pursuits, he had various business interests outside his farm, and he has had much to do with the advancement of various interests in central Nebraska. Every enterprise with which he has been connected has benefited through his energy and business foresight.

Mr. Zimmerman and wife have three children, namely: Archie O., Elizabeth and Elva E. Archie O., was born in Sherman county, January 30, 1885, lives on his own farm near Loup City, and has one child; Elizabeth, married William Owen, and they have one child, and live at Sunnyside, Washington, where Mr. Owen is connected with the United States reclamation service; Elva E. Zimmerman, for a number of years a teacher of vocal and instrumental music in Loup City, was married, March 19, 1911, to R. H. Mathew, who served four years as county attorney, and was at the time of his first election the youngest official ever elected to that important position in the state.

Mr. Zimmerman's first dwelling on his homestead was a small "soddy," with a dirt roof, in which he lived three years, and which was replaced later with a commodious house, lathed and plastered, and in this the family lived for four years. Since selling the homestead farm, Mr. Zimmerman has purchased a farm of two hundred and forty acres north of Loup City, and another of three hundred and twenty acres south of town, besides a number of small tracts. He also owns a fine tract of timber sixteen miles south of Richmond, Virginia, which was an old plantation before the war, and has since grown up in a forest of fine trees.

Mr. Zimmerman is a republican in politics. and a member of the fraternal order the Loyal Mystic Legion, and also the Modern Woodmen of America.

Sources

• http://www.rootsweb.com/~neresour/OLLibrary/Comp_NE/cmp0619.htm#ABRAHAM LINCOLN ZIMMERMAN