Genesee County MI Archives Biographies.....Zimmerman, John 1835 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 28, 2007, 1:37 am

Author: Chapman Bros. (1892)

JOHN ZIMMERMAN is one of the foreign-born citizens of Flint, whose life here has
been marked by industry, frugality and success. His brick factory was
established in 1859, and has been one of the prominent institutions of the city.
He was born near Frankfort on-the-Main, Prussia, May 12, 1835. His father,
Christian, in 1868, came to America and located in Flint, making his home with
our subject until he died in 1876, at the age of seventy-three. He was a
Lutheran in his religious faith, as was his good wife; Catherine E. Smidt, who
was also a Prussian by birth, and died in the Fatherland. Of their five children
three are still living.

  He of whom we write had his training upon the farm and studied in the public
schools until he was fourteen years old, when he began to work for wages,
receiving about $13 the first year. As these wages did not rapidly increase, he
decided to come to this country, and set sail June 11, 1853, and landed in New
York, August 14. He found work in Buffalo, N. Y., for three years, and in 1856
came to Flint, where he worked for Amos Decker at the River House, after which
he entered the employ of McQuigg & Turner in their lumbering industry. For one
year he had charge of the lath saw, and after that worked for various parties,
one of them being in the brick-making calling, so that he learned to master that
business, and in August, 1859 he started his own yard. His first brickyard was
carried on for seven years, and then he ran two yards for eight years longer,
after which he disposed of his second yard.

  About six acres of Mr. Zimmerman's land was platted by him in 1865 and sold as
an addition to Flint. Half of the buildings in this city are constructed of
bricks made in his yards, and he ships by the car-load. The brick for the
court-house, asylum and High School, and for all the churches was manufactured
by him and he built the German Church as lie was the Chairman of the Building
Committee. Since 1886 he has engaged in contracting and building, but has now
retired from that-work. The Durand Block and the Catherine Building and the
Stone & Atwood Block are of his work.

  Our subject was united in marriage in 1800 to Miss Elizabeth Deitz, who is
also of German birth, and they have seven children—John, Henry W., Katie, Lydia,
Jacob, Emma and Rosa. The eldest succeeds his father in the brick business, and
the second son has entered the clothing business; Katie is now Mrs. Fanning; and
Lydia is Mrs. Burgdorf, of Bay City. All have received excellent opportunities
for education and are a credit to their parents. Mr. Zimmerman was for six years
an Alderman, and was the Street Commissioner of the city for one year. He
belongs to the Free and Accepted Masons, the Royal Arch Masons, the Knights
Templar, the Knights of Honor and the Ancient Order United Workmen. He is a
Trustee of the Evangelical Church of which he is a charter member, and for years
he has been Superintendent of the Sunday-school. He is an earnest and active
Republican, being a member of the city and county committee, and frequently a
delegate to county and State conventions, and has acted several times as
Interpreter in the courts. He had no schooling in America, but has picked up all
that he has been able to gain in that way. He built the Catholic Church, which
is one of the finest in the city, and furnished and raised the electric light
towers, nine in number, each of which is one hundred and ten feet in height.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Portrait and Biographical Record of Genesee, Lapeer and Tuscola Counties,
Michigan, Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative
Citizens, Together with Biographies of all the Governors of the State, and of
the Presidents of the United States

Chicago:
Chapman Bros.
1892


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