_____________________
|
_Andrew DECKER ______|
| (1807 - 1843) |
| |_____________________
|
|
|--Deborah DECKER
|
| _Frederick DEMOUTH __+
| | (1787 - 1836)
|_Phebe DEMOUTH ______|
(1814 - 1888) |
|_Susan CRANE ________+
(1784 - 1863)
_____________________
|
_William FRENCH _____|
| (1869 - ....) m 1893|
| |_____________________
|
|
|--Etha FRENCH
|
| _Jerome B. OSTRUM ___
| | (1845 - ....) m 1871
|_Gertie OSTRUM ______|
(1872 - ....) m 1893|
|_Emma MARTINDALE ____+
(1852 - ....) m 1871
1870 United States Federal Census
Name: Pamelia A Harding Birth Year: abt 1844 Age in 1870: 26 Birthplace: New York
Race: White Gender: Female Value of real estate:
Home in 1870: Loyal, Clark, Wisconsin
W. M. D. Harding 30 Massachusetts 800 300 Farmer
Pamelia A Harding 26 New York Keeping House
Neighbors
Joseph Toddhunter 57 England works on farm
1880 United States Federal Census
Name: Permelia Harding Age: 37 Estimated birth year: abt 1843 Birthplace: New York
Relation to Head of Household: Wife Spouse's name: Charles Harding
Father's birthplace: New York Mother's birthplace: New York
Marital Status: Married Race: White Gender: Female
Home in 1880: Loyal, Clark, Wisconsin
Charles Harding 43 NY-MA-VT Laborer
Permelia Harding 37 NY-NY-NY Wife
Amelia Jane Harding 9 WI-NY-NY Daughter
George W. Harding 2 WI-NY-NY Son
1900 United States Federal Census
Name: Pemela A Harding Age: 56 Birth Date: May 1844
Birthplace: New York Race: White Gender: Female
Relationship to head-of-house: Wife
Father's Birthplace: Vermont Mother's Birthplace: New York
Mother: number of living children: 3 Mother: How many children: 4
Spouse's name: Charles Harding Marriage Year: 1868 Years Married: 32
Home in 1900: Beaver, Clark, Wisconsin
Charles Harding 62 MA-VT-VT Jun 1837 married 32 years Farmer
Pemela A Harding 56 NY-VT-NY May 1844 3 of 4 children living
Mosses F Harding 14 WI-MA-NY Oct 1885 farm laborer
1905 Wisconsin State Census
Name: Permeles A Harding Birth Location: New York Marital Status: Married
Gender: Female Estimated birth year: abt 1844 Race: White Relation: Wife
Spouse's name: Chas D Harding Line: 41 Roll: CSUSAWI1905_4
Locality: Beaver Residence County: Clark State: Wisconsin
Chas D Harding 67 Mass-Ger-Sw? Farmer
Permeles A Harding 61 NY-VT-NY
Lewis M Harding 20 WI-Mass-NY Farm laborer
[9333] Family chart given by Rae to Dawne Pamplin and passed to Dianne Stevens 26 Apr 2006.
[8949]
Civil War Pension File names Harriet as beneficiary.
per 1880 census: both Harriet's parents were born in NY
______________________
|
_Samuel WHIDDEN _____|
| (1790 - 1862) m 1811|
| |______________________
|
|
|--Elizabeth WHIDDEN
| (1811 - 1878)
| _Thomas STEVENS ______+
| | (1758 - 1812)
|_Sarah STEVENS ______|
(.... - 1842) m 1811|
|_Nancy Agnes ELLIOTT _+
(1758 - 1838)
_Johann Christian ZIMMERMAN __________+
| (1800 - 1851) m 1832
_Adam ZIMMERMAN _____|
| (1837 - 1899) m 1868|
| |_Elizabeth Dorothea KNOLL Kneil Knell_+
| (1809 - 1888) m 1832
|
|--George Edward ZIMMERMAN
| (1879 - 1965)
| _Theobald H. BRITZIUS ________________+
| | (1820 - 1896) m 1843
|_Elizabeth BRITZIUS _|
(1844 - 1911) m 1868|
|_Christina Elizabeth MAURER __________+
(1827 - 1902) m 1843
[923]
At father's death, George is living in Canby with mother. He inherits $260.59. Adam Z. estate papers
1920 Census - The family is living on 1289 Morrison St., George's occupation is listed as mechanic in the iron works trade. His sister Mary's boarding house is at 410 Morrison.
1930 census - the family is living in the home George built on Wasco St. George's occupation is listed as a sheet metal worker in the building trades.
An Email from my brother, Jon Zimmerman, about where George worked in Portland: "I thought that he worked for the "Portland Naval Shipyard", but the list of WWII activities in Portland at <http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ref/USN-Act/OR.html> doesn't list such a place. My second thought was that it was with Willammett Iron and Steel, but that is just a guess. I do know that pop [FEZ] took me abord one of the ships that his father [GZ] was working on. He had a cup of coffee with some of the supervisors. I was 6."
Regards,
W²
George Edward Zimmerman
1 February 2005
Dear Sarah, Hannah, Timmy, and Becky,
Tonight I want to tell you about my Zimmerman Grandpa, George Edward Zimmerman.
George's father had been married before, to Eve Hopp. Adam and Eve had eight children, 5 of whom died in early childhood or infancy. Then Eve died so Adam married again, this time to Elizabeth Britzius. Both Adam and Elizabeth were the children of German immigrants. Adam's parents had come from Darmstadt, Elizabeth's from Bavaria. He and Elizabeth had nine children.
George Edward was the 4th, born 7 Oct 1879, Carrolton Township, Fillmore County, Minnesota.
After Adam's mother died in 1888 the family migrated to the Canby area in Clackamas County, Oregon. I have one thing that belonged to George when he was growing up in Canby, a German-English phrase book copyright 1884. German was probably still the language spoken in George's home. It has his young handwriting on the first two pages.
As George reached adulthood, his father gave him a spinning wheel with which George hoped he could somehow make a living. It was a particularly nice spinning wheel and George carefully took it apart, tied the pieces together and stored it in the top of the smokehouse for safekeeping. The following winter it was lost in a fire. Soon after this event, George left home and went to work for J. J. Kaderly who ran a hardware store in Portland. I have looked and looked for George in the 1900 census but cannot find him. I found Mr. Kaderly, but George is not living with him.
After several years, in 1904, George married Minnie Wintermantle. She was from a neighboring farm in Canby. After his marriage he opened his own hardware store in Asotin, Washington. Now Asotin is in the far southeast corner of Washington. It's a long long ways from Canby, Oregon. Why did he decide to go there to open a store? I think the answer to that question might give clues to where George was in 1900. I vaguely recall my father telling that George went to Idaho to work in a logging camp. My dad was pretty confused by the time he told me that and I thought it was goofy, so I didn't even write it down. But, Asotin is just across the state line from Idaho. Perhaps he was in Idaho working in a logging camp and saw opportunities for a merchant. He inherited a small sum ($260.59) from his father, Adam, when he died in 1899. Perhaps he had saved this money and invested it in his hardware store after he married Minnie.
Asotin was the county seat of Asotin County and George served as a judge for several years. There was a logging camp nearby and the town could be a rough place on Saturday night when the loggers came to town and got drunk. Judge Zimmerman frequently had to throw them into jail.
The logging camp manager was one of George's biggest customers at the hardware store. He was also a very shrewd trader. To avoid going bankrupt George loaded his hardware store onto a large wagon and moved it to the neighboring town of Anatone. By the time Forrest, their one and only child, was born in 1909 they had moved clear across the state to Tacoma. According to the 1910 census, George, Minnie and Forrest are living with Minnie's mother, and sister Ella and her family at 1223 South M Street. George is working in a hardware store as a tin smith. He doesn't own the store, someone else does, so he must have not done so well with the store in Anatone either. When I asked my dad what his father was doing in Tacoma, he told me George was working as a flour salesman. Maybe that was after he worked as a tin smith. Or before. The first home Forrest remembered was in Outlook, Washington, which is in the south central part of the state. There George tried farming.
During World War I George and a cousin worked in a shipyard in Astoria, Oregon. The cousin was a general superintendent for construction of the ships. The ships were wooden with a reinforced steel band around the outside. George ran an assembly line to put up ladders and gratings around the ship's boilers. The weather in Astoria was awful. George said, "The wind there could drive the rain through a pine door!" Forrest wrote some of his recollections of days in Astoria for Dawne when she was a young girl working on a Girl Scout badge. You can see that letter if you go to "Forrest Zimmerman."
After the war George moved his family to Portland where his half-sister, Mary, was living. George and Mary had always been close. The 1920 census shows Mary running a boarding house at 410 Morrison St. George and his family are right down the street at 1289 Morrison. His occupation is listed as a mechanic in the iron works trade. Jon Zimmerman remembers George worked at a Portland shipyard. By 1930 they were living on Wasco Street and his job is listed as "sheet metal worker." George built their home at 3142 NE Wasco. It was a darling little house. The 1930 census lists its worth as $6000.00. I imagine George put in every screw and nail and shelf in the place. He was very handy with tools. In the backyard he had a large vegetable and fruit garden. I especially remember that he grew many kinds of berries and that he composted all his vegetable scraps. That was their final home as a family.
As George grew older he became deaf. By the time he was 50 his hearing was near totally gone. This may have been due to all the noise involved with his job.
In November of 1952 Minnie suffered a severe stroke that left her paralysed and unable to speak above a whisper for the rest of her life. George cared for her at home throughout her remaining years. He was a very patient and attentive nurse. When we went to visit we marvelled at how, although George literally could not hear thunder, Minnie would call out, "Dad!" in her faint whispy voice and he would come running, even from the backyard.
After Minnie died in 1959, George, approaching 80, gave up his home and moved into a hotel at 1405 SW Washington St. He could get his meals there and seemed to do pretty well. For several summers during that time he came back east and stayed with us in Waukegan, Illinois. But Forrest and Kathryn were unsuccessful at persuading him to move in with them.
When Dianne suddenly got married in October of 1962, she received the following letter from her Grandpa:
"11-2-62 Dear Dianne and Paul,
Received your letter today, and nearly passed when I read it. But the nurse then came and took charge, and I was soon O.K. I wish you a long and happy life together. And I will have to find you a nice new Grandma. That will be Paul's job. We had a nice party Halloween here at the hotel. We are having fine weather. Just like spring so warm. I took a little cold and now my sinuses are troubling but think I will be well in a few days. Feeling fine otherwise.
With Love, Grandpa
Write again."
In 1964 he was moved into a nursing home. He went downhill fairly rapidly after that. We thought a lot of it was due to his being so isolated by his deafness. He died in 1965 at the age of 85. In his wallet was a picture of Dawne, his great-granddaughter.
I remember my grandfather George very well, even though I didn't get to spend a lot of time with him while I was a growing child. If I had to choose one word to describe him it would be "sweet." If I could choose two the second would be "thoughtful." The next three would be "capable", "frugal," and "patient." I knew him when I was an older teenager and I thought of him as a very sweet old man. Age had adjusted his body so he appeared short-waisted with very long legs. He always held his trousers up with suspenders which no doubt heightened the effect. He was totally bald and had big soft brown eyes. He was not a smiley person. When you spoke to him he looked at you intently, probably reading your lips, and that probably accounts for the thoughtful part. Then he'd respond with one or two words. Most often, the word "No."
One only has to consider all the things he did in his life to see how capable he must have been. He built at least two of his homes, the one in Astoria and the one on Wasco Street. He worked on ships. He ran his own hardware store, and when the location became inconvenient, he picked up the store and moved it. He traveled back and forth across Oregon and Washington numerous times in the horse and buggy days. He made many of his own tools. We had a beautiful butcher knife he had made. Unfortunately it got stolen one time when Forest and Kathryn moved. His other tools ended up with his niece, Violet, who had helped him out when he was alone with Minnie. He grew a huge garden. He served as a frontier judge.
He was frugal in the way many who struggled through the depression were. He did not waste anything. He took what he could eat and he cleaned his plate. Coffee grounds and apple cores made good compost. He drove his old studebaker til he was too old to drive. Any unusual item that came his way, he stored til he thought of some good use for it. When he had to give up his home, Forrest marveled at some of George's collections. The attic was full of old newspapers and bits of string carefully rolled into balls. He and Minnie never had a lot of money. They struggled, but they lived well and provided well for their son by being capable and frugal.
He showed his capacity for patience in the way he cared for his ailing wife. I don't believe he ever complained. He was faithful and steadfast to the end of her life. I only wish someone could have been there to faithfully care for him.
So that's the story of George Zimmerman, the dear sweet man that was my grandfather. You wouldn't be here if it hadn't been for George because George and Minnie had Forrest, Forrest and Thelma Zimmerman had Dianne, Dianne and Paul Stevens had Dawne, Dawne and Jason Pamplin had....Sarah, Hannah, Timmy, and Becky!
Love,
Granny
Line 47 Dwelling 138 Household 138
Zimmerman, Adam age 44 Farmer Canada Ger Ger
Elizabeth 35 wife Keeping House Ohio Ger Ger
Lizzie 20 dau MN Can Ger
Mary 19 dau MN Can Ger
Next page
William 14 son MN Can Ger
Emmie 10 dau MN Can Ohio
Arien 5 son MN Can OH
Clara 3 dau MN Can OH
George 8/12 son MN Can OH
Joseph, Emile 17 servant Farm hand Ger Ger Ger
Line 20 1289 E. Morrison Dwelling # 115 Household # 137
Zimmerman, George E. Head age 40 MN Can OH OCC: Mechanic- Iron works
Minnie J. Wife 39 IA Ger Ger
Forest E. Son 10 WA MN IA
Line 22 972 Wasco Dwelling 37 Household 37
Zimmerman, George E. Head Owns $6000 Radio age 50 m at 24 MN CAN OH occ: Sheet metal worker in Bldg trade
Minnie J. wife 49 23 IA GER GER None
Forrest E. son 20 s WA MN IA None
Tacoma Ward 3 ED# 244 1323 S. M Street Dwelling # 28 Households #'s 29 and 30 Line 23 - 29
Zimmerman, George E. Head 30 M1 5yrs MN Can PA OCC: Tinsmith at Hardware store R
Minnie J wife 29 M1 5yrs IA GER GER
Forrest son 3/12 WA MN IA
Mundorf, John Head 28 M1 5yrs KS GER PA Laborer at odd jobs R
Ella C wife 25 M1 5yrs OR GER GER
Lowell L son 3 OR KS OR
Druschel, Mitelda mother-in-law 65 wd GER GER GER
Line 7 430 Yaw(?) Hill St. Dwelling 88 or 89 Family # 102 or 103
Zimmerman, Mary Head b. Mar 1865 age: 35 S MN Can Ger Occ: Lodging House Keeper
Aaron Dec 1874 25 S same Blacksmith
George Oct 1879 20 S " Driver (Hardware store)
Maggie Dec 1882 17 S " Dressmaker
7 additional lodgers