Biographies from Historical and Biographical Annals by Morton Montgomery

ZIEBER,
PHILIP S.

p 544

Surnames: ZIEBER, SCHMELTZER, FRY

Philip S. Zieber, a prominent member of the Berks County Bar, bears
a name familiar in the city of Reading, and indeed, throughout
eastern Pennsylvania, his father and grandfather before him having
been identified with the manufacturing interests of the city as
makers of wool hats. His grandfather Philip Zieber was the pioneer
in this industry in Berks county, while Samuel Zieber, father of
Philip S., continued the business in New Holland, Lancaster county,
though he maintained his residence in Reading. Samuel Zieber was
born in that city in 1794, and died in 1868. He married Matilda
Schmeltzer, daughter of Andrew, a farmer of Bethel township, Berks
county, and to them were born three children, of whom Catherine and
Emma still reside at home, while Philip S. is the third.

Philip S. Zieber was born June 30, 1861 in
Reading, and was carefully schooled in his native city, graduating
from the Reading high school in 1876, as valedictorian of his
class. In 1879 he was sent to Lafayette College, at Easton entering
the junior class, where he graduated in June, 1881. Returning to
Reading he began reading law in the office of George F. Baer, then
one of the leading attorneys of the city, but now president of the
Philadelphia & Reading Railway Company, and in November, 1884,
successfully took the examination for admission to the Bar. Mr.
Zieber won his spurs alone, and had established himself firmly when
in 1889, he was asked to become a member of the firm of his former
preceptor, then Baer & Snyder. His acceptance changed the firm
name to Baer, Snyder & Zieber, and it remained so until Mr.
Baer’s election to the presidency of the railway company caused his
retirement, when it became Snyder & Zieber. The firm has always
enjoyed a large and select practice, serving such important
concerns as the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, the
Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company, the Reading
Iron Company, the Farmers National Bank, Penn National Banks, and
numerous smaller private corporations. It will be seen at a glance
that Mr. Zieber bids fair to establish himself in the front rank of
his chosen profession.

On Nov. 26, 1889, Mr. Zieber married Miss Annie
Gillespie Fry, daughter of Rev. Jacob Fry, D. D., for thirty-five
years the beloved and able pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church of
Reading, and now occupying the chair of Homiletics and Scared
History at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Mt. Airy. Two
children came to brighten the Zieber home, one of whom, Anna, the
younger daughter, passed away July 15, 1904, at the age of twelve
years.

Catherine Fry Zieber, the surviving daughter, is
a student at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts.

In his private life Mr. Zieber is most
exemplary, taking a lively interest in the welfare of the
community. He holds membership in the Odd Fellows, is a director in
the Penn National Bank and also of the Berkshire Country Club and
votes with the Democratic party. In the religious life of the city
he is equally helpful and prominent, being a vestryman of the
Trinity Lutheran Church, and is identified with its national
organization as a member of the Foreign Mission Board of the
General Council of the Lutheran Church in North American, of which
board he was treasurer for a number of years.

ZIEBER, WILLIAM E.

p. 921

Surnames: ZIEBER, KUSER, LEASE, HOYER, LEAF, JONES, KELLER, GARST,
GILSON, WILSON, GERY, BECKER, CLEAVER, O’BRYAN, BROWN, WISLER,
HERBINE, KEECH, HEINZE, SCHULTZE, SPITZ, BROSSMAN, SMITH, SNYDER,
GOOD

William E. Zieber, one of the well-known hotel men of Berks county,
Pa., who is conducting the “Milmont Hotel” in Cumru township, was
born July 26, 1865, son of Henry L. and Annie (Kuser) Zieber.

John Zieber, grandfather of William E., was born
July 28, 1798, in Sumneytown, Montgomery Co., Pa., and when
fourteen years of age located in Reading, where he became a
well-known paper manufacturer. He died June 19, 1887, at the age of
eighty-eight years, ten months, twenty-one days, and was buried at
Aulenbach’s cemetery. He was a lifelong member of the Evangelical
Church. He was one of the first members of the Rainbow Fire
Company. Mr. Zieber married Maria Lease, who died Jan. 29, 1879,
aged eighty-one years, and who was buried beside her husband. Their
children were: Sufiah died unmarried; Peter, deceased, m. (first)
Mary Hoyer, (second) Julia Leaf, and (third) Mrs. Mary Jones;
Barbara m. John Keller; Mary m. George Garst; Israel went South;
John m. Gemila Gilson; William m. Edith Wilson; Isabella m.
Nathaniel Gery; Henry L.; Lease died in infancy; and Francis m.
Lena Becker, and died in March 1907. The great-grandmother of
William E. Zieber lived to be ninety-six years old and died in
Reading. Derrick Cleaver, Mr. Zieber’s great-grandfather on his
mother’s side, was a farmer in Oley township, where he died, and a
soldier of the war of 1812.

Henry L. Zieber, father of William E., was born
Feb. 11, 1836, in Reading, in the schools of which city he obtained
his education. Early in life he learned the shoemaker’s trade,
which he followed until twenty-nine years of age, then entering the
Philadelphia & Reading car shops as a laborer, but later
becoming a painter, his last work being at lettering and numbering
cars. He continued the latter occupation until March, 1906, when he
was put on the retired list and pensioned, since which time he has
resided at No. 745 Lance place, Reading, where he owns his own
home. On Feb. 4, 1864, Mr. Zieber married Annie C. Kuser, daughter
of Henry and Mary (Cleaver) Kuser, and granddaughter of Peter
Kuser, who was a cabinet maker of Oley township, Berks country.
Henry Kuser was a miller at the old Sixpenny mill, and his death
occurred at the age of thirty-two years, his widow surviving him
until eighty-one years of age. Four children were born to Mr. and
Mrs. Henry L. Zieber, as follows: William E.; Mary E. m. John H.
O’Bryan, of No. 1139 Church street, Reading, and has one son-Henry
J.; Edwin Boone died in infancy; and Westley A. also died in
infancy. Mr. Zieber is a member of the Philadelphia & Reading
Relief Association, and of the Otterbein United Brethren Church.

William E. Zieber attended the schools of
Reading, after leaving which he engaged in farm work for Joseph
Hartz, near Reading. He then became errand boy for Benjamin Brown,
proprietor of a dry goods store, was next for two and one-half
years in the employ of J. S. Wisler, a tobacconist, and
subsequently was engaged with the Atlantic & Pacific Tea
Company. For one year he drove a team through the country and
clerked for Wells & Phillips, grocers, and for the four years
following was employed by the Philadelphia & Reading Company,
where he learned the car building trade, at which he was later
employed by Harlan & Hollingsworth of Wilmington, Del., for one
year, and the Pullman Car Company for four years. Mr. Zieber then
went to Long Island City, N. Y., as assistant chief car inspector
of the Long Island Railroad, a position he held for four years, at
the end of which time he returned to the Pullman Car Company, with
which he was connected for nine months. In 1892 Mr. Zieber returned
to Reading and accepted a position as foreman in the Reading
Knitting Mills, where he remained three years. He then entered into
the knitting business under the firm name of Zieber, Herbine &
Co., the members of the firm being William E. Zieber, Charles W.
Herbine and Eugene Keech. After a successful business of a few
years the Pennsylvania Knitting Mills of Reading incorporated under
the laws of West Virginia, capital $50,000, was formed in order to
accommodate the fast increasing trade. The officers were: Mr. Otto
C. Heinze, president; Mr. Max Schultze, secretary and treasurer;
Mr. Theodore Spitz, manager; William E. Zieber, superintendent.
Later Mr. Zieber sold out his interest and returned to the employ
of the Philadelphia & Reading Company, with whom he remained
one year, subsequently spending a like period in selling cigars for
John T. Brossman. For some time he was also engaged as a wine and
liquor salesman for the S. W. Smith Company, Philadelphia, and on
Sept. 10, 1906, he purchased his present place the well-known
“Millmont Hotel,” from Levi Snyder. Mr. Zieber’s house has become
one of the most popular hostelries in Cumru township. He fully
understands the wants of the traveling public, and takes care that
these wants shall be supplied. He has made many improvements on the
property since obtaining possession of it, and is himself an ideal
host, courteous, affable and genial.

In 1883 Mr. Zieber married Sallie J. Good, and
three children have been born to this union; Grace, Edgar and
Allen. In politics Mr. Zieber is a Republican. He and his family
attend the United Brethren Church. Fraternally he is a popular
member of the Reliance Lodge, No. 776, F. & A. M. of Brooklyn,
N. Y., being made a Mason in 1890; of Camp No. 163, P. O. S. of A.,
and Aerie No. 66, F. O. E.

ZIEGLER,
AARON (CAPT.)

p. 417

Surnames: ZIEGLER, MYERS, HARVEY, SHEPLER, BENNETHUM

Capt. Aaron Ziegler, proprietor of one of the largest retail
wall-paper establishments in the city of Reading, with business
rooms at No. 355 Penn street, is one of the leading citizens of the
city, and a man whose services to his country in the dark hour of
her need were of such value that he merits highly the title by
which he is always known. Captain Ziegler is an honored member of
the old guard whose fast depleting ranks is a reminder that Time’s
ceaseless march is removing us farther and farther from one of the
greatest wars of history-a war fought on both sides with a courage
and tenacity of purpose unequaled, and befitting the Anglo-Saxon
blood which, commingling in fratricidal strife, cemented the
nation’s disjointed parts into a splendid and magnificent compact
structure, alike worshipped by her loyal people, and revered by the
whole world. The story of Captain Ziegler’s movements during the
Civil war would, if told in all its lights and shadows, be worthy
the pen of a novelist of the realistic school. The necessary
brevity of this review precludes relating much of interest, but if
the reader will “read between the lines,” he will be ready to give
credit where credit is due.

Of German ancestry, Captain Ziegler comes of a
line of agriculturists who settled in Bunker Hill, Lebanon county,
Pa., in pioneer times, and who in their different generations were
distinguished by loyal service to the commonwealth. In this county
Daniel Ziegler, grandfather of Captain Aaron, passed his life as a
farmer. The father of the Captain, also named Daniel, was in his
turn a contractor and builder, with residence at Myerstown, Pa. He
lived to the advanced age of eighty-four, dying in 1883. His wife
was Martha Shepler, daughter of Henry Shepler, a farmer of Lebanon
county. The family of which the Captain was the youngest member
consisted of nine children.

Captain Ziegler was born at Myerstown, Lebanon
county, Feb. 20, 1841. His boyhood, passed in humble but honest
toil, laid the foundation of a splendid physical constitution,
without which he would no doubt have succumbed to the rigors of the
war in which he was called to engage ere he had reached maturity.
He became quite an expert at the trade of his father, while being
helpful to him at odd times, giving his attention more to the
artistic feature of decorating, in painting and paperhanging. It
was while engaged at this occupation that the Captain heard the
tocsin of war resounding through the country, and responded to the
call of the President for the defense of “Old Glory.”

Aaron Ziegler had as a boy and youth watched
with keen interest the oncoming storm, and while the Presidential
campaign was on, which precipitated it, his blood warmed for the
inevitable struggle. During that winter he participated in the
feverish anxiety of the people, and was ready when the call was
made to offer his services to his country. It is true that like all
the others of the first enlistment, the boy was mightily afraid the
strife would be over before he could get to the front, but that
does not detract from the bravery of the act. Suffice it that “he
got to the front” in splendid style, and with such vigor as to
carry him even beyond the lines for a period, during which he was
an unwilling boarder at some of the famous, or rather infamous,
Confederate “hotels.” The first enlistment of the Captain was in
the Myerstown Rifles, Captain Jerome Myers, for the three months
service. This company was not attached to any regiment, and when
they reached Harrisburg, the quota for the three months’ service
being filled, the company was ordered to Camp Curtin, where it
remained until the passing of the Act organizing the Pennsylvania
Reserves. He then re-enlisted in Company I, 7th Pennsylvania
Reserves, the company being commanded by Captain Jerome Myers and
the regiment by Colonel Elisha B. Harvey. To follow this company
through the vicissitudes of the war which drew out its cruel length
through the ensuing four years would be but the relation of battles
fought and hardships endured. It is enough to say that it was with
the Army of the Potomac in all of its struggles again Lee,
acquitting itself nobly in the field and camp. This is vividly
attested by the fact that of the ninety-five who marched out of
Myerstown on that July day of 1861, but sixteen answered to
roll-call as they stood again in their home town after the
conflict. These ninety-five had been cut to thirty-three by the
time of the Battle of the Wilderness, where the company together
with the entire regiment was captured by the Confederates on May 5,
1864. Then ensued the horrors of Southern prison life, the rigors
of which carried away seventeen of the company, the rest to be
paroled in an emaciated and most pitiful condition. The Captain’s
personal experiences during these harrowing months were such as
came to all, with the exception of those which occurred during an
attempted escape from the prison at Columbia, S. C. Getting well
away from his captors, he spent three weeks in the swamps and
lowlands, pursued by fierce blood hounds and fiercer men.

Weak and almost exhausted from hunger and
exposure, he one day became aware that they were close on his
trail. With the blood hounds baying closely behind him, he
attempted to vault a rail fence, and in his weakness fell in such a
manner as to injure his right leg-and the game was up. He was
recaptured and thenceforth treated with greater severity than ever.
The injury was so severe that it will continue to cause the Captain
trouble through all his life. During his prison experience the
Captain was confined in the following places: Danville, Va.; Macon,
Ga.; Savannah, Ga.; Charleston, S. C. (where 500 officers were
confined and lay under fire of their own guns on Morris Island for
three weeks, being in constant danger of exploding shells); and
Goldsboro, N. C.; the time of imprisonment covering eleven weary
months. Carrying 180 pounds not one of which was superfluous,
strong and healthy at the time of his capture, Captain Ziegler
returned after his parole broken in health and weighing but 120
pounds. The Captain’s title came to him by brevet for gallant
conduct at the battle of the Wilderness. He had risen by successive
promotions from the ranks to second sergeant, to first sergeant,
second lieutenant, and first lieutenant. He was in command of the
company while first sergeant for five months, and for over a year
while first lieutenant, and led it in many of its fiercest
engagements.

“All honor to the Old Guard, They did their
best; They have laid aside the old sword, Shall it not rest?” The
war over, Captain Ziegler and his compatriots surprised many
European critics by returning quietly to the avocations of peace.
He took up the tangled threads where he had cast them aside four
years before, and continued that line of work until 1871 in his
home town, when he moved to Reading, where he has since resided.
His business location was for a time at Seventh and Court streets,
and later at No. 425 Penn street, where he operated successfully
for eleven years, from which place he removed to his present
location, N. 355 Penn street, where he conducts one of the largest
wall paper and paint houses in the city.

A splendid solider, Captain Ziegler has been
equally faithful as a citizen, ever true to his ideals of good
government. A Republican in politics he has never sought office,
though in 1890 he was prominently mentioned for appointment to the
postmastership of the city. He hold membership in many of the best
fraternities, notably the Odd Fellows, the Red Men, and the Knights
of the Golden Eagle; and he of course is a popular member of the
different soldier organizations,-the Grand Army of the Republic,
the Veteran Legion, and the Ex-Prisoners of the War Association.
His church affiliation is with the First Reformed Church of
Reading.

On Nov. 25, 1866, Captain Ziegler married Miss
Clara Bennethum, daughter of John L. Bennethum, who for many years
conducted a hotel at Myerstown, and later was in the clothing
business in Reading. To the Captain’s marriage one son was born,
named Aaron D., now in attendance in the public high school. Full
of years, passing into a happy and peaceful old age, with many of
the friends of his youth on this side to do him honor, this old
soldier looks back on a life well spent, receiving the grateful
acknowledgments of a united republic, and meriting the universal
esteem which is accorded him.

ZIEGLER, JARIUS WEISER

p. 765

Surnames: ZIEGLER, WEISER, TURNER, GERBER, LESSIG

Jarius Weiser Ziegler, who died May 13, 1909, was one of Readings
well-to-do and well-known citizens, who with his son, was engaged
in the wall paper business at No. 154 North Ninth street, under the
firm name of J. & B. W. Ziegler. He was a native of Pottsville,
Pa., where he was born July 8, 1856, son of Capt. Elijah Ziegler.

Capt. Elijah Ziegler was born near Fleetwood,
Berks Co., Pa., and when a young man went to Schuylkill county,
locating at Tamaqua, where he learned the carpenters trade. He was
here married to Pricilla Turner, daughter of Abraham Turner, and
after their union purchased a farm in Schuylkill county, living
thereon for a few years. He was elected county commissioner, and
soon thereafter removed to Pottsville, where he was later engaged
in the hotel business, carrying on farming operations as a sideline
for seven years. Removing to Pine Grove, he became engaged in the
lumber business for seven years and then purchased a farm at
Friedensburg, Schuylkill county, but six years later returned to
Pottsville and served the county as prison warden for three years
when to his death he was engaged in bridge contracting and in the
cattle business. He died in 1902, at the age of sixty-two years.
During his entire life he was a stanch Democrat, and he was one of
his communitys most active and influential men. His children were
as follows: Emma, Elmira, Loretta, Florenda, Clara, Jarius W. and
Erasmus.

Jarius Weiser Ziegler was educated in the public
schools of Schuylkill county, and continued in his fathers employ
until coming to Reading in 1885, when he became a clerk. Later he
engaged in business for himself, following painting and paper
hanging for some time, and in 1900 opened his wall paper store. He
and his son, in partnership, had about ten men in their employ and
their business grew to large proportions. They were jobbers in
water colors, art novelties, etc., and one of their specialties was
the 16 x 20 frame.

In 1883 Mr. Ziegler was married to Miss
Henrietta Gerber, daughter of Amos Gerber, of Reading, and one son,
Bruno Weiser, was born to this union March 12, 1882. He married
Elsie M. Lessig, daughter of George D. Lessig, of Reading, and they
have one son, Howard. In politics Mr. Ziegler was a Democrat, and
he and his family were members of the Reformed Church. Fraternally
he was connected with Lodge No. 549, F. & A. M.; Reading Lodge
of perfection; Philadelphia Consistory; and Rajah Temple, A. A. O.
N. M. S.

ZIEGLER, PHILIP M. (CAPT.)

p. 550

Surnames: ZIEGLER, KERR, RASER, McFARLAND, ARBUCKLE, LIVINGOOD,
GEIB, ZOOK

Dr. Philip M. Ziegler died at his home No. 524 Franklin street,
Reading, Nov. 23, 1907, after a long life devoted to ministering to
the sufferings of mankind. He was born near Annville, Lebanon
county, Jan. 11, 1834, a representative of the fourth generation of
the family in American, his great-grandfather, Philip Ziegler,
having come to this country from Switzerland in 1734 and located in
Berks county.

Dr. Ziegler’s parents, Philip and Catharine
Ziegler, moved from Lebanon country to near Mastersonville,
Lancaster county, when the Doctor was but a boy. He attended Mt.
Joy Academy and Litiz Academy. Returning then to Mt. Joy he read
medicine under Dr. J. L. Ziegler, and after a course at the
Pennsylvania Medical School, graduated from that institution in
1859. He located for practice in Elizabethtown, Lancaster county,
and won a high place in the estimation of the people.

The Civil war broke out, and he became an
assistant surgeon of the 62d Pa. V. I., and in that capacity served
until the close of the war. When peace was declared, acting under
the advice of the regimental surgeon, Dr. Kerr, he applied for a
commission as surgeon in the regular army, but while this was
pending, he purchased the drug store of Dr. J. Heyl Raser, at No.
526 Penn street, Reading, Pa. His commission arrived in due time,
but he resigned it out of consideration to his family and his new
enterprise, and continued in the drug business until his death, a
period of more than forty-two years.

Dr. Ziegler was by profession a Presbyterian,
and was one of the organizers of Olivet Church, at Reading, being
elected an elder of same. He labored earnestly and efficiently in
developing the congregation and placing it on a sure foundation.
While at school he had become proficient in the classics, and never
allowed this attainment to suffer by disuse. As a teacher of the
Bible class in his chosen church, no matter what other helps he
might use, his scholars received the benefit of his study of the
lesson in original Greek. Though a man of warm impulses and kind
heart, the decisiveness with which he expressed his convictions-and
they were never wavering-often gave color to a severity not
intentional. Eminently successful in his business his prosperity
was based as much on his unflinching honesty as on sound business
principles so that his store became known for honest drugs. Purity
rather than price influenced his purchase, and if a salesman
deceived and ventured to trade with him again, he found his
reception very frigid, and if he persisted the interview would be
terminated abruptly in a most startling manner. He was bashful in
everything that called notice to personal merit, and seemed
uncomfortable when paid a compliment. The earnestness with which he
regarded everything in life was stamped on his countenance, giving
it a look of severity, yet no man could laugh at a clean joke more
heartily than he. While he undoubtedly felt much satisfaction in
having been an officer in the Union army, he seemed to think the
part he played was too humble to publish by joining any of the
organizations based on army service, and it was a long time before
he would consent to be mustered into Gen. William H. Keim Post, No.
76, G. A. R., and just the year before his death he became a
companion of Pennsylvania Commandery, Military Order of the Loyal
Legion. He was one of the founders of the Reading Hospital, and
among its most liberal contributors, and for many years was its
treasurer and a manager until his business interests interfered. He
was conducing his business with his usual energy, when suddenly
stricken, and the whole community was shocked to hear of his death.

On July 13, 1871, Dr. Ziegler married Sarah Ann
McFarland, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Arbuckle) McFarland.
To this union were born two children: Howard P.; and Stella, wife
of Dr. William W. Livingood, of Reading. He is also survived by two
sisters, Mrs. Catharine Geib and Mrs. Isaac Zook, of
Mastersonville, Lancaster county.

ZIMMERMAN, ELDRIDGE

p. 438

Surnames: ZIMMERMAN, FISHER, HOTTENSTEIN, MILLER

Eldridge Zimmerman. The ancestors of Eldridge Zimmerman,
prothonotary of Berks county, Pa., came to this county as early as
1743.

Isaac Zimmerman, grandfather of Eldridge, was
born in Maxatawny township, Berks county, where his life was spent
as a farmer.

Daniel Zimmerman, son of Isaac and father of
Eldridge, was a farmer and hotel keeper. He was a school director
at Kutztown, and was recorder of deeds for Berks county for the
years 1879, 1880 and 1881. He died March 10, 1888, aged sixty-three
years. He married Susan Caroline Fisher, daughter of Jacob Fisher,
of Kutztown, where he kept a hotel. They had three children, viz.:
Mary, wife of A. S. Hottenstein, a lawyer of Milton, Pa.: Jacob F.,
U. S. storekeeper and gauger at Kutztown; and Eldridge of Topton,
Pennsylvania.

Eldridge Zimmerman was born April 13, 1852, in
Maxatawny township. After completing the common school course at
Kutztown, he attended the State Normal School there, and
subsequently taught school for two terms. He then engaged in the
grain, flour and coal business at Kutztown, in which he continued
for three years, and then served as deputy recorded during the
years 1879, 1880 and 1881. After retiring from this position he
returned to the homestead and farmed until 1889, when he served as
deputy treasurer for five month during that year. After retiring
from this position he moved to Topton, Berks county, Pa., where he
has since resided. Fro six years he served as school director in
Maxatawny township, for fourteen years was justice of the peace in
the same township, and for six years served in the same position in
Topton. He was deputy prothonotary of Berks county during the years
1901-02-03-04-05-06, and in the fall of 1906 was elected to the
office of prothonotary which he now fills, his term expiring the
first Monday of January, 1910.

Mr. Zimmerman married Nov. 30, 1876, Louisa A.
Miller, daughter of Charles Miller, a retired farmer, who died in
May, 1905, aged ninety-nine years and twenty-eight days. They have
one son, Charles D., born De. 25, 1880; he is a graduate of the
Kutztown State Normal School, and taught school for several terms,
but is now a clerk for the Philadelphia & Reading Railway
Company. Mr. Zimmerman is a member of the Lutheran denomination
while his wife attends the Reformed church. He belongs to the
Masonic fraternity, having joined when twenty-one years and
twenty-seven days old. He was the first Mason admitted to Huguenot
Lodge, No. 377, F. & A. M., at Kutztown, and he also belongs to
the Knights Templars and to the Nobles and Mystic Shrine. His son
was raised a Mason when twenty one years and one day old, and is
also a Knight Templar and a Shriner.

In politics Mr. Zimmerman is a Democrat as were
his forefathers, and he has been an active worker in his party
since attaining his majority. He is a man of upright character,
liberal education and broad-minded views.

ZIMMERMAN
FAMILY

p. 668

Surnames: ZIMMERMAN, DIETRICH, KUNKEL, BROBST, GEORG, KELLER,
STUMP, SNYDER, WEISNER, SHUGOR, KERCHNER, ADAM, ROTHERMEL,
FENSTERMACHER, WESSNER, GROFF

The Zimmerman family in Albany township, Berks county, is descended
from Heinrich Zimmerman, who came to this township from Maxatawny
township, about the time of the organization of the county. In 1756
he was a taxable in Albany. He lived at Stony Run Hill, and his
homestead is now owned by a descendant, Noah Zimmerman. Heinrich
Zimmerman’s son Johannes, born April 19, 1761, died on the home
farm April 25, 1824, aged sixty-three years and six days. His wife
Maria Barbara Dietrich (1769-1833) was a daughter of Adam Dietrich.

Johannes Zimmerman, son of Heinrich, succeeded
his father to the homestead and was a farmer. His farm consisted of
177 acres. In 1822 he built the present large stone house. He and
his wife were Lutherans, and are buried at Wessnersville. They had
the following children: Maria Magdalena m. Daniel Kunkel; Mrs.
Samuel Brobst; Mrs. Jacob Georg; Moses; John; Daniel and Michael.

Moses Zimmerman, son of Johannes, was born April
23, 1799, and died Dec. 17, 1840. He obtained the homestead, and
there died. In 1841, his brother Michael bought it for $2,400.
Among other children Moses Zimmerman had Polly and Jonas.

John Zimmerman, son of Johannes, lived in Albany
township in the Stony Run, owning the farm now the property of
Matthias Wessner, which farm was given to him by his father. His
children were: Anna, Lydia, Eli, Aaron, Daniel, Gideon and Samuel.

Daniel Zimmerman, son of Johannes, was a farmer
in Bern (now Tilden) township, where he had a large tract near St.
Michael’s church, and there he is buried. His wife was a Miss
Keller, and among their children was a son, Samuel.

Michael Zimmerman, son of Johannes, was born
Feb. 10, 1802, and died Feb. 1, 1878. He was a lifelong farmer
owning the homestead on the Stony Run Hill. He built the present
barn in 1848. He also operated a distillery on his farm. His wife,
Sarah Stump (1813-1885), bore him five children, namely: William;
Noah, Catharine m. Jacob Snyder, of Weisenburg township, Lehigh
county’ Mary Ann m. Nathan Weisner; and Sarah died young. Michael
Zimmerman was a Democrat, and served as school director. He held
church offices in Friedens’ Church at Wessnersville, where the
Zimmermans are buried.

William Zimmerman, son of Michael, was born Nov.
13, 1833, and died May 12, 1906. He lived across the line from
Albany, in Lynn township, Lehigh county. He was a farmer, and
carefully husbanded his resources, becoming very well-to-do. He
married Mary Ann Weisner, and their children were: Sarah Ann
(1858-1861); Nathan m. Mary Dietrich, Amanda m. Reuben Shugor;
Caroline m. Phaon Kerchner; Mary Ann m. Reuben Shugor, after the
death of her sister Amanda; Daniel m. Kate Adam; Jonathan lives on
the homestead; and Sinora Rothermel.

Noah Zimmerman, son of Michael, born in Albany
Oct. 17, 1836 has been living retired at Wessnersville since 1895.
He owns the homestead which he farmed until he retired in
comfortable circumstances. He and family are esteemed members of
the Lutheran congregation at Wessnersville. In 1869 he married Mary
Ann Fenstermacher, daughter of Daniel and Polly (Dietrich)
Fenstermacher, and they have had four daughters, viz.: Emma m.
Jeremiah Wessner; Amanda m. Tilghman Groff; Alice m. Richard Groff;
and Annie V. died in infancy.

ZIMMERMAN, THOMAS C.

p
363

Surnames: ZIMMERMAN, GIBBS, STRONG, KAUFFMAN, HALDEMAN, HARTRAFT,
CAMERON, ROTHERMEL, PORTER, HORNE, WHITE, LEARNED, PICK

Thomas C. Zimmerman, known all over Berks county as the talented
editor of The Reading Times, is an enterprising and aggressive
newspaper man, a clear-headed thinker, and an able and versatile
writer. His best works, by which he as achieved distinction as a
literary genius, have been his translations of German poetical
masterpieces into English, and his rendering of English poems into
the Pennsylvania German vernacular. In these two fields of work he
is acknowledged by the best authorities to be without an equal. He
is a poet by natural instinct, self-training being the means by
which he has developed his native powers of expression. In
presenting, through the columns of The Reading Times, his
translations of English poems into Pennsylvania German, he has
proved himself entitled to the highest regard of the class of
worthy citizens of the Keystone State allied with him by race, in
whose interests he has ever been an earnest and indefatigable
worker.

The only school education Mr. Zimmerman ever
enjoyed was the public school training he received during the years
of his boyhood in Lebanon, Pa., where his birth occurred Jan. 23,
1838. Thus he never had the advantages of a classical education,
and therefore all the more credit is due him for making such
splendid use of his talents and opportunities. When thirteen years
of age he was apprenticed to the printing trade, in the newspaper
establishment of the Lebanon Courier. Upon the completion of his
term of service he went to Philadelphia, and worked on the
Philadelphia Inquirer a short time, until Jan. 8, 1856, when he
entered the office of The Berks and SchuyIkill Journal, in Reading,
as a journeyman printer. In 1859 Mr. Zimmerman removed to Columbia,
S. C., where he worked on the State laws, in the printing
establishment of Dr. Robert Gibbs, who afterward became
surgeon-general of the Confederate Army. In March, 1860, Mr.
Zimmerman returned to Reading, as the anti-Northern sentiment had
become so intense and virulent in South Carolina, the hotbed of
secession, that his life was endangered, though he never openly
opposed the course of the Secessionists while in that section. Upon
his return to Reading he once more entered the employ of The Berks
and SchuyIkill Journal. Under its proprietor, Jacob Knabb, who
became postmaster of Reading in May, 1860, he acted as clerk until
the close of his superior’s term of office, in July 1865. During
this period Mr. Zimmerman contributed some striking articles on
postal reform to the United States Mail and other journals, which
called out a correspondence with the then postmaster-general, Mr.
Dennison, and some of the suggestions solicited were incorporated
into that official’s report.

When he finished his connection with the
post-office he resumed his work in the Journal office, and in
January, 1866, became co-proprietor and associate editor of the
paper. Up to the year 1869 the firm bore the name of J. Knabb &
Co.; in that year they also became the proprietors of the Daily
Times, which, in 1871, was consolidated with the Evening Dispatch,
under the title The Times and Dispatch. The Reading Times
Publishing Company was organized in 1897, with Mr. Zimmerman as
president and editor. This paper is one of the foremost journals in
the State, and exerts the strongest kind of influence upon the
moral and material development of its city, standing in high esteem
with the political leaders in the State and at Washington. After
more than half a century of journalistic work in Reading, he
retired in October, 1908. In commemoration of the event a public
subscription dinner was given him at the “Mineral Springs Hotel,”
in which upward of eighty leading citizens of Reading and adjoining
cities participated.

Mr. Zimmerman was happy in the choice of his
vocation and his home. He is a great lover of nature, and evidently
believes, with a distinguished writer and fellow-pedestrian, that
“the shining angels second and accompany the man who goes afoot,
while all the dark sprits are ever looking out for a chance to
ride.” It was his habit for nearly forty years to take daily walks
into the country, accompanied often only by his favorite dog,
returning after a long excursion to his editorial desk by noon.
Nothing turned him aside from the calling for which he was so
eminently fitted. He had many flattering offers to engage in other
fields of work, but in all cases these were declined. In his early
manhood he had arranged to enter the law office of Hon. William
Strong, and was also importuned to study for the ministry; his
manifest destiny, however, made and kept him a journalist and
writer of no mean ability. A brother editor comments on the
journalistic abilities of Mr. Zimmerman in this language: Mr.
Zimmerman is a writer of force and ability. His writings are pure,
easy and graceful. He is witty and humorous when occasion demands.
In controversy he is gentlemanly at all times, and in argument he
is fair and generous to his opponents. He has a genuine taste for
literature, poetry and the fine arts, as many of his articles
attest. He is one of the ablest writers in the old Commonwealth.
Many of his articles show alike the eye of the artist, and the hand
of the litterateur.” One of these productions, that most widely
published and copied, was a sketch of his visit to the Luray
Caverns in Virginia; the merits of this inspiration of the moment
were seen by the Hotel and Cave Company, who caused to be published
upward of sixty thousand copies in illustrated pamphlet form for
general circulation. The newspapers of Richmond, Va., copied this
article, and the favor it met with called out the request that Mr.
Zimmerman also write up the undeveloped resources of Alabama.

Mr. Zimmerman was united in marriage with Tamsie
T. Kauffman of Reading, on June 11, 1867. Several years previous,
in 1863, he enlisted in Company C, 42d Pa. V. I., but the company
did not see active service. He was one of the founders of the
Pennsylvania German Society, as well as one of the reorganizers, in
1898, of the Historical Society of Berks County. He has been for
many years a member of the Board of Trustees of the Asylum for the
Chronic Insane of Pennsylvania, and a member of the Board of
Directors of the Reading Free Public Library. The degree of L. H.
D. (Doctor of the Humanities) was conferred upon him by Muhlenberg
College in 1904. He was also a member of the 27th National
Conference of Charities and Corrections-office at Chicago; was also
elected President of the Pennsylvania Association of
Superintendents and Trustees of the Insane Asylums and
Feeble-Minded of the Sate of Pennsylvania, 1908-09. In October,
1908, he was elected president of the Pennsylvania German Society.

Mr. Zimmerman had delivered quite a number of
addresses on public occasions. He has been selected half a dozen
times or more to speak before the Pennsylvania German Society :
Once in the court-house at Lancaster, where the Society was
organized; once in the court-house at York, in response to the
address of welcome, and in the evening of the same day at the
banquet in the same city; once at Lebanon; once at Harrisburg; and
twice at Allentown, besides numerous occasions in Reading. He was
subsequently selected by the Society as its special representative
before the Chautauqua Assembly at Mt. Gretna, at which time he was
elected one of the vice-presidents of that body in honor of the
occasion. Within the last ten years Mr. Zimmerman has made upward
of a hundred public addresses in various parts of the Commonwealth.
He has frequently been mentioned as an available candidate for
mayor of Reading, and twice his name was presented for the
Congressional nomination from the Berks Legislative district, both
of which honors he declined. He is a well-known figure in Reading,
and has a host of devoted friends, who were won by his lofty, manly
spirit, universal friendship of heart, and strong sense of right
and duty; he is in particular favor with the Germans, in whose
behalf he has written and spoken much.

Very early in life Mr. Zimmerman began to read
poetry for the intellectual pleasure and profit which its elevated
diction afforded him, and at the age of eighteen he had already
made considerable progress in a predetermined systematic perusal of
the whole line of English poets, or of as many of them as lay
within his reach. The instinct of the translator asserted itself in
marvelous maturity, when he began to make this one of the prominent
features of The Reading times. Hundreds of these matchless
translations for the German classics into English appeared from
time to time, the Saturday issue of the paper invariably containing
a translation into English of some German poem, the original and
translation appearing close together in parallel columns; in
recognition of their merit he had been made the recipient of many
presents, from friends at home and abroad. Worthy of mention among
these are seventy-five volumes of German poetry from an admirer,
residing in Berlin, Germany; his collection of tobacco pipes from
Germany, England, Ireland, France, Denmark, Finland and Holland is
palpable evidence of the widespread influence his work has had upon
readers. Mr. Zimmerman has shown remarkable aptitude and poetic
skill in all his translations, preserving with remarkable fidelity
the exact measure of the original poems, and the rhythmical beat of
each syllable with remarkable fidelity.

One of his most noted translations from the
German, viz., The Prussian National Battle Hymn, appeared in the
Berlin (Germany) Times, with a half-tone portrait of the author of
the translation.

Some very original work has been done by Mr.
Zimmerman in his translations of English classics into Pennsylvania
German, that curious mixture of German dialects and English words
which continues to be the chief spoken language of over half of the
inhabitants of Berks county. His first attempt, Clement C. Moore’s
“Twas the Night before Christmas,” caught the fancy of the press at
once, and its favorable mention brought him congratulatory letters
from such men as Prof. Haldeman, the eminent philologist of the
University of Pennsylvania; Hon. Simon Cameron; Gen. Hartraft; P.
F. Rothermel, painter of the “Battle of Gettysburg”; Prof. Porter
of Lafayette College; Prof. Horne of Muhlenberg College, and other
men of prominence in the literary world. Poems of Tom Hood, Oliver
Goldsmith, Heine and Longfellow followed, and were received with
hearty interest by the German people.

“Luther’s Battle Hymn,” a translation from the
German into English, was a wonderful inspiration, and fairly ran up
and down the country, as soon as it was given to the public through
The Reading Times. In five weeks it brought eighteen columns of
letters to the paper that published it, from eminent divines,
professors, publicists, poets, historians and others in the higher
walks of society. Notwithstanding there are some seventy or eighty
translations of this magnificent poem, Mr. Zimmerman’s effort has
been characterized by Rev. Dr. Pick, the publisher of these
translations, as “the newest and best that has been made.” The new
version was especially favored by being sung with enlarged choirs
in different denominations of town and city, and sermons here and
there were delivered on the translation. Following is Mr.
Zimmerman’s translation of the famous hymn:

“A rock-bound fortress is our God, A good defense and weapon, He
helps us out of every need That doth us press or threaten. The old,
wicked foe, With zeal now doth glow; Much craft and great might
Prepare him for the fight, On earth there is none like him.

“With our own strength there’s nothing done, We’re well nigh lost,
dejected: For us doth fight the proper One, Whom God himself
elected. Dost ask for his name? The Lord of Sabaoth, The world no
other hath; This field must He be holding.

“And were the world with devils filled, With wish to quite devour
us, We need not be so sore afraid, Since they can not o’erpower us.
The Prince of this World, In madness though whirled, Can harm you
nor me; Because adjuded is he. A little word can fell him.

“This Word shall they now let remain, No thanks therefor attending;
He is with up upon the plain, His gifts and spirit lending. Though
th’ body be ta’en, Goods, child, wife and fame; Go-life, wealth and
kin! They yet can nothing win: For us remaineth the Kingdom.”

Mr. Zimmerman’s translation of Schiller’s “The Song of the Bell”
met with even more favor from the public; no less than twenty
columns of newspaper matter made up of letters from all over the
world came to the translator, and though twenty years have elapsed
since its first appearance, Mr. Zimmerman receives continued
inquiries for the translation from far and near. The Philadelphia
Ledger says: “Mr. Zimmerman’s translations have been highly
commended by literary authorities at home and abroad. He has shown
a special gift for making his English readers familiar with the
spirit of the best German poets. Even those who are well at home in
German will find a special interest in comparing the translation
with the original, for he is sure to find that Mr. Zimmerman has
not only seized the meaning of the author, but he has so put it
into an English clothing as to show that the real bone and sinew of
the original still lives in its new dress.” Hon. Andrew D. White,
U. S. Minister to Germany, in a letter to Mr. Zimmerman about his
translations writes: “They have greatly interested me, as you seem
to have caught their spirit and rendered them admirably. I am not
sufficiently strong in literary criticism to compare them with
other translations, but they seem to me to be thoroughly well done.
I have also been especially interested in your translations into
Pennsylvania German of some of the poems. Although not a
philologist, the reading of them has also greatly interested me,
and they, too, seem very spirited and in all respects interesting.”
Prof. Marion D. Learned, of the Department of Philosophy,
University of Pennsylvania, says: “A masterful hand is visible in
all the translations.

It is perhaps safe to say that Schiller’s ‘Song of the Bell’ is the
most difficult lyrical poem in the German language to render into
English with the corresponding meters. Your version seems to me to
excel all other English translations of the poem, both in spirit
and in rhythm. Especially striking in point of movement is your
happy use of the English participle in reproducing Schiller’s
feminine rhymes. Your version, however, while closely adhering to
the form of the original, maintains at the same time dignity and
clearness of expression, which translators often sacrifice to meet
the demands of rhythm. Your poetic instinct has furnished you the
key to this masterpiece of German song.” The New York World says:
“Mr. Zimmerman’s rendering (Schiller’s ‘Song of the Bell’) is a
triumph of the translator’s art, and recalls the work of Bayard
Taylor.” The New York Herald says: “Mr. Zimmerman has placed his
name in the category of famous literateurs by a very creditable
translation of Schiller’s “Song of the Bell.'”

The following ably written criticism is from the
pen of J. B. Ker, who, while a resident of Scotland, once stood for
Parliament: “To Col. T. C. Zimmerman-Sir: Having read and studied
your noble translation of Schiller’s ‘Song of the Bell,’ I have
been forcibly impressed by the music of the language into which you
have rendered the poem. This is a merit of capital importance in
the translation of this poem. In estimating the value of
translations of the great German poems, it is necessary to bear in
mind the weight which the literary and critical consciousness of
Germany attached to the ancient classical cannons of poetry. There
is no question here as to whether the ancients were right. The
point for us is that their influence was loyally acknowledged as of
high authority during the Augustan age of German literature. Proof
of this can be found in Goethe as distinctly as it super-abundantly
appears in Lessing’s famous ‘Dramatic Notes,’ where the poetic
dieta of Aristotle are treated with profound respect. In the study
of Aristotle’s work on the Poetic, nothing is perhaps more striking
than his dictum that poetry is imitation, with the explanation or
enlargement so aptly given by Pope in the words:

“‘Tis not enough no harshness gives offense, The
sound must seem an echo to the sense, Soft is the strain when
zephyr gently blows, And the smooth stream in smoother numbers
flows; But when loud surges lash the sounding shore, The hoarse,
rough waves should like the torrent roar; When Ajax strives some
rock’s vast weight to throw, The line, too, labors, and the words
move slow, Not so, when swift Camilla sours the main, Flies o’er
the unbending corn, or skims along the plain.’

“Not knowing the German recognition of the law and acknowledging
its realization in the works of the leading Teutonic poets, one of
the crucial tests of a translation of a great German poet is, Does
the language into which the original is rendered form an ‘echo to
the sense’? It seems to me that one of the strongest points in your
translation of the ‘Bell’ is that the words which you have selected
and gathered have sounds, which, like the music of a skillful
musical composer, convey a signification independently of their
literal meaning. Not to protract these remarks unduly, few words
could more appropriately refer to the music of strong and distant
bells than your rending- ‘That from the metal’s unmixed foundling
Clear and full may the bell be sounding.

“Very slight poetic capacity must admit the music of these words as
eminently happy in the ‘Song of the Bell.’ The echo to the sense is
also striking in the sound of the word-symbols in many places
throughout the rendering where the poet describes the occurrences
conceived in connection with the bell’s imagined history. Speaking
of the visions of love, ‘O, that they would be never-ending, These
vernal days with lovelight blending,’ The way in which the penult
of the word ‘ending’ conveys the idea of finality, while the affix
of the present participle yet prolongs the word as though loth to
let it depart, is a beautiful and enviable realization of the
Aristotelian rule, a prolongation of the words which express doubly
a prolongation of desire. The four lines reading:

‘Blind raging, like the thunder’s crashing It bursts its fractured
bed of earth As if from out hell’s jaws fierce flashing, It spewed
its flaming ruin forth,’ Have a vehement strength and a rough and
even a painful and horrid sound which apply with singular propriety
to the horrible images by which the poet presents the catastrophe
to our quickened apprehensions. The beautiful lines, ‘Joy to me now
God hath given,’ etc., in which the bell founder exults, avoiding,
as they do, the deeper vowel sounds and preserving as it were a
series of high musical notes save where the gift descends from
heaven to earth, when the vowel sounds fall from high to low, form
a delightful resonance of the happy sentiment they embody. The
general experience of translations is that they are more prosy than
sonorous or musical. Few, however, if any, will deny the melody of
your language in many places and its remarkable appropriateness in
others, and those who have worked on similar translations can best
judge how great is the success you have accomplished in this
valuable contribution to Anglo-Saxon literature.”

Mr. Zimmerman published a collection of his
addresses, sketches of Out-Door Life, translations and original
poems in two volumes, entitled “Olla Podrida.” The volumes, which
were published in the fall of 1903, were received with great favor,
almost the entire edition having been sold in a month’s time, a
number of the public libraries having become purchasers.

We present to our readers a few short selections
from Mr. Zimmerman’s translation of “The Song of the Bell”:

“Firmly walled in earth and steady, Stands the mold of well-burnt
clay. Quick, now, workmen, be ye ready! Forth must come the bell
today! Hot from forehead’s glow Must the sweat-drops flow, Should
the master praise be given; Yet the blessing comes from Heaven.

“The work prepared with so much ardor May well an earnest word
become; When good discourse attends the labor, Then flows
employment briskly on. Observe with care, then, what arises-See
what from feeble strength escapes; The man so poor, each one
despises, Who ne’er foresees the form he shapes. ‘Tis this that man
so well adorneth, For mind hath he to understand That in his inner
heart he feeleth Whate’er he fashions with his hand.

“O sweetest hope! O tender longing! The earliest love’s first
golden time! The eye, it sees the heavens thronging With rapt’rous
sights and scenes sublime; O, that they would be never-ending,
These vernal days with lovelight blending.

“Through the streets with fury flaring, Stalks the fire with
fiendish glaring, Rushing as if the whirlwind sharing! Like the
blast from furnace flashing Glows the air, and beams are crashing,
Pilars tumbling, windows creaking, Mothers wandering, children
shrieking, Beasts are moaning, Running, groaning, “neath the ruins;
all are frightened, Bright as day the night enlightened.

“From the steeple, Sad and strong, Th’ bell is tolling A fun’ral
song. Sad and slow its mournful strokes attending Some poor
wand’rer tow’rds his last home wrending. Ah! The wife it is, the
dear one; Ah! It is the faithful mother, Whom the Prince of Shades,
unheeding, From the husband’s arms is leading, From the
group of children there, Whom she blooming to him bare; On whose
breast saw, maid and boy, Growing with maternal joy. Ah! The
household ties so tender Sundered are forevermore; Gone into the
realm of shadows She who ruled this household o’er. Now her
faithful reign is ended, She will need to watch no more; In the
orphaned place there ruleth A stranger, loveless evermore.

“And this henceforth its calling be, Whereto the master set it
free! High o’er this nether world of ours, Shall it, in heaven’s
azure tent, Dwell where the pealing thunder lowers, And border on
the firmament. It shall, too, be a voice from heaven, Like yonder
starry hosts, so clear, Who in their course extol their Maker, And
onward lead the wreath-crowned year, To earnest things and things
eternal Devoted be its metal tongue, And, hourly, Time, with
swift-winged pinions, Will touch it as it flieth on. Its tongue to
dest’ny ’twill be lending; No heart itself, from pity free Its
swinging ever be attending Life’s changeful play, whate’er it be.
And as the sound is slowly dying That strikes with such
o’erpowering might, So may it teach that naught abideth, That all
things earthly take their flight.”

Following is Reading’s Official
Sesqui-Centennial Hymn, as written by Thomas C. Zimmerman, and sung
on Tuesday evening, June 6, 1898, by a chorus of 600 voices to an
audience of 20,000 people, assembled on Penn’s Common:

“All hail to Reading’s name and fame! And let the welkin ring With
song and shout and roundelay, As we together sing. And may our
songs, with glad acclaim, To heav’n, like incense rise, While
glowing hearts in tones proclaim Her glory to the skies.

“Tis sev’n score years ago and then Since this fair town was born;
Its sweet young life must have exhaled A breath like rosy morn. So
let us sing till yonder hills Send back the joyous song’ Till
echoing dales and rippling rills The gladsome sound prolong.

“Let others tread life’s stately halls, Where princely pleasures
flow; Give us our homes, like jewels set In evening’s sunset glow.
And may our hearts, in swelling pride, Forget not those of old-The
men of Reading’s pristine days-Whose hearts have long frown cold.

“Let all, therefore, with mingled voice, Repeat the glad refrain;
Let civic pride, in flowing tide, Rejoice with might and main, And
God, the Father of us all, With His protecting care, Will bless us
while we praise in song Our city, bright and fair.”

Mr. Zimmerman also wrote the Sesqui-Centennial
of Berks, which was adopted by the Historical Society of Berks as
the official hymn. Following is the translation:

Air: – “America.” “Hail, beauteous Berks! To thee Let song and
minstrelsy Their tribute pay! Let joy in rapture break Till echoing
hills awake, And woodland summits shake, On this glad day.

“Our sires, long since at rest, With mem’ries, sweet and blest,
Were at thy birth. With axe and brawn and brain, They toiled, with
might and main, A dear loved home to gain On this green earth.

“And now, with upturned eyes, Your children’s gladsome cries Their
homage bring. From all our mines and mills, From Manatawny’s hills,
And Ontelaunee’s rills, Let praises ring.

“Then hail the natal day When Heaven’s fav’ring ray Shone on thy
face. Let joy, in civic pride, Gush forth, on every side, And
music’s swelling tide Add strength and grace.

“Our fathers’ God! May we Be ever true to thee Through all our
days. Thy Name be glorified, Our hearts be sanctified, As, with
exultant pride, We sing thy praise.”

Mr. Zimmerman was also the author of the memorial hymn sung at the
dedication of the McKinley monument in the City Park, in the
presence of one of the largest audiences ever assembled in Reading.

One of the proudest achievements of Mr.
Zimmerman’s journalistic career was the erection of a monument to
Stephen C. Foster, at his home in Pittsburg, which according to the
Pittsburg papers, had its real inception in an editorial prepared
by Mr. Zimmerman for the Reading Times, after a visit to that city
and finding no memorial to perpetuate the memory of the world’s
greatest writer of Negro melodies. This editorial was republished
in the Pittsburg Press and indorsed by that paper, which also
started a fund to provide a suitable memorial and called on the
public for popular subscriptions, the ultimate result being the
statue which now adorns Highland Park, in that city. The following
from the Pittsburg Times, in a personal notice of Mr. Zimmerman’s
visit to that Park several years ago, said: “Out at Highland Park
yesterday passerby noticed a handsome, military looking gentleman
making a minute study of the Stephen C. Foster statue.

Every feature of this artistic bit of sculpture,
from Foster’s splendid face to Uncle Ned and the broken string of
his banjo, was examined with affectionate interest. The man was Co.
Thomas C. Zimmerman, editor of the Reading (Pa.) Times and the
statue was the fruition of his fondest wish.

Col. Zimmerman has been for many years one of
the staunchest admirers of Foster’s imperishable songs and
melodies. Sixteen years ago while in Pittsburg visiting the late
Major E. A, Montooth, he asked the latter to show him the monument
to Foster, and was painfully surprised to discover that no such
memorial existed. Shortly after his return to Reading he wrote an
editorial for his paper, calling the attention of the world in
general and Pittsburg in particular to the neglect of Foster’s
memory.”

ZOOK,
CHRISTIAN

p. 1071

Surnames: ZOOK, STOLZFUS, STOLTZFUS, LANTZ, MAST, HERTZLER, MEGERT,
ZUG, KANNABELL, DODEREAS, MISSLER, MILLER, KAUFFMAN, BLANK, KURTZ,
SUMMERS, TROYER

Christian Zook, of Caernarvon township, who died Dec. 27, 1898, was
a representative of an old and honored German family that has lived
in Pennsylvania since 1742. He was born near Malvern, Chester Co.,
Pa., April 27, 1831. On Dec. 19, 1859, he married Susan (Stolzfus),
born Oct. 2, 1841, daughter of Christian and Susan (Lantz)
Stolzfus, one of Pennsylvania’s old and highly esteemed families.
To this union were born children as follows: Henry, born in 1861,
is in the mercantile business at Elverson (m. Miss Lizzie
Stoltzfus); Christiana, born in 1863 (m. John S. Mast, lives on one
of the Mast farms, and has had three children–Christian Z. born
Nov. 4, 1885; John, born Nov. 9. 1890, died Jan. 13, 1892); and
Malinda, born July 16, 1869 (m. Amos Hertzler, lives on the old
homestead, and has had children–Susan Ella, born Dec. 11, 1894;
Elmira, born Aug. 16, 1896; Ada Christina, born Oct. 12, 1898, died
Feb. 17, 1899; and Alfred, born April 11, 1900). Mrs. Zook has also
given a home to an orphan child, Anna Megert, who is now twenty
years of age. Mrs. Zook now makes her home on the old Zook
homestead, a fine property of 102 acres, on which is situated a
handsome residence surrounded by a beautiful, well-kept lawn. She
and her children also own an adjoining farm of eighty acres of
limestone land, now occupied by one of Mrs. Zook’s daughters, Mrs.
John S. Mast.

John Zook (Zug), great-great-grandfather of
Christian Zook, was of Darmstadt, Germany. He was a son of Hans
Zook (Zug), an elder in the Mennonite Church at Berne, Switzerland,
where in 1659 he and six other preachers of that faith were
arrested and thrown into prison. They were detained until 1671, and
then released on their promise to leave that section. From Berne
Hans Zook moved to Canton Zug, Switzerland, and later to Darmstadt,
Germany, where he died.

Christian Zook (Zug), son of John, and
great-grandfather of Christian, was born near Darmstadt, Germany.
Accompanied by two brothers, Moritz and Johannes, he arrived in
Philadelphia, Sept. 21, 1742, later settling in Whiteland township,
Chester Co., Pa., where he died in December, 1787. He was twice
married, (first) to Anna Kannabell, and (second) to Anna (Dodereas)
Missler, a widow. Christian Zook’s children, all by his first wife
were: a daughter who married a Miller and had descendants; Barbara,
who married Henry Kauffman, and also had descendants; Elizabeth,
who married a Miller; John, whose wife’s given name was Catherine;
Jacob; Yost; and Christian.

Christian Zook, son of Christian, was born April
20, 1752, in Bern township, Berks county, where he spent his life
in agricultural pursuits, being also a minister in the Amish
Church. He died Oct. 8, 1826. He married Miss Magdalena Blank, born
in Lancaster county, Pa., in 1751, who died Aug. 8, 1833. To them
were born the following children: John (m. Elizabeth Kurtz);
Christian (m. Magdalena Zug); Barbara (m. Daniel Hertzler);
Magdalena (m. Jacob Hertzler); Nancy (m. Christian Hertzler); Jacob
(m. Anna Summers); Christiana (m. John Summers); and Henry.

Henry Zook, son of Christian and father of
Christian of Caernarvon township, Berks county, was born near
Malvern, Pa., March 18, 1794, and died at Burkleys Bridge, Pa., in
1865. He married Christiana Kurtz, born Sept. 21, 1801, and died
March 23, 1874. They had the following children: Jacob K. born Nov.
24, 1823, died in August, 1904 (m. Nov. 21, 1846, Lydia Mast, born
Sept. 21, 1824); Magdalena, born March 11, 1826, (m. Jacob Troyer,
born May 8, 1834, in Holmes county, Ohio); Anna, born Jan. 12,
1828, died July 4, aged four years; Christiana, born April 10, 1836
(m. Levi Mast, born July 19, 1835); Sara, born Dec. 6, 1839, died
May 5, 1878 (m. Samuel Lantz); and Nicholas, the youngest, died at
the age of three years.