1Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983 , p. 28 and 30. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hergert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.".
1Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983 , p. 27-28. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hergert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.". "p. 27 A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman
p.28 survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and p.33 A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor."
1Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983 . "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hergert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.".2Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hargert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.".
1Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983 , p.29 & 30. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hergert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.". "p.29 The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
P. 30 In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters."2Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983, p.29 & 30. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hargert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.". "p.29 The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
P. 30 In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters."
1Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983 , p. 29. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hergert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.".2Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983, p. 29. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hargert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.".
1Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983 , p.29. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hergert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.".2Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983, p.29. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hargert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.".
1Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983 , p.29. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hergert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.".2Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983, p.29. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hargert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.".
1Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983 , p.29. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hergert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.".2Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983, p.29. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hargert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.".
1Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983 , p.29. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hergert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.".2Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983, p.29. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hargert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.".
1Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983, p.30. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hargert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.".2Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983 , p.30. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hergert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.".
1Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983 , p. 28. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hergert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.". "p. 28 Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the
p. 29 family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27."2Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim.
1Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983 , p. 28. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hergert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.".
1Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983 , p. 34. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hergert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.". "In later years, (Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll Zimmerman) often spoke to her children about her brother, Philip,
who seemed to have been an exceedingly clever and successful man."
1Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983 . "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hergert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.". "p. 28 Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels."
1Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983 , p.28. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hergert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.".
1Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983 , p.29. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hergert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.". "Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hargert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M."
1Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983 . "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hergert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.".
1Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983 , p.29. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hergert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.".
1Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983 , p. 29. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hergert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.".
1Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983 , p.28. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hergert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.".
1Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983 , p. 29. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hergert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.".
1Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983 , P. 29. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hergert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.".
1Pfarrer Walter of Altheim to Rolland Zimmerman, History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim, written in conjunction with Rolland Zimmerman's visit to Altheim in October of 1983 , p. 29. "From the History of the Zimmerman Family in Altheim
There have been many families named Zimmerman from the Thirty Years War till modern times. Most were small farmers, or master wheelwrights, master carpenters, or master weavers. Through several generations, they lived in different houses in the village at Hauptstraze (street) 14, 34, 58, 35; Kirchstraze 11, 23, 25, 33, 35; Baben Hauserstraze 1, 3, and Kreuzstraze 8 and 10. Today there are no more Zimmerman families in Altheim.
When many inhabitants emigrated in the last century, two families from the Zimmerman circle, and a few single people, also left their hometown of Altheim and emigrated. One family Johann Peter Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 80) went to Slavonia and Yugoslavia, and one family, Leonhard Zimmerman (Family Book II, page 272) went to North America. Among the single people, Johann Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35 (Haag) went to Canada in May of 1832. His brother, Johann Heinrich, followed him in 1837. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll from Altheim, Hauptstraze 17 (Hergert) emigrated with Johann Christian Zimmerman in May 1832. The two married on their new farm in Canada. Christian Zimmerman, born August 27, 1800, died in 1851 in Canada. His wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, maiden name Knoll, born January 30, 1809 in Altheim, died October 18, 1888 in Preston, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Adam Zimmerman farm. A great grandson, Rolland Zimmerman, R.R. #1 Box 26, Racine, Minnesota, 55961, U.S.A., came to Altheim with his family in October, 1983, to visit the hometown of his ancestors. He also visited the house at Hauptstraze 35 from which his great grandfather emigrated with his brothers. His visit gave cause to research the history of the Zimmerman family in Altheim and to record it.
A Hans Zimmerman is mentioned in Altheim as early as 1558. Due to war, hunger and disease only about 120 of the 360 inhabitants of Altheim remained alive in the Thirty Years War(1618-1648). A Paulus Zimmerman survived the war, a magistrate (but from his handwork, a weaver). He was buried on April 11, 1666. One of his sons could have been Nikolaus Zimmerman of whom descendants still live at Kirchstraze 23 and 33.
A Johann Peter Zimmerman about 1648 was most probably a son of Paulus Zimmerman, because he was also a magistrate in 1682, and later a village mayor. He died July 20, 1705 at the age of 57. In 1680 he, like other husbandmen (farmers), was assessed a tax of 70 florins, but he was not very able to pay. He owned a poor home, the worth of which amounted to only 30 florins. The worth of his land was 165 florins, and for livestock he had two pair of bad (poor) horses, one cow, one-year-old ox, three pigs. (A good beginning nonetheless, considering the poverty after the war.) In addition 25 florins borrowed from the church building and ten from the parsonage. He had five children. (Family Book I, page 64).
The wife of the emigrant Christian Zimmerman from Altheim, Hauptstraze 35, was Elizabeth Knoll, who likewise came from Altheim. She came from the house at Hauptstraze 27 (today Hergert), therefore only a few houses farther on the same side of the street. Elizabeth Knoll emigrated to Canada in May of 1832 as did Christian Zimmerman. Therefore they did not become acquainted on the emigrant ship as descendants assumed, rather they must have decided together, back in Altheim, to emigrate to Canada. Elizabeth Knoll was born in Altheim. In earlier times, Altheim was also called Spitzaltheim, because the church in Altheim had a high pointed (spitzen) tower. Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll was born January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1888 on the Adam Zimmerman farm in the U.S.A. at Preston in Minnesota, allegedly at the age of 76 years, 9 months. Her father in Altheim was Johann Adam Knoll, born October 21, 1778 in Klein-Umstadt (a neighboring village) son of Andread Knoll and Susanne Marg, nee Strumfels. He died in Altheim on January 26, 1806. He married Anne Margarethe, nee Schodt, in Altheim on June 2, 1808. She was from Altheim Hauptstraze 27. Of the eight brothers and sisters of Johann Adam Knoll, two died while yet children, three girls married into families from Altheim, Schaatheim and Harpertshau. Johann Adam Knoll was born August 30, 1813, and remained in the house and continued the line. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Dorothea Knoll went, according to the traditions of the descendants, to Canada to help out the fatherless
family with money. The father died at age 48 in 1826. However Knoll family was not without means at that time. Her mother's parents owned what for Altheim was quite a good piece of property at Hauptstraze 27. The parents, Philipp Schodt, born 1738, and Anna Margarethe Schodt, (married 1760) had two sons. Johann Martin and Johann Philipp who married someone from outside Altheim. The daughter, Anna Margarethe Schodt, stayed in her parents home and married Johann Adam Knoll from Klein Umstadt. In 1804 the property consisted of a two story house (that still stands today and has an arched gate), a barn and stable, on fourth Morgen (a measure of land six to nine tenths of an acre) garden, thirty four Morgen fields, three and three-fourths Morgen meadows, value of the property 200 florins. In 1848 the property was passed on to the son (inherited) who was again called Johann Adam Knoll, born August 29, 1813, and married Katherine Elizabeth Appell on June 12, 1836 (first wife). The son, Johann Nikolaus Knoll I took over the house and farm in 1871. His son was Johann Nikolaus Knoll II. His oldest daughter, Anna Marie Knoll, born February 5, 1817 married the farmer, Friedrich Heinrich Funck, who died at an advanced age, and passed the property on to the Hergert family. The farm yard had 617 sq. meters and the meadow 428 sq. M.
It is understandable that from the many children in the family, two sons would decide to emigrate. At that time poverty ruled in the villages and there was a great lack of opportunities for work. The small farming businesses were not in a position to support families with many children.
The son who remained in the house, Johann Valentin (Family Book II, page 259) had two daughters and one son. The son, Johann Nickolaus, born February .21, 1859 and died April 10, 1916, remained again in the house. (Family Book III, page 74). On February 9, 1873 he married Marie Gobel, born August 22, 1848, and died April 2, 1924. The three children were Katharine, born October 21, 1873; Elise, born June 10, 1879, and Johann Georg, born October 5, 1882.
Georg Zimmerman, born October 5, 1881, died October 12, 1960 in Altheim. (Family Book III, page 232) George was the last descendant in the Zimmerman family line. On April .14, 1912 he married Friederike
Funck, born July 1, 1885 in Hergershausen. She died July 2, 1960.They left two daughters, Elizabeth Zimmerman, born April 6, 1913 and died January 12, 1962, and Katharina, born September 13, 1914. Katha Haag, nee Zimmerman, still lives to day in the parent house of the Zimmerman family at Altheim, Haupstraze 35. On December 19, 1942 she married Jakob Haag, a civil servant, who died December 26, 1974.
In 1907, Nikolaus Zimmerman had the old half-timbered house torn down, and the present house built with attic and superstructure over the gate, finished on the outside with rock or brick. In 1973, the sonin-law, Karl Hunkel, gained extra living space by adding a construction over the gatehouse. In the upper story, Karl Hunkel and his wife Hildegard, nee Haag, and their children Regina, Matthias and Carmen, live. The yard has 621 square meters, the meadow and grassed area behind it has 767 square meters.
"What you inherit from your fathers you must pass on in order to keep."
"And I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Father, Master from now on. The spirit speaks, that they rest from their work, because their works follow them."'
Of the five children of Johann Peter Zimmerman, the three sonst Johann Peter, Nickel Matthias, and Andreas left numerous descendants. These can be followed in a tabular summary.
We are interested in the line of Nickel Matthias Zimmerman, which stretches into the present.
Nickel Matthias Zimmerman was born October 16, 1677 and died April 13, 1731. He had seven children. (Family Book I, page 66.) Of the two sons, Johann Jost Zimmerman continues the line.
6. Johann Jost Zimmerman, born. August 23, 1713 and died January, 1792 (Family Book I, page 66a), had four children. Of his-two sons, Johann Bernhard continues the line.
5. Johann Bernhard Zimmerman, born June 2, 1743 and died April 19, 1800. Married on September 17, 1772 in the house of Johann Valentin Appel at Hauptstraze 35, and was "coupled'' with his daughter, Anna Sybilla. Johann Valentin Appel and Anna Sybilla, nee Appel, had seven children. Anna died in childbirth with the seventh child, who was born dead. Bernhard Zimmerman married four more times: 1783, 1793, 1799 and 1802. From the first marriage, Johann Peter Zimmerman continues the line.
4. Johann Peter Zimmerman, born December 11, 1773 and died July 7, 1852 in Altheim. He left ten children. (Family Book II, page 66.) Of them, Johann Christian Zimmerman, born August 17, 1800 went to Canada, in May of 1832. Elizabeth Knoll from Hauptstraze 27, born January 30, 1809, emigrated with him to America. They did not first become acquainted on the ship as assumed by descendants, but rather already knew one another in Altheim. The brother, Johann Henrich Zimmerman, born September 14, 1815 followed in 1837. He was not older as assumed by descendants, but fifteen years younger. Both brothers received a farm with 100 acres of land in Canada from the English government near Sebringville in Ontario.
The two sons that remained in Altheim have descendants, Johann Valentin Zimmerman, born January 11, 1810 and died August 27, 1837, stayed in the same house at Hauptstraze 35. The father, Johann Peter Zimmerman had only a small rural property which consisted of a two-story house, barn, cow-barn, pig pen, ten and one-half morgan field, two morgen meadows; worth of property was 960 florins. Of Peter Zimmerman's ten children, two drowned in the stream behind the house: Anna Maria,- born 1804 and drowned September 21, 1806; and Johann Peter, born 1807 and died December 9, 1810." translated by Mrs. Gerald Cleveland of Spring Valley. This letter is part of the "Zimmerman History Packet received from J. Rose 26 Feb 2005.".