My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM D. ZIMMERMAN, cashier of the First National Bank of Conshohocken, is a member of an old Montgomery county family who are descendants of John Jacob Zimmerman, a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, and eminent as a preacher and teacher. He is the son of Lorenzo D. and Anna M. (Dager) Zimmerman, and was born in Whitpain township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, September 7, 1854.

Mr. Zimmerman obtained his early education in the public school in the vicinity of his home, subsequently taking a course in the Norristown high school. On leaving that institution he returned to his home in Whitpain township, and remained there, assisting in various farm duties, until 1875. In that year he secured a position in the Montgomery National Bank of Norristown through a personal friendship that existed between his uncle, Isaac Zimmerman, and Mr. William H. Slingluff, who is now long deceased. The uncle has been for many years a director of the Bank of Montgomery County, the predecessor of the Montgomery National Bank, and while serving in that capacity had assisted in making Mr. Slingluff cashier of the institution, when he was but twenty-one years of age. Mr. Slingluff reciprocated this display of confidence in his own abilities by offering Mr. Zimmerman’s nephew, William D. Zimmerman, the subject of this sketch, a position as bookkeeper in the bank. The offer was accepted, and Mr. Zimmerman entered upon his duties in the institution, September 1, 1875. After fourteen years of faithful and satisfactory service in that position, Mr. Zimmerman, by way of recognition, was asked by Mr. John Slingluff, president of the Montgomery Trust Company, then recently organized and located in the same building, to accept a somewhat similar position in the new institution. This offer was accepted by Mr. Zimmerman, and he remained in that capacity until May, 1890, when he was promoted to secretary and treasurer of the Trust Company, being duly elected by the board of directors. He continued in that capacity until October 1, 1894, when the late William McDermott, cashier of the First National Bank of Conshohwken, having resigned his position, Mr. Zimmerman was elected to fill it. He entered upon the duties and responsibilities of the new position at once, and has ever since performed them to the satisfaction of all concerned, including directors and other officers, the customers of the institution and the public. He has thus had an experience of nearly thirty years in connection with banking institutions, including nineteen years in the two which are located in the Montgomery Bank building at Norristown.

Mr. Zimmerman is a Republican in politics, but has never taken an active part in political affairs, preferring to follow the pathway of close attention to business interests committed to his care. He married, April 10, 1879, Miss Mary L., daughter of William W. and Rosina (Thomas) Baily, a retired builder, formerly of Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, but then residing in Plymouth township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Zimmerman have one child, Frederic, born November 27, 1882, who is a clerk in the First National Bank of Conshohocken. Mr. Zimmerman and his family attend the Methodist church.

John Jacob Zimmerman, the earliest known ancestor of the family, was born in the village of Vaihingen, on the River Enz, Kingdom of Wurtemberg, in 1644. He became a student at the celebrated University of Tubingen, graduating in 1664. He entered the Lutheran ministry, and from 1671 to 1684 was in charge of the church at Beitigheim. Becoming involved in a controversy with the orthodox clergy, they accused him of teaching astrology and magic, and he was tried and deposed from the ministry. From 1684 to 1689 he was a professor in the University of Heidelberg. He was evidently a very learned man, having been the author of eighteen or more works upon theology and astronomy. He died in Rotterdam, Holland, in 1693, when about to take passage for America with his family. His widow, with their children, Maria Magaretha, baptized October 10, 1675; Philip Christian, baptized February 18, 1678; Matthias, baptized June 25, 1680, and Jacob Christopher, baptized May 14, 1683, continued their journey to America, leaving Rotterdam in August,, 1693, and staying in London for several months. On February 21, 1694, they arrived at Deal, and after several delays sailed from Plymouth, for America on the 18th of April. They entered Chesapeake Bay on June 14, and reached Philadelphia on June 23, proceeding thence to Germantown, where they located, and where the widow died in 1725.

In 1708, Christopher Zimmerman’s name appears among those of the members of the Mennonite church at Germantown. In the same year he bought a tract of land in Van Bibber township, Philadelphia county, and in 1734 was assessed as a land owner in Worcester township, then newly organized. In the same year he is mentioned as one of a jury to lay out a road from Pawling’s plantation to another road leading to St. James church and Norriton Mills.

The second Christopher (great-grandfather) was born, in 1735. He married Deborah, daughter of Hance and Magdalena Supplee. Their children, eight in number, were: Magdalena, born 1764, married John DeHaven; Katharine, born 1767, married John Clemens; Susanna, born 1768, married Samuel Supplee; Isaac, born 1770, died unmarried; Jacob, born 1772, married Alary White; John, born 1775, died unmarried; David, born 1777, married Mary Matthias; William, born 1781, married Esther, daughter of Thomas and Mary (Norman) Butler.

Christopher Zimmerman, the father of these children, was a farmer during the early part of his life. He resided in Worcester township. Later, and at the time of his death in 1782, he lived on the homestead in Whitpain township. His remains repose in the old Bethel church cemetery (Methodist) in Worcester. The date of his birth, 1735, is still legible on the weather-worn tombstone.

William Zimmerman (grandfather) was born and reared in Worcester township. He learned the trade of stone mason, but never followed that occupation to any extent. From 1830 to 1835 he was engaged in the lumber business in Philadelphia, in partnership with John Evans, the firm being Zimmerman & Evans. He subsequently purchased the farm in Whitpain which became the family homestead in the last century, where he resided to the time of his death. It consisted originally of two hundred acres of fertile land, but has been divided and occupied later by his sons. He was a Whig, and after the formation of the Republican party became one of its active members. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was an emergency soldier in the war of 1812, and was stationed at Marcus Hook, near Chester, Pennsylvania, for a time. His children: Sylvester and Cecilia, twins; Lorenzo D. and Franklin. William Zimmerman died November 6, 1862, in the eighty-second year of his age. His wife, Esther, died August 8, 1888, at the age of ninety years.

Lorenzo D. Zimmerman (father) was born in Gwynedd township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, July 20, 1827. His father soon afterwards removed to Philadelphia and thence to Whitpain township, Montgomery county, where he received his early education at the Ellis school, near Washington Square, in that township. He reared his family on the Whitpain homestead, having married, in 1853, Anna Maria, daughter of Jacob and Caroline (Streeper) Dager, of Springfield township. They had two children, William D., subject of this sketch, and George S., who occupies the homestead. Lorenzo D. Zimmerman continued in an extensive farming business until February, 1881, when he retired from active pursuits. He removed to Norristown, where he purchased a site, No. 1300 DeKalb street, and erected a handsome residence in which he has since lived, enjoying well-earned retirement.

On his mother’s side Mr. Zimmerman is descended from Leonard Streeper, who was the owner of an extensive tract of land in Whitemarsh township in colonial times. From this farm he donated the ground on which are the Barren Hill church and cemetery. He had a son, George Streeper, of Whitemarsh, who died in 1864, at the age of eighty-two years. He married Elizabeth Hinckel, who was born near Philadelphia in 1779, and attained the age of ninety-two years, her death having occurred in 1871. Caroline S. Dager, grandfather of William D. Zimmerman, was his daughter.