Biography of Elias Zimmerman, pages 956/957/958/959. History of DeKalb County, Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, 1914. In the past ages of the history of a county was comprised chiefly in the record of its wars and conquests. Today history is largely a record of commercial activity and those whose names are foremost in the annals of the nation are those who have become leaders in business circles. The conquest now made are those of mind over matter, and the victor is he who can most successfully establish, control and operate commercial and industrial interest. Eliza Zimmerman is unquestionably on of the strongest and most influential men whose lives have been an essential part of the history of DeKalb county. Tireless energy, keen perception, honesty of purpose, genius for devising and executing the right thing at the right time, are the chief characteristics of the man. These, combined with every-day common sense and guided by strong will power, are concomitants, which will insure success in any undertaking. Elias Zimmerman was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, on May 30, 1829, and is a son of John and Mary (Paden) Zimmerman. In the fall of 1831 the family moved to what is now Ashland (formerly Montgomery) county, Ohio, where they lived until the middle of May, 1844, when they moved to DeKalb county, Indiana. Here John Zimmerman bought two quarter sections and settled in the woods two miles west of Spencerville. He came here early in the spring and had brought a hired man with him to help in the work of clearing the land and putting it in cultivation. They cleared about three acres that spring, and erected a shanty, about twenty- four by ten feet in size, built of small trees, with the bed made of sappling poles clear across one end from wall to wall. The cabin had no chimney, but they cooked outside. The first summer they cleared fifteen acres of land, and in the fall they hewed logs and built a house in which the family lived for six or eight years. This quarter section of land John Zimmerman succeeded in clearing and improving, but the other quarter section, southwest of Spencerville, he leased out, instead of clearing. The first fall they sowed wheat, the mode of their operations being necessarily somewhat crude. After clearing out the logs and raking and burning the trash, the wheat was sowed broadcast between the stumps and was dragged in, it not being possible to plow because of the stumps. It grew, but when about knee high the tops were killed by frost. However, it sprouted again and they got one hundred bushels from fifteen acres. John Zimmerman’s first wife had died in Ohio before the family removed to Indiana, and he afterwards married Rebecca Folk. When he came to Indiana there were three boys and three girls by the first marriage and one by the second marriage, three more children being born here. After the death of his second wife John Zimmerman married Mrs. Nancy Murray, a widow, the mother of Henry Murray, now of Spencerville. In an early day Peter Bowman came from Ashland county Ohio, and set up a saw-mill on the Zimmerman farm. Soon after 1850 Elias Zimmerman bought this mill and operated it for several years. After John Zimmerman had lived at Cedarville a few years, having moved there from the farm west of Spencerville, he built a house at Leo, Allen county, where he lived for a time, and then bought a mill at Spencerville, a picture of which is shown elsewhere in this volume. Eliza Zimmerman operated for about a year the saw-mill on his father’s farm, west of Spencerville, referred to above, then moved it to Leo, where he operated it for several years. He then bought an acre of ground adjoining the saw-mill , on which he erected a stave factory, making oil-barrel staves for several years and also installing a shingle mill. He continued these operation there until 1875, when he sold his interest at Leo and moved to Auburn, where his son Frank was already engaged in the operation of a planing mill. Becoming identified with the business, Elias Zimmerman has since had much to do with its progress and development and is now at the head of the concern, which is conducted under the name of the Zimmerman Mfg. Co., and is the oldest manufacturing concern in Auburn in point of continuous existence. For detailed reference to the Zimmerman factory of Auburn, the reader is referred to the sketch of John Zimmerman, which appears elsewhere in this work. In 1850 Elias Zimmerman married Mary Bittenger, who died in 1872, leaving five children, Frank, George, John, Alice and Ada. Of these Frank, George and Alice are deceased; John is secretary, treasurer and general manager of the Zimmerman Mfg. Co., and Adda is the wife of C. C. Schatter, of Fort Wayne. On January 1, 1884, Elias Zimmerman married Priscilla Coder, who was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, the daughter of John and Elizabeth (Griffith) Coder. Her parents, who were both natives of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, moved first to Ohio, and eventually to DeKalb county, Indiana, locating in 1867 on a farm west of Spencerville. They lived there until about 1886, when the father retired from active farming and moved to St. Joe, where they spent their last days and died, the father passing away at the age of seventy-six years and the mother with seventy-four yeas old. They were well known throughout that community and were highly esteemed. About 1869 Miss Priscilla Coder began teaching school and during the following twelve years she was successfully engaged in the country schools and at Spencerville. In 1880 she came to Auburn and taught in the primary grade for four years, having an average of eighty-five pupils and at one time as many as one hundred and fifteen. To Elias and Priscilla Zimmerman has been born a daughter, Elizabeth, who is well educated. After graduation from the Auburn high school she became a student in DePauw University, where she was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Her scholarship was of such a high standard that she was awarded the Phi Beta Kappa membership, a membership in a national organization that is based solely on high scholarship. Religiously, Mr. Zimmerman is an earnest and faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Auburn, to the support of which he is a liberal contributor. It is useless to say that Mr. Zimmerman has worked hard and honorably earned the reputation which he enjoys as one of the leading public- spirited citizens of this locality, and it is also needless to add that he is held in the highest esteem by all with whom he has come in contact, for through the years he has thrown the force of his strong individuality and sterling integrity into making the county what it is, efforts which have not failed of appreciation on the part of his fellow citizens. Submitted by: Arlene Goodwin Auburn, Indiana Agoodwin@ctlnet.com