Cornelius Zimmerman, a soldier of the Civil War and a farmer of Beavercreek township, now living practically retired on his farm on rural mail route No. 7 out of Xenia, was born in that township on October 9, 1844, son of Jacob and Mary (Shoup) Zimmerman, both of whom also were born in that township, members of pioneer families, as will be noted in references made elsewhere in this volume to the Zimmerman and Shoup families in this county. Jacob Zimmerman was born in 1806 and died on June 14, 1867. In addition to his farming operations he also kept a grocery and the hamlet that sprang up around his store was given the name of Zimmermans, which it bears to this day. He and his wife were members of the Church of the Brethren and their children were reared in that faith. They had six children, two of whom died in infancy, the others besides the subject of this sketch being Catherine, who married Abraham Coy and who, as well as her husband, is now deceased; Caroline, also deceased, who was the wife of Cyrus Roup, and Martha J., wife of George F. Ferguson, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere.
Reared on the home place, Cornelius Zimmerman received his schooling in the local schools. During the progress of the Civil War he enlisted in the hundred-days service and upon the completion of that service resumed his place on the farm, also engaging in the threshing business, which latter he kept up during seasons for about thirty-five years. He married in the summer of 1866 and thereafter farmed on his own account, occupying various farms in the neighborhood until about eighteen years ago, when he bought the farm of sixty-seven acres on which he is now living and has since made his home there. Mr. Zimmerman is a Republican. For more than forty years he has been a member of the Church of the Brethren and for thirty-eight years has served as treasurer of the local congregaton of that church. He is an ardent friend of prohibition.
Mr. Zimmerman has been twice married. On June 21, 1866, he was united in marriage to Ada Crawford and to that union were born seven children, namely: Frank, now living at Dayton, who married Lena Leonard and has two daughters, Sarah and Lydia; Nettie, widow of Charles Moler, who has two sons, Floyd E., of Springfield, who is married and has a son, Charles A., and Ralph E.; William T., now living at Oakwood. a suburb of Dayton, who married Susan Wolf and has seven children, Martin, Mary, Robert, Caleb, George, Thomas and Martha; Cora M., who married Newton J. Coy and has three children, Roy, Crawford and Dorothy; John H., now living at Springfield, who has been twice married, his first wife having been Elizabeth Anderson and his second, Bessie Willard; Nellie, who married Charles Wright, of Beavertown, and has three children, Harold, Fred and Louise; and J. Garfield, now living at Piqua, who married Elsie Stine and has a son, Loren. The mother of these children died on July 2, 1880, and in December, 1882, Mr. Zimmerman married Mary C. Trubee, of Zinmierman, and to that union two children have been born, Russell, who is at home, and Lester L, who married Bonnie Moore and is now living at St. Louis, Missouri, a teacher in the high school of that city.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918