Zimmerman, Robert B.

Born: 1811-10-05 Centre County, Pennsylvania

Died: 1894-05-12 Springfield, Illinois

Flourished: Springfield, Illinois

Zimmerman learned to be a painter and a chair maker in New York before moving west in 1835. He settled in Springfield and married Susan P. Seeley in 1838. They had one child before Susan's death in 1840. In 1845, Robert remarried to Mary C. Townsend, with whom he had two children who both died young. They later adopted a daughter. Zimmerman was a Presbyterian and served the Second Presbyterian Church in Springfield for many years in several different offices. Zimmerman operated several businesses in Springfield for many years, both alone and in partnerships with others. He owned a chair and furniture manufactory, a paint and building supply store, and a commercial painting firm. Politically, Zimmerman was a Whig, and he later became a Republican.

Whig City Meeting; John Carroll Power and S. A. Power, History of the Early Settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois (Springfield, IL: Edwin A. Wilson, 1876), 797; History of Sangamon County, Illinois (Chicago: Inter-State, 1881), 645, 733-34; Gravestone, Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, IL.