Ernest G. Zimmer, M.D.
A worthy representative of the medical profession in Grant County, is Dr. Ernest G. Zimmer, who for the past fourteen years has been located at Upland, and whose professional work began more than a quarter of a century ago. Both by his personal character and his technical ability he has dignified his calling, and has won a prestige by which he well merits recognition in this volume of Grant county biography. Dr. Zimmer is a graduate of the Cincinnati School of Medicine and Surgery, with the class of 1886. Soon after leaving medical college he established himself in practice at Santa Fe, Miami county, Indiana, and was in active practice there, until 1899. Then, following a course at the Chicago Polyclinic, he located at Upland, where he has built up a representative clientage and is recognized as one of the leaders of his profession.
Dr. Zimmer was born at Cincinnati, Ohio in 1858. His early advantages after the common schools were secured largely through his own work with an ambition definitely fixed upon a professional career. He was a student in the normal school at Lebanon, Ohio, and spent two years in the medical department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and later graduated with the degree of M.D. at the Cincinnati School of Medicine and Surgery. His father, George Zimmer, had a noteworthy career as a German immigrant to America. Born in Baden, Germany, he was of a good family, and many of its members gained distinction both in military and civic life. He was reared in his land, where he learned the trade of a baker, and then in the revolutionary activities of the late forties he found himself a patriot on the side of the rebels. His uncle, General Wiler, of the German Army, advised young George to flee from his native country and use all secrecy in making his escape, leaving by night, otherwise he would pay forfeit of his life for his rebellion. He escaped from Baden and became a stowaway on a sailing vessel bound for the United States. Arriving in the City of New york without a penny, he begged a loaf of bread, and that was his only food for three days, while in the meantime he spent three nights in a deserted church. At the end of that time he found work at three dollars a week, and finally drifted west to Cincinnati. Within a few years he had saved money enough to send for his sweetheart, whom he had left behind in Germany. Her name was Catherine Sutter, who was born in the same town as George Zimmer. After her arrival in the United States they were married, and started out to make their fortunes. As a baker Mr. Zimmer found regular employment in different places, and finally, with a capital of four hundred dollars, he went to Keokuk, Iowa, during the boom in that city, and invested all his savings in real estate. The boom collapsed, and all his surplus was thus swept away. With his wife and baby, Ernest G., he had to work his way back to Cincinnati, stopping at St. Louis a brief time, and then on to their destination. He soon afterward located at St. Paris, Ohio, where he was engaged in business for himself and lived until his death in 1893. He was born in 1827. His wife was born in 1830, and passed away in 1906. In her native land she had been a school teacher, and throughout her life kept up on current literature. She was a woman of unusual powers of mind and character. Both were members of the Evangelical church in Germany, and in this country worshipped in the Lutheran faith. On first coming to America, George Zimmer espoused the principles of the Whig party, and afterward was a staunch adherent of the principles of the Republican party. Mr. and Mrs. Zimmer were the parents of eight children, six of whom grew to maturity and are still living and four of these are married and have children of their own. Frank A. is a prominent lawyer in Urbana, Ohio and has one son. Emanuel R. is a dentist engaged in practice in Greenville, Missouri and has one daughter. Fritz is unmarried, being a baker by trade, and also lives in Greenville, Missouri. Mrs. Mary Mitchell, who for a number of years was a successful teacher at St. Paris, Ohio. Dr. Zimmer, the oldest of the children, was married in Ohio to Miss Eva Cook. Detroit, Michigan was her birthplace, and she received superior educational advantages in different places, chiefly in Chester county, Pennsylvania, near the home of Bayard Taylor. Dr. Zimmer and wife, have one daughter, a talented young woman who is well known in Grant county, Miss Edna George Zimmer, who resides with her parents. She was educated in the Upland public schools and Taylor
University. She early showed talent as a musician, and by study at home and under excellent instructors has become very proficient as a violinist and is now a member of the faculty of the Marion Conservatory of Music. Dr. Zimmer is affiliated with the Masonic order and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and his politics is Republican.
From Centennial History of Grant County, Indiana 1812-1912, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1914