J. E. Zimmerman. President of the Citizens State Bank of Bronson, Mr. Zimmerman had been a factor in the citizenship of Bourbon County for the past fifteen years, and had been an extensive farmer, stock man and oil producer as well as a banker.
He was born in Ashland County, Ohio, October 10, 1873, descended from a family which as the name indicates came out of Germany and were early settlers in the State of Ohio. D. H. Zimmerman, his father, was born in Ohio in 1838, spent his early life in that state, was married in Ashland County, and did an extensive business in the buying and shipping of live stock. From Ohio he removed to Sheridan County, Missouri, in 1881, and late in life in February, 1915, he came to Bronson, Kansas, where he died in the following April. He was an active member of the Christian Church, was a Mason and a republican voter. D. H. Zimmerman married Annie Dougherty, who was born in Ohio in 1843 and is now living at Bronson, Kansas. There were three children: Grant, who died when twenty-two years of age; Charles, a farmer and stock raiser in the Panhandle of Texas; and J. E. Zimmerman.
J. E. Zimmerman spent most of his early life in Shoridan County, Missouri. He began his education there, and his early training was a mixture of what the public schools could give him and the discipline of the home farm. On leaving home Mr. Zimmerman went south into Texas, and spent four years farming in Harris County near the City of Houston. In 1902 he came to Bourbon County, Kansas, and devoted several years exclusively to the business of farming. He had had his home in Bronson since 1909, and had operated extensively as a stock buyer. He still owned a farm of 160 acres 3½ miles northwest of Bronson, but the land is now all leased for oil operations and Mr. Zimmerman’s oil productions contribute largely to his financial prosperity. His home in Bronson is in the northwest part of the town and is surrounded by an extensive tract of thirteen acres of land. In 1912 he remodeled the residence into a modern home. Fraternally Mr. Zimmerman is affiliated with Granite Lodge No. 88 of the Knights of Pythias at Bronson.
He was married in 1895 at Triplett, Missouri, to Miss Abbie Minich, daughter of George and Dulsie (Wolfskill) Minich. Her father was a farmer and is now deceased, and her mother lives at Bronson with Mr. and Mrs. Zimmerman.