W. B. Zimmerman, farmer; P. O. Oakland; one of the early settlers of Coles Co., Ill.; born in Augusta Co., Va., Feb. 4, 1826, where he lived until eleven years of age, when he emigrated with his parents to Illinois, and located in Edgar Co., in 1837; in the fall of 1838, they located in what is now known as East Oakland Tp., near where Mr. Zimmerman has since lived; he being the oldest son of Martin Zimmerman who emigrated from Virginia at the above date with a family of nine children; and the year following their arrival the whole family was prostrated by malarial disease with the exception of the subject of this sketch, who had the labor of managing the forty acres which his father had purchased, and the following spring found the family largely in .debt; he remained with his father until 20 years of age, when he worked out five months at $9 per month, giving his father half of his earnings and being himself soon after prostrated by sickness, which consumed his own earnings for doctor bills and medicine; the following year he worked out by the month at $10 per month, and having saved about $75, and owning a two year colt, he hired a horse to put in his crops, and commenced farming on his own account; in 1848, he purchased his present place of eighty acres upon time payments, to which he has added by purchase as he has been able, until he now owns about 800 acres of land, upon which he has good buildings; he is also a stockholder of the Oakland National Bank to the amount of $5,000; all of the above being accumulated by his own hard labor. He married, March 1, 18-18, Louisa J. Black; she was born in Clark Co., Ill., March 13, 1827; her parents located in Illinois about 1826; they have two children now living by this union, viz., Sarah L., born April 16, 1854, and Florence I., born Feb. 18, 1859; he has held the office of School Director several terms, and is one of the Directors of the Oakland National Bank, of which he is a large stockholder; in 1842 he took by team to Chicago a load of oats which he sold at 12 cts. per bushel, receiving his pay in salt, leather and groceries, the trip consuming about eighteen days; his father died in the fall of 1852, in East Oakland Tp.
