We continue to be indebted to Margaret James Squires for research into the German church records. Today's subject is Christopher Zimmerman, member of the Second Germanna Colony.
The Zimmermann family came from Steffisburg, canton of Bern, Switzerland, before 1665 to Ravensburg, Baden, Germany. Ravensburg is very near Sulzfeld where John, the son of Christopher, stated he was from. The Sulzfeld Evangelische Church Parish (Lutheran) shows the birth of Johann Christoph Zimmermann on 16 Mar 1692 and his baptism as the 17th. He was the third son of Christian (Christian, Michael) Zimmermann and Eva Dünstler of Langenbruck, the daughter of Michael Dünster (as written).
When Christopher was six years old, his mother died. His father remarried nine months later. The new wife was Maria Barbara Edel, the daughter of Englehard Edel and his wife Anna Maria of Sulzfeld. A large second family followed.
Johann Christopher, at the age of eighteen years (on 27 Jul 1710), marrried a woman five or six years older than he was. This was Dorothea Rottle, the daughter of Martin Rottle of "Horndorff". Their first child, Johannes, was born 11 April 1711 and was baptized the next day. There were no other surviving children before Dorothea died on 16 January 1714 at twenty-seven years of age. Christopher was a widower at twenty-two years of age with a son Johannes of less than three years of age.
A year and a half later, Christopher appears in the same parish with a wife, Anna Elizabeth, when their first child, Johann Martin, was born 15 June 1715. Where the marriage took place and Anna Elizabeth's maiden name are unknown. At the age of 25, Christopher decided to leave his father and several half-siblings and to go to America. He landed in Virginia with Elizabeth and John and Andrew. It is presumed that during the trip Johann Martin died and Andrew was born. Still there is no doubt that this is the same family in Virginia as in Sulzfeld.
Later in Madison Co., VA, John Zimmerman and Elizabeth Weaver swore that Frederick Zimmerman was the only brother of "the whole blood" and heir at law of Christopher Zimmerman (II), deceased. This shows that the John Zimmerman who came to Virginia was not the son of Elizabeth (see Madison Co., VA Order Book #1-3, 1793-1798).
Other families came also from Sulzfeld in the typical pattern that the emigration of one family often led, if not simultaneously, to the eventual emigration of other families. One family that may have been from Sulzfeld (or from the nearby villages) is the Fisher family.
When the son, Johannes, of Christoph and Dorothea Zimmermann was baptized in Sulzfeld on 12 April 1711, one of the godparents was Anna Barbara Fischer. On 16 June 1715, the parents, Christoph and Anna Elisabeth Zimmermann had their child, Johann Martin, baptized with one of the witnesses being Ludwig Fischer. Though one of the later families in Virginia was Lewis and Anna Barbara Fisher, this later family could not have been the Sulzfeld family. They could be related though. As noted it was often the tendency to travel together. Also it might be noted that Johannes, b. 1711, married Ursula Blankenbaker and that Lewis Fisher (in Virginia) married Anna Barbara Blankenbaker.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.