ZIMMERMAN, JOHN (son of George Gottlab Zimmerman and Julia Ann Hoke of Franklin, Pa.). Born Oct. 3, 1820, in Washington county, Md. Came to Utah in 1852.

Married Harriet Laura Lamb Sept. 21, 1850, Garden Grove, Iowa (daughter of Erastus Lamb and Abigail Jackson, of Wayne county, N.Y.), who was born Dec. 2, 1830, and died Feb. 22, 1899. Their children: George Erastus, m. Mary Ann Clark; Harriet Abigail, m. Henry Moroni Royle; Louisa Emeline, m. Abel John Evans; Margaret, m. [Elias] Albert Bushman; Polly Ann, m. David Lossie; Elizabeth, m. Isaac Fox; Juliann, m. George Southwick; Suel, m. Flora Bushman; John. Jr.; Jacob Henry, and Robert Wilson, died.

Member 68th quorum seventies; high priest; block teacher. Major in Nauvoo legion; veteran Indian wars; city councilman. Farmer and sheep raiser. Died November, 1908, Lehi, Utah.

2. Zimmerman Family of Lehi, Utah, p. 27
By William Z. Terry, Ogden, Utah, 1956
Copy in possession of Ann Lewis

 John Zimmerman, son of George Gottlob Zimmerman and Juliana Hoke, was born October 3, 1820 in Washington County, Maryland; died November 17, 1908 at Lehi, Utah.  During his youth he received a fair education, principally from his father, a professional teacher.  As his father’s family moved west into Illinois, John went along, although he did not join the LDS church until March 2, 1856 in Lehi.

He married Harriet Laura Lamb in Garden Grove, Iowa and came to Utah in 1852 with the Lamb family, leaving Garden Grove June 1, in James C. Snow’s Company, arriving in Salt Lake City during the last week in September.  In Cache Cave at the head of Echo Canyon, Utah, many early trappers, explorers, and immigrants scratched their names in the soft sandstone.  Among these inscriptions we find “J. Zimmerman–1852.”

John Zimmerman settled at Lehi where he became a very successful farmer and stock-holder in several business enterprises.  He was active in the civic organizations, one of the first policemen in Lehi, supervisor of roads, major in the Nauvoo Legion, adjutant of infantry in the Utah militia, adjutant of cavalry, and other positions.  He brought the first threshing machine to Lehi.  He was deeply religious, with a practical turn of mind.  Although not a member of the Church, he paid his tithing strictly from the day he entered the valley.  A year or so before his death, he told me this story.  While he was still not a member of the church and was paying his tithing some of his neighbors asked why.  His reply was, “It is this way.  I go to the bishop and pay my tithing.  Then when the children get sick, the wife sends for the elders and the children get well.  I find it cheaper to pay tithing than to pay doctor bills.”  His donation to the Immigration Fund was a wagon and six oxen each year to be used in bringing needy families across the plains.

When the people from Salt Lake City and the northern part of the territory moved South ahead of the incoming Johnson’s Army, John Zimmerman divided his entire farm into half acre lots and invited the people to pitch their tents and plant gardens for themselves.  They offer was accepted and presently his entire farm was converted into a tent city.  His wife expressed some anxiety as to what they would live on, to which he replied, “We have not starved to death yet.”  When the army came in they did exactly as they had agreed (a new experience for the Mormons).  They marched through Salt Lake City without molesting a thing and pitched camp some forty miles south in Cedar City, not far from Lehi.  The people from the north moved back home.  John Zimmerman found that every one who had camped on his farm had planted potatoes.  He raised the crop and sold it to the solders at a good figure.