Eugene Zimmerman (December 17, 1845 – December 20, 1914) was an American industrialist and railroad owner. He amassed great wealth as a stockholder or shareholder in

John D. Rockefeller John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He has been widely considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller was ...

's Standard Oil. He used the income from his Standard Oil holdings to invest in railroads.

Early life

Zimmerman was born in Vicksburg,

Warren County Warren County is the name of fourteen counties in the USA. Some are named after General Joseph Warren, who was killed in the Battle of Bunker Hill in the American Revolutionary War: * Warren County, Georgia * Warren County, Illinois * Warren County ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, on December 17, 1845. He was son of Solomon Zimmerman ( Kingston, Ross County,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, 1807 – Clifton,

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, Hamilton County,

, 13 May 1859) and wife ( Vicksburg,

, 27 February 1845) Hannah J. Biggs (

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, 1824 – Clifton,

, Hamilton County,

, 14 July 1861) and paternal grandson of Martin Zimmerman and wife Barbara Pontius. His younger brother was Martin Zimmerman and his younger sister was Ellen (née Zimmerman) Laird. After his father's death, his mother remarried to Andrew Jackson LaBoiteaux in November 1859 in Hamilton County, Ohio before her death in 1861. His grandfather was an officer in the

Dutch Army The Royal Netherlands Army ( nl, Koninklijke Landmacht) is the land branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Though the Royal Netherlands Army was raised on 9 January 1814, its origins date back to 1572, when the was raised – making the Dutc ...

. His father had moved to

from Ohio to inherit a foundry and several slaves. Eugene grew up at the family's business and was sent to

in 1859 to attend Farmer's College. In the spring of 1861, he began attending the preparatory school Gambier Academy with the intention of attending

Kenyon College Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio. It was founded in 1824 by Philander Chase. Kenyon College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Kenyon has 1,708 undergraduates enrolled. Its 1,000-acre campus is ...

Career

Upon the outbreak of the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, Zimmerman left the Academy and tried to join the

Union Navy The Union Navy was the United States Navy (USN) during the American Civil War, when it fought the Confederate States Navy (CSN). The term is sometimes used carelessly to include vessels of war used on the rivers of the interior while they were un ...

, but was refused because he was too young. After some modifications, he was accepted, becoming a

Master's mate Master's mate is an obsolete rating which was used by the Royal Navy, United States Navy and merchant services in both countries for a senior petty officer who assisted the master. Master's mates evolved into the modern rank of Sub-Lieutenant in t ...

and was assigned to the

Mississippi River Squadron The Mississippi River Squadron was the Union brown-water naval squadron that operated on the western rivers during the American Civil War. It was initially created as a part of the Union Army, although it was commanded by naval officers, and w ...

. While in the Navy, his ship was struck by torpedo which killed several seamen and threw him into the

Yazoo River The Yazoo River is a river in the U.S. states of Louisiana and Mississippi. It is considered by some to mark the southern boundary of what is called the Mississippi Delta, a broad floodplain that was cultivated for cotton plantations before th ...

. He participated in the Battle of Saint Charles and Duvall's Bluffs and served with distinction during the capture of Arkansas Post in 1863, after which he was promoted to

Ensign An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diffe ...

. During the

Vicksburg campaign The Vicksburg campaign was a series of maneuvers and battles in the Western Theater of the American Civil War directed against Vicksburg, Mississippi, a fortress city that dominated the last Confederate-controlled section of the Mississippi Ri ...

in his hometown, Zimmerman was placed in charge of a mortar boat and sent up the Yazoo River, making a successful run against the Confederate blockade at Vicksburg in April 1863. During the campaign, he was involved in several missions and was promoted to acting

Master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

and Officer of the side wheel steamer USS ''Ouachita'' after the surrender of Vicksburg which he held until the end of the War. During the

siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characteriz ...

, his former home and his father's business were destroyed. During the remainder of the war, he was eventually made a

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

and a ship commander at the age of nineteen (the youngest officer at his rank in the entire

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

). After the War, he resigned his commission, was honorably discharged, and returned to Ohio.

Business career

After the war, he went into the oil business, acquiring extensive holdings which he sold to

in exchange for shares in Standard Oil where he became a substantial stockholder and gained seat on the company's board. In 1875, Zimmerman purchased more than 13,000 acres of timberland in what is now Yosemite in

Casey County, Kentucky Casey County is a county located in the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky. Its county seat is Liberty. The county was formed in 1806 from the western part of Lincoln County and named for Colonel William Casey, a pioneer settler who moved his famil ...

. He ran a lumber mill there and built a wooden train track from Kings Mountain to Staffordsville in 1884, later organizing the Green River Railway Co. He used his income to invest in railroads and was president of the Cincinnati and Green River Railroad, and the Kentucky and South Atlantic Railroad, which later became a part of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway after he sold it to Collis P. Huntington which led to a long partnership with Huntington, including looking after his interests in the Midwest. In 1882, he became president of the Chesapeake and Nashville Railway (and constructed the Chesapeake and Ohio Bridge at Cincinnati for Huntington), and in 1888 he was elected president of Dayton, Forth Wayne and Chicago Railway. In 1904, he was made president of the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railway, and succeeded in getting the Queen and Crescent as its tributary and gaining control of the Père Marquette system, and the Chicago, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad. George M. Cumming, a lawyer with the United States Mortgage and Trust Company of New York, was elected vice president to represent the interest of New York capital. In 1906, along with his son-in-law, he toured the route of the proposed

Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Armagh, Armagh and County Down, Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry ...

Keady Keady () is a village and civil parish in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is south of Armagh and near the border with the Republic of Ireland. It is situated mainly in the historic barony of Armagh with six townlands in the barony of Tirann ...

Tynan Tynan (PlaceNamesNI - Tynan
) is a

Railway in Ireland to see whether to build a railway there. In June 1905, Cumming was elected president of the

Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad The Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad operated from 1905 to 1983 between its namesake cities of Detroit, Michigan, and Ironton, Ohio, via Toledo. At the end of 1970, it operated 478 miles of road on 762 miles of track; that year it carried 1, ...

and served for one month; he was succeeded by F. A. Durban who was elected president in July 1905 but resigned in November, and was replaced by Zimmerman. The Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railway had taken control of the Ann Arbor Railroad from Rudolph Kleybolte & Co. in June 1905. The acquisition connected Toledo with

Frankfort, Michigan Frankfort is a city in Benzie County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,286 at the 2010 census. The elevation of Frankfort is above sea level. The city is situated with Lake Michigan to the west, Lake Betsie, formed by the Bets ...

, and essentially doubled the DT&I system. The DT&I went bankrupt in 1908, forcing them to divest Ann Arbor Railroad to Zimmerman, who sold the line in 1909 to Joseph Ramsey, Jr. and Newman Erb, and retired from active business while still retaining control of his "immense coal and iron lands" in the Midwest. He continued to be a director of Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Western Railway, the Birmingham and Atlantic Railway and the North Alabama Coal and Iron Company.

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that ...

later bought DT&I in 1920.Scott D. Trostel. ''The Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad: Henry Ford's Railroad.'' Fletcher, Ohio: Cam-Tech Publishing, 1988. p. 66. At the time of his death, he was preparing to testify before Commissioner Henry Clay Hall of the Interstate Commerce Commission regarding the sale of the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad and the Père Marquette to J.P. Morgan & Co., for which Zimmerman made a profit of more than $1,000,000. Testimony given before the Commission told how J. Pierpont Morgan suffered a $12,00,000 loss when he acquired the Zimmerman's Great Central system, then failed to sell it to the

Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the northeastern United States, originally connecting New York City — more specifically Jersey City, New Jersey, where Erie's Pavonia Terminal, long demolished, used to stand — with Lake Er ...

, and "was forced to throw the system into the hands of a receiver." Frederick W. Stevens testified that Zimmerman and his associates loaded $24,000,000 worth of obligations on the railroad and took a 999-year lease on the Père Marquette system and guaranteed the road's bonds. In his later years, he traveled through Europe and Africa. In 1901, he sailed aboard the

Cunard Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Berm ...

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

'' with Miss B. Evans, his late wife's sister, for a month in Ireland with his daughter at Tandragee Castle in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

Personal life

In 1878,Sometimes appears 1876. Zimmerman was married to Marietta A. "Etta" Evans ( Urbana, Champaign County,

, 1848 – 23 December 1882), a daughter of Abraham

Evans Evans may refer to: People *Evans (surname) *List of people with surname Evans Places United States *Evans Island, an island of Alaska *Evans, Colorado *Evans, Georgia *Evans County, Georgia *Evans, New York *Evans Mills, New York *Evans City, ...

of West Liberty, and wife ( Champaign County,

, 17 March 1845) Elizabeth Igou, daughter of Peter Igou,

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer m ...

, and wife Susan McKenzie. Before her death in December 1882 from

peritonitis Peritonitis is inflammation of the localized or generalized peritoneum, the lining of the inner wall of the abdomen and cover of the abdominal organs. Symptoms may include severe pain, swelling of the abdomen, fever, or weight loss. One part o ...

, they were the parents of one child together: * Helena Zimmerman (1878–1971), who married

William Montagu, 9th Duke of Manchester William Angus Drogo Montagu, 9th Duke of Manchester PC (Kimbolton Castle, 3 March 1877 – Seaford, 9 February 1947), styled Lord Kimbolton from 1877 to 1890 and Viscount Mandeville from 1890 to 1892, was a British peer and Liberal politician ...

in 1900. They divorced in 1931 and, in 1937, she married

Arthur Keith-Falconer, 10th Earl of Kintore Arthur George Keith-Falconer, 10th Earl of Kintore, 12th Lord Falconer of Halkerton, 10th Lord Keith of Inverurie and Keith Hall (5 January 1879 – 26 May 1966) was a British soldier and aristocrat. Early life Arthur George Keith-Falconer was b ...

and remained married until his death in 1966. Zimmerman lived at 2448 Auburn Avenue, the southeast corner of Auburn and McMillan in Mount Auburn, an affluent neighborhood in

, Hamilton County,

, and was a member of the Loyal Legion, the Lotos Club, the American Yacht Club, and the Queen City Club of Cincinnati. He died at the Queen City Club on December 20, 1914. A few minutes before his death, he had been laughing over a $100,000 breach of promise suit filed against him in New York by Icy Wareham the previous June. Reportedly, Wareham, a dog fancier from Elmhurst on Long Island, alleged Zimmerman promised to marry her on December 30, 1913 and she was ready to marry him still. After his daughter returned to Ohio from Europe, he was buried at

Spring Grove Cemetery Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum () is a nonprofit rural cemetery and arboretum located at 4521 Spring Grove Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio. It is the third largest cemetery in the United States, after the Calverton National Cemetery and Abraham ...

in Cincinnati. He left an estate valued at $10,000,000 in trust. From the beginning of his daughter's marriage, the Duke had financial difficulties and was known as a profligate gambler who spent lavishly on other women. In 1908, Zimmerman paid off the Duke's debts but made them in the form of payments for the purchase of various Manchester estates (including

Kimbolton Castle Kimbolton Castle is a country house in Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire, England. It was the final home of King Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Originally a medieval castle but converted into a stately palace, it was the family seat o ...

, Kylemore Castle and Tandragee Castle), which were held for his grandson,

Viscount Mandeville A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

. By 1918, sixty-six petitions of bankruptcy had been filed against his son-in-law in the English courts. After becoming estranged in 1914, the Duke and Duchess eventually divorced in 1931. His only child, the Dowager Countess of Kintore, died at Keith Hall in

Inverurie Inverurie (Scottish Gaelic: ''Inbhir Uraidh'' or ''Inbhir Uaraidh'', 'mouth of the River Ury') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland at the confluence of the rivers Ury and Don, about north-west of Aberdeen. Geography Inverurie is in the va ...

on 15 December 1971 and was buried alongside her second husband at the Keith Hall Burial Ground in Inverurie.

Descendants

Through his daughter Helena, he was the grandfather of four, including Lady Mary Alice Montagu (1901–1962);

Alexander Montagu, 10th Duke of Manchester Commander Alexander George Francis Drogo Montagu, 10th Duke of Manchester, OBE, RN (Tandragee Castle, 2 October 1902 – 23 November 1977), was a Royal Navy officer and British hereditary peer. From birth until February 1947, he was known by the ...

(1902–1977); Lord Edward Eugene Fernando Montagu (1906–1954); and Lady Ellen Millicent Louise Montagu (1908–1948).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmerman, Eugene 1845 births 1914 deaths American industrialists People from Vicksburg, Mississippi People from Cincinnati Burials at Spring Grove Cemetery 19th-century American businesspeople