Engelbert Zimmerman, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Engelbert Zimmerman
ENGELBERT ZIMMERMAN, journalist, was born in Blumenfeld, Grand Duchy of Baden, Germany, December 10, 1839, and is the eldest of three children born to Joseph and Walburg Zimmerman, also, natives of Baden. In 1846, the parents emigrated to the United States, and settled in Fort Wayne, Ind., where Engelbert was educated in a private school. On the 8th day of January, 1854, he entered the office of Thomas Figar, editor and publisher of the Fort Wayne Sentinel, and served an apprenticeship of six years at the printing business. On the 17th of February, 1860, he accepted the formanship of the Columbia City News, then published by I. B. McDonald, which position he held, together with that of local editor, until the 14th of November of the same year, when he bought the office from Mr. McDonald for $600, and infused new life into the establishment. He continued the publication of the News until sometime in the spring of 1864, when he was compelled to suspend its publication on account of rapidly failing health. He remained out of business for several months, spending most of the time on the Atlantic Coast. In June of the same year (1864), having fully recovered, he started the Columbia City Post, with an entirely new outfit of material and continued its publication without interruption until December, 1865, when he sold the office to his brother, Frank J. Zimmerman, who had learned the "art preservative" under him. On the 14 of January, 1866, he commenced the publication of the Fort Wayne Daily and Weekly Democrat, and November 14, 1868, he sold the office. He then purchased the Wyandot Democratic Union, at Upper Sandusky, Ohio, from Col. Robert D. Durum, which he published for nearly two years. On the 7th of March, 1871, he issued the first number of the Valparaiso Messenger, and at once made it a financial success. In politics, he has always been an unswerving Democrat, but never a party "hack" for the spoils. In 1862, he was married to Lucinda H. Watson, of Lima, Ohio, at Columbia City, Ind., by the Rev. Luke Dorland, pastor of the Presbyterian Church. He had seven children by this marriage, namely, Arthur F., born at Columbia City, Ind., October 11, 1863; Joseph E., born at Columbia City, December 20, 1865; Clement A., born at Fort Wayne, December 10, 1866; Andrew J., born at Fort Wayne, October 9, 1868; Walburg, born at Upper Sandusky, Ohio, April 9, 1879; Grace L. born in Valparaiso, June 9, 1871; Horace G., born in Valparaiso, October 18, 1873; Lucinda H., born in Valparaiso, May 3, 1878. (Grace L. and Lucinda H. are dead.) On the 3rd of May, 1878, his wife, with whom he had lived happily and prospered, died and he remained a widower for two years. On the 14th of June, 1880, he was married to Mary A. McMahon, a native of Indiana, by Rev. Robert Beer, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of this city. By this marriage he had one child - Bertha F., born June 12, 1881. As a journalist, he is a ready and forcible writer. He is warm-hearted, generous to a fault, and never goes back on a man who has ever befriended hi. On the 1st of August, 1881, he sold a one-half interest in the Messenger to Prof. H. B. Brown, of the Northern Indiana Normal School. Mr. Zimmerman was the first man in Valparaiso to introduce steam presses. The Messenger is one of the established fixtures of the city, and wields great influence in the county and city.
Source: Goodspeed, Weston A., and Charles Blanchard. 1882. Counties of Porter and Lake, Indiana: Historical and Biographical, Illustrated. Chicago, Illinois: F. A. Battey & Company. 771 p.
Page(s) in Source: 279-280
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook