My Genealogy Hound

John C. Wimmer dates his residence in Union county from 1882 and for a number of years was a well known and prominent representative of farming interests but is now living retired, making his home in Creston. He was born in Franklin county, Indiana, in 1841, and is a representative of an old American family, coming, however, from German ancestry. His paternal grandfather, William Wimmer, served as a soldier in the war of 1812. His father, Flemmon Wimmer, was born in Virginia and devoted much of his life to general agricultural pursuits. On leaving the Old Dominion in 1821 he cast in his lot with the early settlers who were reclaiming the state of Indiana for the purposes of civilization. He bought land in Franklin county, aided in the development of that region and became a prosperous citizen there. He belonged to the Baptist church and his influence was ever given on the side of right, truth and progress. His political support was freely accorded the whig party up to the time of its dissolution, when he joined the ranks of the new republican party. In early manhood he wedded Abigail Davis, who was born in Tipton county, Indiana, and was of German and English lineage. Her grandfather was a soldier of the colonial army in the Revolutionary war. Like her husband, Mrs. Wimmer was a member of the Baptist church and her life exemplified her Christian faith. This worthy couple, esteemed and respected by all who knew them, had a family of twelve children: Lavina, deceased; John C., of this review; William, who participated in the Civil war as a drummer in Company E, Eighty-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry, but is now deceased; Henry, who fought for the Union as a member of Company F, One Hundred and Twenty-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and is now a retired farmer living in Colorado; Hannah, deceased; Daniel M., living in Lincoln township; Evaline, deceased; Elizabeth, the widow of James F. Harkness, who makes her home in Creston; Amos, an agriculturist of Adair county, Iowa; Elbert, living in Indiana, who is a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church; and two who died in infancy.

No event of special importance occurred to vary the routine of farm life for John C. Wimmer in his boyhood and youth. He was early trained to the work of the fields and when not so engaged he was a student in the country schools, thus acquiring a fair English education. Throughout his business career he has followed farming but his labors were interrupted by active service in the Civil war. He watched with interest the progress of events that preceded and followed the outbreak of hostilities and on the 1st of October, 1861, with patriotic spirit aroused, he enrolled at Lawrenceburg, Indiana, as a member of Company H, Thirty-seventh Indiana Volunteer Infantry. On the 20th of June, 1862, however, he was mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky, having been injured while in the line of duty and discharged because of physical disability. When his company was re-organized he was elected second sergeant but they never were called out.

Mr. Wimmer then returned to the farm in Indiana, where he remained until 1868, when he came to Iowa. In that year he located in Adair county, where he purchased land and carried on farming for fourteen years, bringing his fields under a high state of cultivation, the rich soil responding readily to the care and labor which he bestowed upon the place. In 1882 he arrived in Union county and established his home on a farm in Lincoln township, which he continued to cultivate with gratifying results until 1901. The rich harvests which he annually gathered and placed upon the market enabled him to add to his capital year by year until he felt that his financial resources justified his retirement from active business life. For the past six years he has made his home in Creston and is pleasantly situated. He has been quite successful in his undertakings and at one time owned four hundred acres of land, while he still has a farm of two hundred acres in Lincoln township and one hundred and sixty acres in Kansas, these properties returning to him a good income.

In 1864 Mr. Wimmer was married to Miss Mary Howell, who was born in Decatur county, Indiana, in 1846, a daughter of Samuel and Eliza Howell. Her father was a school teacher and a pioneer farmer of that locality and there reared a family of nine children, of whom Mrs. Wimmer was the third in order of birth. Unto our subject and his wife have been born eight children, namely: Laura J., who is the wife of Granville A. Heath, a fireman on the Rock Island Railroad in Des Moines; Eliza O., who became the wife of George Wiesseman, an agriculturist of Adair county; Frank E., who resides in Spaulding township; Samuel H., who follows farming in South Dakota; Hugh D., of Livingston, Montana, who is an engineer on the Northern Pacific Railroad; Oscar F., a lawyer of Kansas City, Missouri; George M., who carries on agricultural pursuits near Ainsworth, Nebraska; and Grace E., the wife of Chester Bunzendahl, a stenographer employed in Kansas City, Missouri.

Mr. and Mrs. Wimmer also have thirteen grandchildren. In his political views Mr. Wimmer is a republican and has held a number of township offices but has not been ambitious in the line of office holding. He belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic, his affiliation being with Potter Post, and both he and his wife are devoted and faithful members of the Baptist church. The principles which have guided him in his daily life and in his relations with his fellowmen have made his an honorable and honored career and wherever known Mr. Wimmer is held in the highest respect.