Story of a veteran and druggist

John Zimmerman (1837-1914) was a Civil War veteran and a druggist in Fairbury for many years.

He was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1837. When he was three, his family emigrated from Germany to Crawford County, Ohio, in 1840. In 1848, when John was eleven years old, the Zimmerman family moved to a farm east of Ottawa.

A major player in John Zimmerman's life story was J. F. Blackburn. John Fletcher Blackburn was also born in 1837 but in Washington, Illinois. He learned the profession of druggist and moved to Fairbury sometime before 1860.

Fairbury was created in 1857 when the Peoria & Oquawka Railroad laid its tracks from Peoria straight east to the Indiana border. In 1858, John Zimmerman moved to Pontiac. He moved to Fairbury in 1859, just two years after Fairbury was created. John was one of the first businessmen in Fairbury.

On October 12, 1860, Fairbury was granted a charter to form the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, named the Fairbury Livingston Lodge 290. According to the 1878 Livingston County history book, the five charter members were J. F. Blackburn, John J. Young, W. H. Strevell, John T. Bowen, and John Zimmerman. Mr. Zimmerman and Mr. Blackburn were friends and were soon to become brother-in-laws.

The Civil War began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina's Charleston Harbor. The population of Fairbury in 1860 was 262 citizens plus about 600 farmers surrounding Fairbury. Assuming half of the city's population was male, there were about 130 men. This data gives a male population of about 730. So, if 301 men served in the Civil War out of a male population of 730, this means about 41% of the men served.

68% of the Fairbury area veterans lived in Fairbury, 14% lived in Indian Grove Township, 13% lived in Avoca Township, and 5% lived in Belle Prairie Township. There were 31 casualties suffered by Fairbury area veterans, which indicates the casualty rate was about 10%.

The largest military unit comprised of Fairbury area men was the 129th Illinois Infantry Company E, which had 103 men. About 34% of the Fairbury men who served in the Civil War were a part of the 129th Illinois Infantry Company E.

The second largest military unit of Fairbury area men was the 3rd Illinois Cavalry Company K, with 90 men. About 30% of the Fairbury men who served in the Civil War were in the 3rd Illinois Cavalry Company K. The rest of the Fairbury veterans served in many other different units.

On March 14, 1861, J. F. Blackburn married Margaret Hensley in Fairbury. John was 24, and Margaret was 21 when they married. John and Margaret had three children.

In August 1861, just four months after the Civil War started, John Zimmerman enlisted in the 3rd Illinois Cavalry Company K. His home address when he enlisted was Fairbury, Illinois.

In August 1862, J. F. Blackburn enlisted in the 129th Infantry Company E. Mr. Blackburn listed his occupation as a druggist, and his home address was Fairburgh, Illinois.

When Fairbury was created in 1857, an application was sent to Washington to apply for a Post Office. Unfortunately, the paperwork got messed up, and the new Post Office name came back as Fairburgh, not Fairbury. Because of the Civil War, Congress did not fix the mistake until about 1868. Some of the Civil War veterans listed their home address as Fairbury, but many used the Fairburgh address for their Civil War records.

After serving just over a year in the 3rd Illinois Cavalry Company K, John Zimmerman was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in September of 1862.

J. F. Blackburn served in the 129th Infantry Company E for about six months. He resigned from the military in February 1863 because of ill health. His 1905 obituary noted that he suffered the rest of his life from stomach trouble and other disorders related to his Civil War service. Mr. Blackburn went back to Fairbury and started a drug store.

Six months after J. F. Blackburn resigned, John Zimmerman also had to resign due to ill health in August of 1863. Mr. Zimmerman returned to Fairbury and joined the firm of J. F. Blackburn & Co., a drug store.

About four years after John Zimmerman resigned from the military and went to work with J. F. Blackburn, Mr. Zimmerman married Sarah E. Henslee. When they married, Mr. Zimmerman was 30, and Sarah was 23. John and Sarah Zimmerman had no children. Sarah was the younger sister of Margaret Henslee, wife of J. F. Blackburn. Mr. Zimmerman and Mr. Blackburn became brother-in-laws and business partners in Fairbury.

J. F. Blackburn and John Zimmerman ran their drug store business in Fairbury from 1863 until 1876, a period of 13 years. In 1876, Mr. Blackburn decided to sell his interest in the Fairbury drug store to Mr. Zimmerman and moved to Hutchinson, Kansas. Mr. Blackburn opened a drug store in Hutchinson and was one of the first businessmen in that area. Mr. Blackburn died in 1905 in Hutchinson at the age of 68 and was buried there. Mr. Blackburn's wife died in Hutchinson in 1923 at the age of 78 and was buried with her husband.

John Zimmerman continued the drug store business in Fairbury until he died in 1914 at the age of 77. He operated this drug store for 38 years after his brother-in-law, J. F. Blackburn, went to Kansas in 1876. In his obituary, it was reported that John Zimmerman served one term as Livingston County Sheriff and had also served as a Fairbury Justice of the Peace. John Zimmerman was interred at the mausoleum in Graceland Cemetery. John Zimmerman's wife died in 1923 at the age of 78. She was buried with her husband in the mausoleum.

John Zimmerman and J. F. Blackburn were the same age, and they were both druggists. They both served in the Civil War and had to resign from their positions as soldiers due to medical conditions. They became brothers-in-law when they married the Henslee sisters in Fairbury. They were business partners in a Fairbury drugstore for about 13 years. They were among the five charter members who formed the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Fairbury Lodge 290 in 1860.

Both John Zimmerman and J. F. Blackburn contributed to the success of early Fairbury. A review of genealogical records indicates that John Zimmerman was not related to the Zimmerman family, which ran the hardware store in Fairbury in the 1960s.

Dale Maley's weekly history feature on Fairbury News is sponsored by Dr. Charlene Aaron.