ZIMMERMAN, ROBERT B., was born Oct. 5, 1811, in Centre county, Pennsylvania, and went from there to Elmira, New York, where he learned the business of a painter and chair maker. In the summer of 1835 he started west, traveling by stage, he missed his connections at Terre Haute, Indiana, and there being but one stage a week, rather than remain idle he and one or two others started on foot. Arriving at the Okaw river in Illinois they found a company of emigrants from Tennessee, numbering one hundred and twenty wagons, with a corresponding number of men, women and children, all waiting until the men could construct a bridge for the teams to cross. They remained with the emigrants, riding and walking alternately, and reached Springfield Nov. 18, 1835. R. B. Zimmerman was married Dec. 25, 1838, at Farmington, now Farmindale, Sangamon county, to Susan P. Seeley. Mrs. Zimmerman died Oct. 30, 1840, leaving one child--

SUSAN L., born April 17, 1840, in Springfield, Illinois. She was married April 17, 1860, to Eugene L. Gross, who was born Dec. 25, 1836, in Starkville, Herkimer county, New York. Rev. Alba Gross, the father of Eugene L., is a preacher in connection with the Baptist Church, and came to Fulton county, Illinois, in 1844, but now resides in Chatham, Illinois. E. L. Gross studied law at Knoxville, was admitted to the bar, and practiced a short time at Mount Sterling, and came to Springfield, in 1858. He revised and published the ordinances of the city of Springfield in 1865. In January, 1868, he compiled and published a digest of the criminal laws of Illinois. In February, 1868, he, in connection with his brother, Colonel William L. Gross, began their compilation of the Statutes of Illinois, which were published in the fall of the same year. Their last volume was published in 1869. The same year they published an index to all the laws of the State. In 1872 they compiled and published the second volume of Gross' Statutes. E. L. Gross, finding his health impaired, closed up his business, and in the spring of 1873 started on horseback and traveled through the Indian nation, thence to the Pacific coast, and returned by railroad, but that relentless destroyer, consumption, could not be induced to release its grasp. After returning home he lingered until June 4, 1874, when he breathed his last, leaving a widow and four children, LEIGHLA, FRED, SUSIE and BESSIE, all residing in Springfield, Illinois.

Robert B. Zimmerman was married Oct. 2, 1845, in Springfield, to Mary C. Townsend, who was born Nov. 7, 1821, in Caledonia county, Vermont. They had two children, both died young. In November, 1849, Mr. and Mrs. Zimmerman adopted a daughter, LIZZIE, when she was but three months old. She was married Feb. 26, 1875, in Springfield, to Martin V. Smith. They reside in East St. Louis, Illinois.

Robert B. Zimmerman and Alexander P. Willard were in partnership as painters and dealers in painters' stock twenty-four years, and until the death of Mr. Willard. See his name. Mr. Zimmerman is yet in business in which he has been more than forty-one years actively engaged in Springfield. He has seen it grow, and had much to do with its growth, from a very small village to a city of twenty-five thousand inhabitants, and from a county seat to be the capital of the fourth State in the American Union. He has been an active and efficient officer of the Second Presbyterian church for many years; and in proportion to his ability he has probably been the most liberal contributor to its funds. R. B. Zimmerman and wife reside in Springfield, Illinois.