Agnes Marie Benisch, abt. 1857 - abt. 1924

•    Born:  About 1857 (Germany)
•    Died:  About 1924/25
•    Parents: Friedrich Ernst Benisch and Christiana Henriette Ludwig
•    Spouse:  John Zimmermann
•    Children:  John Zimmermann, Rose Zimmermann, Anna Zimmermann, Marie Lillian Zimmermann

About 1857
Born near the Black Forest in Germany  [1]

1881
Age 24
Emigrated to the United States  [2]

1892 May 23
Age 35
Youngest child, Marie Lillian, is born at Clifton, Passaic, New Jersey  [3]

About 1895
Age 38
Left a widow when husband, John, died  [4]

1910 April 16
Age 53
Living in Acquackanonk, Passaic, New Jersey as widow with son John (age 24) and daughter Marie (age 17). [2]

1920 January 2
Age 65
Living in Clifton City, Passaic, New Jersey, with daughter, Marie, and son-in-law, Walter Halliday Farrier [Sr.] [5]

About 1924/25
About age 68
Dies.  [6]

* * *

"Agnes Banish was born near the Black Forest.  She was educated in the best finishing schools.  She married John, 20 years her elder.  She had 5 children.  John came to the U.S.A. first; Agnes followed later with children and a canary.  She was stranded in New York and found by John by putting an ad in a German Newspaper.

"Agnes was artistic and a fine seamstress.  She earned money, made a down payment on a house to get the family out of downtown Patterson, then told John.  John died when Marie (only child born in U.S.) was 3 years old.  Agnes loved America and education.  The local school board held their meetings in her parlor.  She forbade speaking German in her home.  Her son, John, became an architect, helped design the Lincoln Tunnel.  Agnes moved to New York City while daughter Marie attended Juliard School of Music for voice training."

--Claire-Jane Farrier Young

-------------------------------------------------

[1] Birth record for daughter, Marie Lillian Zimmermann, "New Jersey, Births and Christenings, 1660-1980," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FCTG-QMX : accessed 15 Feb 2013), John Zimmerman in entry for Marie L. Zimmerman, 23 May 1891; citing reference v 39 p 116, FHL microfilm 494221.

[2]  “United States Census, 1910,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MKBJ-N6M : accessed 03 Jan 2013), Marie Zimmerman, Acquackanonk, Passaic, New Jersey; citing sheet 1B, family 17, NARA microfilm publication T624, FHL microfilm 1374917.

[3]  "New Jersey, Births and Christenings, 1660-1980," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FCTG-QMX : accessed 15 Feb 2013), John Zimmerman in entry for Marie L. Zimmerman, 23 May 1891; citing reference v 39 p 116, FHL microfilm 494221.

[4]  Notes from Claire-Jane Farrier Young (date unknown).

[5]  "United States Census, 1920," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M4Y9-5F2 : accessed 15 Feb 2013), Walter H Farrier, , Passaic, New Jersey; citing enumeration district (ED) , sheet 1B, family 15, NARA microfilm publication T625, FHL microfilm 1821062.

[6]  Personal knowledge of grandson, Walter Halliday Farrier, Jr.

John Zimmermann, abt. 1837-

•    Born:  About 1837 (Germany)
•    Died:  About 1896
•    Parents: 
•    Spouse:  Agnes Marie Benisch
•    Children:  John Zimmermann, Rose Zimmermann, Anna Zimmermann, Marie Lillian Zimmermann

About 1837
Born somewhere in Germany  [1]

About 1881
Age 44
Emigrated to the United States, coming through the Castle Gardens immigration site.  [2]

1892 May 23
Age 55
Youngest child, Marie Lillian, is born at Clifton, Passaic, New Jersey. [1]

About 1896
Age 59
Dies of a strangulated hernia (Marie was three or four years old.) [2]

* * *

“John Zimmermann was a loom-builder.  He landed at Castle Gardens, the immigrant center before Ellis Island, in 1881.  He built looms for the Hugh milling industry in Patterson, N.J.

“Perry Zimmermann, son of John Zimmermann was a fine violinist.  His children, grandchildren won awards as  musicians or artists and Janine, Perry’s wife claimed all their talents came from the Zimmermanns because her side of the family ‘only produced businessmen.’”

--Clair-Jane FarrierYoung
----------------------------------------

[1]  New Jersey State Dept. of Health birth cert. no. Z62 for Marie Lillian Zimmermann.

[2]  Letter from Clair Jane Farrier Young to Walter Farrier (both are grandchildren).

Marie Lillian Zimmermann, 1892-1975

• Born: 23 May 1892 (Clifton, Passaic, New Jersey)
• Died: 12 October 1975 (Orange, Essex, New Jersey)
• Parents: John Zimmermann and Agnes Marie Benisch
• Spouse: Walter Halliday Farrier, Sr. (md. 14 June 1916 Brooklyn, Kings, New York)
• Children: Miriam (Dolly) Farrier, Claire-Jane Farrier, Walter Halliday Farrier, Jr.

1892 May 23
Born in Clifton, Passaic, New Jersey, one of five children of John Zimmermann and Agnes Marie Benisch.  According to her daughter, Clair-Jane Farrier, Marie was the only child born in the United States.  [1]

Marie, sometime before her marriage.

About 1896
Age 3/4
Death of father, John Zimmermann.  [2]

1916 June 14
Age 24
Marries Walter Halliday Farrier (Sr.) in New York.  Address:  255 Pearl St., Brooklyn, New York  [3]

1917 June 5
Age 25
Husband fills out draft registration card, indicating that Marie is pregnant.  [4]

1918 June 23
Age 26
Daughter Miriam (Dolly) is born in New York  [5]

1920 January 2
Age 27
Living in Clifton City, Passaic, New Jersey with husband Walter, daughter Mirian M. (age 1-1/2), and mother, Marie Zimmermann.  Occupation:  Professional Singer.  [6]

About 1924/25
Age 32/33
Death of mother, Agnes Marie Benisch Zimmermann. [6]

1925 April 17
Age 32
Daughter Claire-Jane is born in New Jersey.  [7]

1930 April 2
Age 37
Living in Newark, New Jersey with husband Walter and daughters Miriam (age 11) and Claire Jane (age 4) [8]

1932 February 8
Age 39
Son Walter Halliday Farrier, Jr., is born in Newark, Essex, New Jersey. [6]

1940 April 17
Age 47
Living in Maplewood, Essex, New Jersey with husband Walter and children Mirian M (age 21), Clare Jan (age 15), and Walter H (age 8).  [9]

1942
Age 50 (abt.)
Per husband’s draft registration card, is living at 20 Claremont Ave., Maplewood, Essex, New Jersey.  [10]

Walter and Marie Farrier, spring, 1955

1971 August 6
Age 79
Husband dies at Point Pleasant, Ocean, New Jersey [11, 12]

1975 October 12
Age 83
Dies at Orange, Essex, New Jersey.  Residence at death was Plainfield, Union, New Jersey.  Her body was donated to Rutgers Medical School (in New Brunswick, New Jersey). [13, 14]

* * *

"Marie was on scholarship 1914-1916 at what was then the “Institute of Musical Art” (which merged with the Juilliard Graduate School in 1926 to become the Juilliard School of Music) with a double major in piano and voice. She did not graduate, but sang in the “New York Opera Company” (which still exists) in the role of Hansel in Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel.” She also concertized (as “Marie Merman” because of the strong public anti-German sentiment), including at “Cinema” theaters between showings of the then-short, silent, black-and-white new medium of film."
--Walter Halliday Farrier, Jr.

-----------------------------------------------

[1] "New Jersey, Births and Christenings, 1660-1980," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FCTG-QMX : accessed 15 Feb 2013), John Zimmerman in entry for Marie L. Zimmerman, 23 May 1891; citing reference v 39 p 116, FHL microfilm 494221.

[2]  Personal knowledge of daughter, Claire-Jane Farrier Young.

[3]  State of New York Certificate and Record of Marriage no. 6706.

[4]  Ancestry.com.  U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2005.

[5]  "United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VSJF-HZH : accessed 15 Feb 2013), Dolly F Kelley, July 1993; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).

[6]  “United States Census, 1920," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M4Y9-5F2 : accessed 15 Feb 2013), Walter H Farrier, , Passaic, New Jersey; citing enumeration district (ED) , sheet 1B, family 15, NARA microfilm publication T625, FHL microfilm 1821062.

[7]  Personal knowledge of son, Walter Halliday Farrier, Jr.

[8]  "United States Census, 1930," index and images,  FamilySearch  (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X4DG-5WQ : accessed 15 Feb 2013), Walter Farrier, Newark (Districts 1-250), Essex, New Jersey; citing enumeration district (ED) 0103, sheet 1A, family 4, NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 1335.

[9]  “United States Census, 1940,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/K4RM-ZBB : accessed 16 Feb 2013), Walter H Farrier, Maplewood Township, Essex, New Jersey, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 7-211, sheet 13B, family 281, NARA digital publication T627, roll 2336.

[10]  Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

[11]  NJ State Dept. of Health death certificate State File #43532.

[12]  "United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JPZW-YNB : accessed 04 Feb 2013), Walter Farrier, August 1971; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).

[13]  NJ State Dept. of Health death certificate, state file no. 49660.

[14]  "United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JPZM-ZQM : accessed 16 Feb 2013), Marie Farrier, October 1975; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).