Peter Ziegel, Nashville's "grand old man" and oldest citizen,
died at his home on West Main street Friday morning,
October 15, at one o'clock. He had reached his 97th birthday on June 26.
Mr. Ziegel had been seriously ill for the past weeks and was at the
Farmers and Merchants Bank of which he had been president since its
organization, for the last time on Thursday, October 7. In recent years,
Mr. Ziegel had not been in the best of health and had been critically ill on
several occasions but always rallied and had been able to return to his desk
at the bank.
Finding it hard to believe in the theory that a man who is mentally capable
should have to retire from active life at the premature age of 70, Mr. Ziegel
usually spent several hours a day at the bank and was believed to have been
the oldest active bank president in the United States.
Not many years ago he was often seen in the teller's cage when one of the
employes was absent. He always enjoyed talking to the bank's customers who
came in every day. He was proud of his age and his birthdays were always a
special occasion when his desk at the bank was usually decorated
with a basket of flowers and other gifts.
Mr. Ziegel was born in Germany in 1846 and came to this country at the
age of 18 in 1864. The Civil War was at its heighth and the first thing he
did was to try to enlist in the Union Army. He was rejected and continued his
trek westward, first to Youngstown, Ohio, and then to Illinois where in 1867 he
stopped at Jacksonville. It was at Youngstown that he well remembered the
assassination of Abraham Lincoln. He was working for a Jew at the time who
was a strong Confederate sympathizer and on the morning after the shooting,
Mr. Ziegel's boss came rushing into the store and said that he had heard news
that was too good to be true. Mr. Ziegel asked him what, and the answer was,
"They shot Lincoln." The man then went back out on the street and returned in
about a half an hour and warned Mr. Ziegel to forget the remark that he had made
as Youngstown in those turbulent days wasn't a very safe place to say anything
against Abraham Lincoln.
Shortly after arriving at Jacksonville in the same year, 1867, Mr. Ziegel moved to
Mason City where he started in the jewellery business. Three years later in 1870,
on July 4, he came to Nashville where he had made his home ever since.
From 1870 until 1909 he was in the jewellery business here where Hubert
Reinhardt is now located and since the organization of the Farmers and
Merchants Bank in 1906, he had been its only president. Upon retirement
from the jewellery business in 1909, he made his only trip to Europe spending
about five months touring the continent and visiting his old home in Germany.
Upon his return he devoted all his time to the affairs at the bank. His coming
and going at the bank was as punctual as the clock and in his later years when
he spent from four to five hours a day at the bank, it was a legend on Main street
that you could set your watch in the morning and afternoon when Mr. Ziegel entered
the front door. He used to arrive at the bank punctually at nine o'clock every
morning and stayed until noon. He returned again at 2, right on the dot, and
stayed until the bank closed. During the last years Mrs. Ziegel brought him
to the bank in the car and she or some of the bank employees took him home.
Until the last year or so he usually spent the hours from seven to eight in the
morning in his garden and just as regularly took a nap every day after dinner.
Although he was not far from the hundred mark he did not retire altogether from
the social life of the town. He was frequently seen at church suppers, lodge
functions and was present at the Lions homecoming this year at the park.
Mr. Ziegels life in Nashville covered the history of several generations.
He was the oldest man in town, had been here longer than anybody else.
He had seen practically everybody come and go in the last 70 years.
He used to tell the story about crossing Main street at the bank corner
on rainy days. He said the only it could be accomplished was by stepping
on blocks of wood which were kept for that purpose. H.....called, too, the two
old wells .....their old oaken buckets which ..... in the court house yard.
Mr. Ziegel had the confidence ..... his fellowmen throughout his ..... an
useful life has evidenced b.....many public positions which h... held.
He served on Nashville ..... school board and was elected ..... 1876.
He served seven years o..... board, several years as a member of the city
council and was mayor for five terms. He was generally ..... with having pulled
Nashville out of the mud as it was during his administration that many of the .....
and brick city streets were built. In addition he served one term as county
treasurer from 1888 to 1892.
He joined the Odd Fellow Order at Mason City in 1869 and the Masonic Order
the next year. He has been affiliated with the local ..... during his life time here.
He received the 50-years-membership-jewels from both orders. He was pres.....
with the jewel from the Masonic Order in 1938 at he same time th...
W. H. Porter was honored.
In his younger days, Mr. Ziegel was an ardent hunter and fisherman and for many
years spent his summer vacation enjoying the fishing in Minnesota.
In 1868 (must be 1872!) he was married to Miss Antoinette Bimmerman of Nashville
who died January 16, 1921. On November 16, 1921, he married Mrs. Ida Axtell,
nee Bimmerman, of St. Louis who survives. He had no children. Two nieces,
Mrs. Fred Topel and Mrs. G. H. Reetz of St. Paul, Minnesota, also survive.
Funeral services were held Sunday afternoon at the Mann Funeral home at 2 o'clock
with Rev. R. V. Jackson, pastor of the first Methodist church officiating.
Masonic rites were held at the burial in the Masonic cemetery.
Rev. and Mrs. Jackson sang ..... accompanied by Miss Ruth Hohman on the organ.
The pallbearers were: J. Boeschen, Harry E. Gewe, O..... Foeller, Dr. J. P. Leibrock,
H. House and J. Paul Carter.
Among those who attended the rites from out of town were: Mrs. Fred Topel
(Helen Ziegel) and G. H. Reetz (Laura Caroline Ziegel) of St. Paul, Minn.,
Mr. and Mrs. L. Kern, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Toon, Mr. Charles Orleman,
Thomas R. Axtell of St. Louis,Mrs. Charles Warner of Affton, Mo.,
Mr. and Mrs. O. Bartlett (Oliver Bartlett + Lillian Axtell, daughter of
Ida Bimmermann Axtell) of Overland, Mo., Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Bartlett
(Winthrop Axtell Bartlett, son of Oliver and Lillian) and daughter of Webster
Groves, Mo., and Constabler and Mrs. Thomas A. Nicholson
(Thomas A. Nicholson + Theresa Spengler, niece of Antoinette
Bimmermann Ziegel) of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
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