Sterna zimmermanni Reichenow, 1903 & Picus canus zimmermanni Reichenow, 1903 (1 Viewer)

[Taphrospilus]

Sterna zimmermanni Reichenow, 1903 OD here
Picus canus zimmermanni Reichenow, 1903 OD here

Herr R. Zimmermann in Tsingtau hat dem Kgl. Zoologischen Museum in Berlin eine Sammlung von 300 vorzüglich zubereiteten Vogelbälgen zum Geschenk gemacht.

The Eponym Dictionary of Birds claims:

Chinese Crested Tern Sterna zimmermanni Reichenow, 1903 NCR [JS Thalasseus bernsteini}
Grey-headed Woodpecker ssp. Picus canus zimmermanni Reichenow, 1903 NCR [JS Picus canus jessoensis]
Robert C. Zimmermann (d.1903) was a collector and botanist based at Tsingtao (now Qingdao) in China. At that time, this area was was leased by Germany.

The old key:

C. Robert Zimmerman (d. 1903) German botanist, collector in Thailand 1899, and China 1900-1903 (Jan B. Kaiser in litt.) (syn. Picus canus jessoensis, syn. Thalasseus bernsteini).

From here....

C. R. Zimmermann am 29. Mai 1903 in Tsingtau an Herzschwäche, laut Mitteilung des Reichsmarineamats.

...we know he died 29. May 1903 in Qingdao. Some more on his collections here (called Gouvernementsgärtner R . Zimmermann).

From here...

Im Frühjahr d . J. in Tsingtau der Gärtner Robert Zimmermann , welcher sich durch Erforschung der Flora von Kiautschou verdient gemacht hat und jetzt eine Sammelreise durch das nördliche China antreten wollte,

If I read here possibly born 1863

29.05.1903 Tsingtau
Robert ZIMMERMANN * 1863
Gouvernementsgärtner

There is still the question when and where born and what the C. stands for.

In here a R. Zimmermann Bautzen. Or here.

P.S. I doubt that Zimmermannia is for him (even if related to plants).

 

[Taphrospilus]

Is there a Robert ZIMMERMANN born 1863 in the tombola?

 

[PScofield]

Astonishingly "Eponym" may be more accurate here than other sources! There is no evidence I can see that Zimmerman was German. This one could be interesting for this group. There is a large Zimmerman family of Siberian origin and Jewish heritage that settled in Tsingtao in 1900. The patriot of the family was Evsei who was known as Sam. There is no evidence I can find for sure that he had a brother known as Robert but there were two brothers Leiva and Jacob without dates of death known.
In the 1940s and 1950s E.C. Zimmerman of Tsingtao collected marine crustaceans and fish in the Pacific for the Smithsonian suggesting the family had natural history roots.

 

[l_raty]

That C Robert Zimmermann collected in Siam (i.e., Thailand) before moving to Tsingtau (as stated in the Key) is indicated here.

 

[PScofield]

I never doubted he collected in Thailand I only found no evidence that he was German. Eponym is at pains to stress they don't know his nationality only that Kiautschou-Gebiet was leased by the Germans.

 

[mb1848]

In America is a Robert Zimmerman who won the 2016 Nobel prize for Literature his grandparents were Jewish immagrants who came from the Ukraine and Lithuiania. Perhaps he had a Great Uncle Bob who went to Siberia in the Russian Empire?

 

[PScofield]

zimmermannae see Ehmcke
The Key says:
Rosa von Zimmermann (?d. 1917) German privy counsellor, naturalist (syn. Buteo buteo).

here

Edit: attached is her marriage to Johann von Zimmermann giving her birth date (she was a divorcee having married also in 1885).

Rosa Maria Magdalena Johanna von Zimmerman nee Scholz (1860-1917).​

Born March 12, 1860, in Gnadenfei, Prussia
Died 25 April 1917 Pasadena, California, USA.

I believe the author of this name Albert Ehmcke was Rosa's lawyer in Germany (and a keen amateur ornithologist) who extracted her from a tricky situation.

 

[Taphrospilus]

According here it could be that he was before in Schottenhof bei Arzberg?

 

[l_raty]

zimmermannae see Ehmcke
The Key says:
Rosa von Zimmermann (?d. 1917) German privy counsellor, naturalist (syn. Buteo buteo).

In the marriage record, it's her husband Johann who was the privy counsellor (here as Geheim Kommerzienrath).
(She was just given as separirte Frau Kaufmann Schiemann, where I assume that Kaufmann (merchant) was the activity of her former husband, Herr Schiemann.)

 

[PScofield]

That makes much more sense Laurent and yes her first husband was a merchant. The only other thing to sort out is what was meant in the OD by: "Frau Geheimrath Rosa von Zimmermann, der eifrigen Pflegerin der heimischen Vogelwelt" - I assume that Pflegerin here means something like benefactor or patron?

To be clear here she and her deceased husband were not terribly "nursing" people he was one of the premier arms dealers in the lead up to WW1 and she apparently continued the business right up until the war. This is the reason she was imprisoned throughout the war despite being in the process of applying for US Citizenship.

 

[l_raty]

der eifrigen Pflegerin der heimischen Vogelwelt

Martin would certainly be better placed to comment but, literally, I think this should mean more or less "the zealous caretaker of local birdlife".


In 1906, Willy Reichel, a "psychical researcher" / "magnetizer" who had been close to the von Zimmermann family, and apparently was attacked in the press, wrote (in a quite "colourful" letter) that Ehmcke had long been madly in love with the Frau Geheimrat v. Zimmermann, but was rejected by her. (If true, the exact literal meaning of the dedication may not be that important... )

This was first published in the journal Psychische Studien, März 1906, pp. 152 et seq.; and later reprinted, in the Vorwort to Reichel's own book Kreuz und quer durch die Welt: Okkultistische Reiseerlebnisse, pp. X-XXII -- this second link is fully viewable from the US; I didn't find an access from elsewhere but, if there is interest, I can share the whole thing. Here is an excerpt:

Später behandelte ich auch kurze Zeit den mir durch die Frau Geheimrat vorgestellten damaligen Landrichter Albert Ehmcke, der nur ein Bein hat und vom Kopf bis zu den Zehen krank ist, wofür der mir leider noch nicht näher bekannte Herr, in vollkommener Unkenntnis der Konsequenzen einer richtigen magnetischen Behandlung, welche, die Krankheit heraustreibend, naturgemäss heftige Krisen verursacht, mir mit Beschuldigungen dankte, wie sie nur ein Teufel erfinden kann. Da er in die Frau Geheimrat schon seit längerer Zeit wahnsinnig verliebt war, aber von ihr abgewiesen wurde, wogegen er bei ihr eine Vorliebe für meine Person zu bemerken glaubte, wartete er nun, wenn er merkte, dass sie zu einer Behandlung zu mir gehen wolle, Stunden lang auf dem Korridor meines Hauses, schrieb ihr die tollsten Liebesbriefe, schlug sie sogar, als ich einmal gegen seinen Willen zu einer Behandlung in ihr Haus gekommen war, umgab dieses mit Spionen und machte sich so lächerlich, dass ich an seinem Verstand zweifeln musste. Nur die Rücksicht auf den Herrn Geheimrat, der vor Aufregungen zu bewahren war, liess Frau v. Z. zuerst schweigen.

The whole story seems rather complicated, though.

 

[Taphrospilus]

Here p. 2 we can read:

Von erheblich größerem Werte ist eine, vom Gärtner Zimmermann (er ist im Botan. Garten zu Berlin ausgebildet) eingesandte, sehr schöne und vorzüglich etikettierte Samlung getrockneter Pflanzen.

That means he learnt gardening/botany in the botanic garden in Berlin. Here p 103 or 107 in the pdf is an obituary or easier...



So he died in his 40th life year so b. 1863 seems possible.

 

[l_raty]

Here p 103 or 107 in the pdf is an obituary or easier...

So he died in his 40th life year so b. 1863 seems possible.

1863 or 1864.
(Your source here seems likely to be the same as Gabi Finke's in the link in your post #1 -- an Amstblatt that includes precisely the last 4 Nachrufe that she cited. If so, she presumably did not have more info than we do: her "1863" was probably intended to mean "about 1863".)

 

[PScofield]

This is the only Robert in Berlin born in 1863 that I can't find a death or specific occupation for.

 

[l_raty]

This is the only Robert in Berlin born in 1863 that I can't find a death or specific occupation for.

This one was an Arbeiter (workman) in this form. (And if he was born in March 1863, he would have been in the 41st year of his life in May 1903.)

 

[Taphrospilus]

And be trained in Berlin does not necessarily mean born in Berlin.