Introduction to the Book of Kimm

With deep respect and admiration, this book about the family of Kimm is dedicated to Irma Thresa Kimm Grigsby. Irma has devoted much of her lifetime to compiling - both in memory and in writing - information about the family members. She has done exhaustive research and she is thorough in trying to locate each descendant. Without her efforts this book could not have been completed.

Virgil Miles Kimm developed and provided the Kimm coat of arms on the cover. Virgil is the only Kimm we know of who has visited Sand, Hesse Kassel, Germany, and our only source of information about the place where our family lived before coming to the United States.

After locating the coat of arms in Zangerer's Coat of Arms, Vol. IV, Part II, Page 5, he used the information to complete the coat of arms on the cover. A copyright was issued to Virgil M. Kimm in 1974. Recent copyright laws permit changing the copyright date to 1982 since this is the first publication. We are grateful to Virgil for permitting use of the crest for the cover.

Sometimes we forget our heritage and who made us. We know we are of German stock depending upon how many generations we are removed from the original stack. We know that Grandpa, or Great-Grandpa, fought in the Civil War, but we fail our ancestors in pride. We neglect to visualize the hardships, the difficulties, and the heartbreaks they experienced before us.

This book is intended to trace the Kimms from the time they came to the United States until today (1982). It is intended to provide for those Kimms alive today and for future generations a record that will permit each to trace his/her roots.

The record includes information about and descendants of the five sons of Jacob Conrad Kimm. Since research is not available about the three daughters, only the names of the third generations are included.

Obviously, this book is not complete. Information is missing but omissions are not deliberate. An honest effort has been made to trace each family and the records received have been carefully recorded and proofread. We apologize for any errors, omissions, and incorrect information that undoubtedly are in this book. Hopefully, corrections can be listed, printed, and sent to book owners.

Also - the original intent was to record the Justus Kimm family. There is more information on this family than on the other four brothers. First, the Justus Kimm family is the largest and also has had more research completed. The other lines aren't less important but may have more missing information.

Most of the information included has come from family members. Family group sheets have been completed by dozens of people. This effort makes the book possible.

Claire Barr	Ora Kimm
Violet Kimm Bennett	Ross Kimm
Earl and Ruth Burdicker	Virgil M. Kimm
Eldo and Flossie Burdicker	Juanita Kinkade
Suzanne Zahrt Edington	Nancy Kimm Less
Garnet Hathaway Feldhusen	Ruth Montague
Richard and Helen Ferreter	Mary Barr Pryer
Marie Kimm Gerner	Aurabelle Kimm Rogers
Gerry Hardersen	Glen Salzbrenner
Berenice Kimm Kanke	Margaret Montague Stanek
Frances Kimm Jordan	Edna Burdicker Stens
Adele Kimm	Curtis George Warneke
Dale Marten Kimm	Hazel Martin Warneke
Gene Kimm	Eleanor Kimm Wayson
Jackie Kimm	Lillian Kimm Wessling
Kenneth A. Kimm	Francis Wodstrchill

Find the name in the index for Kimm descendants and/or in the separate index for other names. The index will list page number/s. Each person is often listed on more than one page: once as a child and again as a parent. Often, both listings will be on the same page. A person who did not marry is usually listed only as a child.

Without some system of code numbering for each lineal descendant, it is difficult and time consuming for a researcher to trace a fine backward from any given name. Index alone is inadequate, particularly for a researcher who does not know the names of the ancestors. So, we developed the code number system to aid in finding a given person's forebearers without researching step by step backwards.

Example: 1.7 Justus H. Kimm²

The (2) by the name indicates Justus was the second generation Kimm in the United States

The number 1.7

1 = 1st generation - Jacob Conrad Kimm

This numeral is the same for each listing since our purpose is to list descendants of Jacob Conrad Kimm

7 = Justus is the 7th child of Justus

Conrad Kimm

2. Counting the number of digits separated by decimal points in the numeral preceding the name. (The decimal is necessary since some families have more than 9 children.)

In the listings, each family is completed before the next is started. So Mayme Kimm, Justus Kimm's 1st child, follows Justus. Next is her oldest child with all of that child's descendants. Then the second child of Mayme, etc. After all of Mayme's family is listed, Laura, the second child, is started. Females are listed by the given (maiden) name.

Dotti is the only "non-Kimm" authoring the book. She married Jim Kimm in 1952 and became fascinated by the stories he told of the Kimms. She started assembling materials about the Justus Kimm line about 15 years ago and worked with Irma Kimm Grigsby. Irma found the information; Dotti compiled, typed and edited it.

Jim is the book "publisher," though his engineering business allows very little time for hobbies such as this. In addition to providing his love of family, he has provided all the materials, the typewriter, the copier, and the printer to complete the task.

Jim has written some of the anecdotes about the Justus Kimm family in the book. The "I Remember" items are his. Jim is the second son of Arthur, who was the 9th child of Justus, and is the youngest grandchild of Justus. He loves to tell of sitting on the porch of the farm house in South Dakota (age 4) and listening to his grandfather (age 90) tell stories about the Civil War. (His grandfather called him "Humbug.")

Weston has completed the indexing to the book. This task involved making approximately 3,000 index cards - one for each name listed - and then adding the page numbers before alphabetizing.

Weston personifies "Mr. Kimm." In physical appearance, personal grace, refinement and intelligence, he exemplifies qualities of the Kimms.

Weston has a wealth of information and stories about the family. He is the 3rd child of Charles, who was the third child of Justus.

Kaye is the daughter of Forrest Smith, who was the son of Anna Elizabeth Kimm, who was the daughter of Silas. She has been working in the field of genealogy for 11 years. Kaye is very thorough and determined to complete her records which include other lines of her family than the Kimms. She compiled the Silas Kimm family information and pictures, and she typed the rough draft.

Elma Jean is the daughter of Reuben Kenneth Kimm, 13th child of Jacob. She lives in the state

of Washington. Elma Jean has compiled most of the information included about Jacob. She is an elementary school teacher and has worked on the Kimm genealogy for a number of years.

DEDICATION