Herman L. Zeigler was born in Schonenberg, Germany in 1867 and died in 1946. He was the third son, having brothers Karl, Phillip, himself, Willie and a sister, Christel. He had an uncle, Jacob Zeigler, who with a partner brought the first street car to Peoria, and an aunt, Caroline Niergarth Sieberns, who had immigrated to the United States . Herman L. came in 1885 and became a U. S. citizen in 1890.

Here he met Katharine E. Grossberndt who was born in Kassel Hesse, Germany in 1883 and came to Peoria in 1905. They were married on March 31, 1906.

Herman was the owner and pharmacist of the Herman L Ziegler East Bluff Pharmacy and Drug Store at 624 N. Knoxville which he purchased from his cousin, Eugene Zimmerman.. The pharmacy at the corner of Wisconsin and Frye was sold by Irene along with the stores attached along Wisconsin.. The Drug Store at 624 N. Knoxville was demolished in the early 1950’s.

Herman and Kate had three daughters. In 1932 they are shown in the city directory to have lived at 919 N. Knoxville. Their daughters were:

Charlotte M. Ziegler (1908 – 1980): She was a teacher in the Peoria school system and later taught German classes at Peoria High School.

Irene E. Ziegler (1909 – 2007) opted to stay at home and take care of the family. Her mother died in 1967 and Lilly E. in 1977. Charlotte M. died in 1980. Irene was alone from 1980 until her death in November 5, 2007….(27 years )

Lilly E. Ziegler (1912- 1977) was a bookkeeper/steno at Peoria High School.

Herman had a sister, Frieda who was ten years younger and died in 1941. Herman had graduated pharmacy school in Iowa in 1893. He belonged to the Grace Lutheran Church and the Schiller Lodge 35, and the Odd Fellows. Two brothers and two sisters had died before him in Germany. Ruth Ziegler’s brother still lived in the house where Herman was born in Schoenberg, Germany. He had the old mill taken down which the family had ran. There were some cousins that died in the Chatsworth wreck in Illinois…it was a cousin and a cousin's daughter. It was in the German newspaper.

Zieglers were known to have been Huguenots from the French border in Germany, but they were Lutherans here in the U.S. according to Ruth Ziegler, who came from Berlin to Irene’s funeral in November 2007. Mary Jo Howells was Irene’s caregiver and did an excellent bio-sketch for the obit.

Are these families related?

Jacob Zeigler, the father of John R. Ziegler who was a Captain in the Civil War. (1832- 1896) (died at age 64). John was injured in battle and left in March of 1864. He married Ellen (Miller) and fathered:

Warren C., Florence, and J. Frank Ziegler.

J. Frank Ziegler (1865 – 1931) married Abigail and around the 1900’s traveled on a cruise through the new Panama Canal….and to Asia where they were impressed with the architecture. They built their home at 270 NE Randolph in an Asian manner in 1910. They also built the Roanoke apartments at the corner of Hamilton and Roanoke. Frank had a funeral parlor in the Ziegler Building on south Jefferson Street near the Jefferson Hotel. Ellen, Frank’s mother lived at 270 Randolph in 1932 according to the city directory of that year.

From 1910 when the house was built until 1931 when Frank died….he lived close to the pharmacy of Herman L Ziegler…a short walk to Knoxville and Armstrong. Herman’s girls were born in 1908-1909 and 1912…..how many times did Frank (and family) see the girls that I knew as grown women in the 1940’s. I don’t think they ever knew that I lived in their father’s possible cousin’s house on Randolph. I stopped many times at the old pharmacy for a "green river" on the way home from school. Herman was sweet and round. He had a cigar lighter…gas…hanging from the ceiling near the cigar counter. There was a smell of natural medicine in the air. I fell in love with old pharmacy and it stayed with me my entire life. I did early medicine at New Salem in the 1980’s and always loved old bottles.

Submitted by: Vilma Valentine Kinney (1930-20--)