My husband is a descendant of James N. Zimmerman and Mary Ann Porter.
The middle name is Notwell in a transcription of Bible records but it
has been suggested that it may have been Rotwell. Either way I have not
been able to make a connection to William Zimmerman and Fanny Reed.
James and Mary Ann named their second son William Henry Zimmerman. The
first son was named John Frederick Zimmerman.
My husband participates in a DNA surname project and does not match
other descendants of the Germanna Colony Cristopher Zimmerman which one
online family tree has William descending from.
We have not been able to find the Most Recent Common Ancestor to connect
him with the only other person in the project that he matches. Our
earliest known ancestor is James N. Zimmerman, born in 1815 in
Kentucky. His earliest known ancestor, Elijah Zimmerman, was born 1826
in Ohio.