Vintage Tipp

The Tippecanoe Historical Society mystery picture from last week is of Rose and Tom Timmer. Rose compiled a comprehensive family history for her great-grandson, Bailey. This information is taken from that book.

The first Timmer to come to Tippecanoe was Gerhart. He was born in Germany in 1830 and migrated to America in 1853. His Tippecanoe story is long and quite interesting. He started a cooper business (barrel maker), and many of our homes and business buildings were built with bricks from his backyard on S. 3rd St. In 1867, he built the family home at 229 S. 2nd St. In 1925, the family and Newman Buckles bought the defunct Tip Top Canning Co., later buying Newman's shares. When Rose wrote the history in 1997, George, Scott, and Matt Timmer managed the cannery and were the majority stockholders.

Robert Timmer was born in 1907 and married Majorie Hoyer in 1934. They had two children: Don, who married Nancy Custer; and Jane, who married Jerome Cline. Thomas Gerhart Timmer was born in 1911 and married Rosemarie Hoffman on July 10, 1936. They had three sons: Thomas Jr., Peter, and George. Besides the cannery, Thomas bought the Amole Soap Company on S. 1st St., and later the Huffman Creamery on the northeast corner of 1st and Main. Rose ran the Creamery. Both Tom and Rose were very active in the community and the Tipp Methodist Church.

Stop in the museum any Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to read the full story of this interesting, founding family. The museum is on the southeast corner of 3rd and Walnut. The phone number is 937-667-4092.