George was apparently the son of Mary Bittinger and Elias Zimmerman who went to Indiana from Pennsylvania by 1844. Elias and his sons founded several businesses in DeKalb County, Indiana, that manufactured such items as church furniture, windmills, tanks, and eventually buggies. George purchased an interest in the business in 1874 but sold it to his father a year later. By 1880 he was living in Tennessee with his wife, Margaret, and eventually they had three children, Roy, Mary, and Maxie. On the 1880 census he is listed as having hemorrhages of the lungs. It is likely that his trips south were for his health. By 1900, he and his wife may have been deceased, as his three children are living alone next door to their uncle in DeKalb County, Indiana.