Samuel Zimmerly Living in Visalia, California in 1860?

B. Mares shared with me the record below. It is from the 1860 California census, county of Tulare, township of Visalia. This record apparently shows Samuel Zimmerly living in that town at that time. He was living in the household of James P. Atkinson. Click on the image below to get a larger view:

I've highlighted in yellow his name on the image. The men in the dwelling # 302 include the following:

James P. Atkinson, 24 years old, occupation: moulder, from Ohio.
Josiah Joiner, 39 years old, occupation: mason, real estate $1,800, personal estate $300, from Kentucky.
William, 43 years old, occupation: mason, from Kentucky.
Samuel Cimerlee, 21 years old, occupation: common laborer, from Switzerland.
George Eichler, 29 years old, occupation: cook, from Saxony.

Although Samuel's last name is misspelled, it does appear to be him. He was from Switzerland. His birth date on the census was given as 1839, which is very close to the 1837 birth date that is indicated in other records. Samuel Zimmerly joined the 1st California Infantry at Camp Latham, California on 9 October 1861, a little over a year after this census was taken. Camp Latham, which was near Culver City, was nearly 190 miles from Visalia. Driving Directions from Visalia, CA to Culver City, CA

James B. Atkinson and George Eichler both joined the Union Army at later dates. Atkinson enlisted in the 2nd Regiment of the California Calvary, company I on 14 January 1863 in Camp Babbit, California and mustered on 4 March 1864. He was discharged on 14 January 1866 at Fort Churchill, Nevada. Eichler enlisted in the Seventh Regiment of the California Infantry, Company D at Dutch Flat, California on 11 November 1864 and mustered 6 days later. He was discharged on 22 May 1866 at the Presidio in San Francisco, California.

More research needs to be done in order to prove that this census actually shows my 2nd great grandfather Samuel Zimmerly.

Although B. Mares gave me a copy of this record, the image above is actually from Ancestry.com. I retrieved this on 6 October 2007 from the Internet using one of the Special Collections Library computers.

See also "Camp Latham and the California Column".