Vermilion county Illinois,PHILIP Y. PETERSON ==================================================================== Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives Joy Fisher ==================================================================== p. 268-270 PHILIP Y. PETERSON is one of the younger citizens of Grant Township, living on section 5. He was born in Salem County, N. J., Nov. 11, 1847. His parents were named Samuel and Jane (Paden) Peterson, both of whom are now living in Woodford County, this State. The elder Peterson is now retired from active life, being seventy-two years of age, and his wife sixty-seven. Both are hearty and rugged. They are natives of Salem County, N. J., and are descended from Swedish ancestors who settled in this country many generations ago. The elder Peterson was left an orphan at the age of four years, and his mother marrying again, he was brought up in the house of his stepfather, and is essentially a selfmade man, who has made his own way in the world, and now, in his old age is enjoying an ample fortune, the result of years of industry and good management. He was married in his native State at the age of twenty-five, but some years later he determined to try his fortunes in the great West, and with his wife and family moved to Jefferson County, Ind., but he stayed there only six months, not liking the country, and so, taking his wife, six children and household goods, he came to Peoria, Ill. This was in the fall of 1856, and to support his family that winter he engaged in hauling coal, his wife also helping to support the family by her labor. Next spring he rented a farm twenty miles west of Peoria and the succeeding year bought a place twenty-five miles northeast of that city. On this latter place he made his home till 1885, when he relinquished all active labor. When he first came to Illinois, Mr. Peterson was poor in this world's goods, but rich in pluck, energy and ambition. He now owns three farms in Woodford County, Ill., for the poorest of which he has refused $70 an acre. He owns 400 acres of land altogether. He also possesses a half interest in the elevator at Benson, a handsome residence there, and other property, also a farm of 160 acres in Grant Township, this county, besides personal property. Mr. Peterson has all of his lifetime been very industrious and has taken care to avoid public office, attending strictly to his own affairs. He and his wife joined the Baptist Church the year after they were married, and for man}'years he has been an officer of his church in Benson. He was also Trustee of his township. He is a man of genial, happy temperament and kind disposition, upright and honorable in his dealings with his fellow men and is held in universal esteem for his correct life and conduct. Samuel and Jane Peterson are the parents of eight children, all of whom are living, the family cord being unbroken by death. They are named respectively: Mary P. wife of James I. Jeter, a farmer in Woodford County; Simeon P., was married to Sarah Jane Huxtable and is a farmer, tile manufacturer and owner of three threshing machines and is living in Benson, Ill.; Philip Y. was next in order, then David C., who married Ellen Deal: he is a butcher in Rossville, this county. Lewis S. and Sarah Jane are twins; the former is married to Emma Ray, living in Benson, where Lewis S. is running an elevator, lumber yard, and also operates a branch bank. Sarah Jane is the wife of George Tallman, a dairyman of Grant Township, this county; Annie Margaret is the wife of Cal. Hoff, a farmer in Woodford County, Ill., and Maria Frances is married to James Huxtable, a merchant of Benson, Ill. Beside their children Mr. and Mrs. Peterson have twenty-four grandchildren living, and an unusual case, is that they have never lost a child by death, and but one grandchild. Philip Y. Peterson, was eight years of age when his parents emigrated to Indiana. He well remembers passing through Danville on their way to Peoria, and says then it was but a collection of small houses, principally shanties inhabited by coal miners. He spent his boyhood on the home farm in Woodford County, Ill, receiving such education as was afforded by the limited facilities of the time and place. The nearest school was three and a half miles away and not a bridge being built in the locality, when lie attended school he had to wade across the sloughs the best way he could. Under these circumstances he got what little schooling he received. He stayed on the home farm until he was twenty-one, after which he began farming on land belonging to his father, who furnished each of his boys with a team, and boarded them the first year for half the produce of their farms. He lived on land of his father's for five years and then bought a place of 120 acres in Woodford County, and there continued to live until in March, 1882, he sold out and removed to this county. Land here was much cheaper, and just as good as there, and he bought 120 acres of his present home, subsequently adding forty more, and he also leases eighty acres, which joins his land on the south. In 188G Mr. Peterson erected the fine new modern house which he now occupies and which makes a comfortable and commodious home for the family. February 23, 1872, Mr. Peterson was united in marriage with Miss Allie Chancy, who was left an orphan at an early age, her mother dying when she was six years old, and her father two years later while he was in the Union army. She was adopted and brought up by a German couple, named Shoup. She was born in Huntington County, Ind., Aug. 10, 1854. Mr. and Mrs. Peterson are the parents of four children, all at home: Katie F., Lillie Dell, Bessie Jane and Myrtle Edna. Mr. Peterson has never held any office in this county other than that of School Director, he and his wife are members of the Christian Church in Grant Township and he is connected with its Sabbath-school. By his neighbors who know him best, Mr. Peterson is highly respected as an honest straightforward man and a good citizen.