St Landry County Louisiana Archives Obituaries.....Peters (2), Samuel M. November 17, 1913
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Mary K Creamr marykcreamer@yahoo.com February 28, 2015, 10:21 pm

St. Landry Clarion (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, November 22, 1913, Image 1

Samuel M. Peters, an old Confederate soldier, is dead. The end came Monday 
evening at 10 o'clock. He was buried in the Catholic Cemetery Wednesday 
afternoon at 4 o'clock.

Mr. Peters was born 69 years ago and came to Opelousas as an orphan in the 
hospitable home of Mr. Joseph Chachere, when a young boy.

The story of the life of this old Confederate veteran was mingled with the 
sorrows of the Civil was and of the thousands of orphans stranded on the 
great American Continent. When but a child the home of the Peters, in New 
Orleans, was swept away by the yellow fever of 1853, leaving but two 
survivors, those being Samuel and his older brother, Matthew H. Peters. 
These two youngsters were taken to an orphan asylum, on the corner of Royal 
and Jackson streets, by a big-hearted German, Pfeiffi Franz, who was a 
member of the New Orleans police force.

The boys remained in this asylum, happily, for sometime, when the older 
brother, was given into the charge of a German tailor for a while and then 
not being treated well, he decided to try his fortune in the North, 
whereupon he ran away from his guardian and finally landed in Cincinnati, 
Ohio, on a Mississippi river steamboat.

From that time on to several years afterwards the brothers lost track of 
each other. The younger one was brought to Opelousas by Mr. Chachere, with 
whom he lived until the Civil war broke out. He joined the Confederate Army, 
little thinking that his brother, Matthew, had enlisted with the Union Army.

Sometime after the war had been settled the older brother chanced to glance 
over the columns of a Chicago Tribune, in which he saw where a committee 
composed of Southern Governors, Judges and Congressmen were making e (sic) 
tour of the North with a view of improving conditions in the South. Looking 
over the list of names he saw that of Lieutenant Governor E. Heistand, of 
Louisiana. Remembering that Mr. Heistand, at one time had his law office, 
not far from the asylum, Mr. Peters, determined to go to him and see whether 
he could not find some clew (sic) to his brother's whereabouts. This he did 
and was assured by the Lieutenant Governor that he would be assisted in 
finding his long lost brother. The Governor returned to Louisiana and 
immediately began to search for Samuel Peters. He discovered that the asylum 
had been converted into a Confederate hospital during the war, and that the 
inmates had been transferred to the Jefferson asylum. There he found that 
Samuel Peters had been taken away by Mr. Joseph Chachere, of Opelousas.

All these findings the Lieutenant Governor wrote to Mr. Matthew Peters, 
whereupon the brothers finally got in touch with one another.

Mr. Samuel Peters was married twice, his first wife being Miss Sydonia 
Richard, whilst the second, who is left a sorrowful widow, was Miss 
Henrietta Rogers, of New Orleans. His older brother, Major Matthew H. 
Peters, is now a prosperous citizen of Watseka, Illiois (sic), having been 
at one time member of the House of Representatives from his district, and is 
now a prominent newspaper man of that state. He was in Opelousas a few days 
this week, having come here to attend the funeral of his brother.


Additional Comments:
NOTE: Samuel M. Peters is buried in the St. Landry Catholic Church cemetery 
located in Opelousas, St. Landry Parish, LA.

www.findagrave.com memorial # 142712309

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