Olaf P. Peterson Biography


	This biography appears on page 1235 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				OLAF P. PETERSON. 

	Olaf P. Peterson, who devotes his time and energies to the 
pursuit of general farming, owns and operates a tract comprising one 
hundred and fifty-six acres in Minnehaha county. He was born in Sweden 
on the 2' l of September, 1855, a son of Peter Peterson, who emigrated 
to the United States in 1868 and after a brief residence in Iowa came 
to South Dakota in 1869, homesteading a quarter section of land in 
Valley Springs township, Minnehaha county. Mr. Peterson was one of the 
first settlers of the locality and died on this homestead two or three 
years later. 

	Olaf P. Peterson, who acquired his education in the public 
schools of his native land, was a youth of thirteen when he came with 
his father to the new world. After spending the winter in Sioux City, 
Iowa, he came up into South Dakota and took up a homestead on section 
8, Valley Springs township, Minnehaha county. Here he carried on 
general agricultural pursuits continuously and successfully until 1913, 
when he purchased his present home farm of one hundred and fifty-six 
acres in Valley Springs township. The appearance of the place indicates 
the prosperity of the owner and the land is in a good state of 
cultivation. 

	In early manhood Mr. Peterson was united in marriage to Miss 
Amelia Bowman, of Split Rock township, who is a native of Sweden. To 
them have been born six children, four of whom survive as follows: 
Julia, Ethel, Alice and Hazel, all at home. 

	In his political views Mr. Peterson is independent, supporting 
men and measures rather than party. He is identified fraternally with 
the Modern Woodmen, while his religious faith is that of the Swedish 
Lutheran church, to which his wife and children also belong. The period 
of his residence in Minnehaha county covers forty-five years and he has 
long enjoyed recognition among its representative agriculturists and 
highly esteemed 
citizens.