J. P. Peterson Biography


	This biography appears on pages 331-332 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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				J. P. PETERSON.  

	J. P. Peterson, who is living retired in Vermillion, is one of 
the early settlers of Clay county and experienced the usual hardships 
of pioneer life. He was born in Denmark on the 26th of January, 1841, a 
son of Peter Nelson and Christine Olson. The father followed 
agricultural pursuits for many years in that country.  

	Mr. Peterson attended school in Denmark but when twenty-two years 
of age emigrated to America, locating in Waukesha county, Wisconsin, 
where he worked as a farm hand for some time. He next removed to Bureau 
county, Illinois, where he remained for a few months, after which he 
went to Joliet, Illinois. On the 7th of October, 1864, he enlisted in 
the Forty-fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry and saw considerable 
active service, participating in the engagements at Columbia, Spring 
Hill, Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee. On the 25th of September, 
1865, he was mustered out of the army at Irving, Texas, and made his 
way to Wisconsin, where he remained until the following spring. He then 
located at Sheffield, Illinois, which remained his home for a year. For 
two years he worked in the sawmills of Muskegon, Michigan, but in 1868 
he returned to Illinois, where his marriage occurred.  

	Upon leaving that state Mr. Peterson took up his residence in 
Adel, Iowa, but after living there for about six months came to South 
Dakota, arriving in Vermillion in the spring of 1869. He made the trip 
with an ox team, bringing his family and household goods, and when he 
reached Vermillion his sole capital was a dollar and a quarter. He 
immediately took up a claim of one hundred and sixty acres in Garfield 
township, Clay county which he brought under cultivation as soon as 
possible. His first residence was a wagon box, which was replaced by a 
dugout, which was in turn superseded by a cabin twelve by eighteen 
feet. He remained upon his farm for ten years, but during the 
grasshopper plague he returned to Illinois, where he spent five years. 
He then returned to his homestead in Clay county, this state, and 
continued the work of its improvement. He was actively engaged in 
farming until 1899, when, feeling that he had acquired a competence, he 
retired from active life and, purchasing a lot in Vermillion, erected a 
house thereon, in which he is still residing. For six years he was a 
director of the Alsen Creamery Company and he is still a stockholder in 
that organization.  

	On the 26th of October, 1868, Mr. Peterson was married in 
Sheffield, Illinois, to Miss Anna C. A. Hanson, likewise a native of 
Denmark, and they became the parents of eight children, as follows: 
Julia, the wife of C. H. Jacobson, of Beresford, South Dakota; P. H., 
who is operating the home farm; Emma O. C., who is deceased; Clara, the 
wife of John Rassmussen, a farmer of Union county; Harold, who died in 
infancy in Illinois; Harold, the second of the name, who is engaged in 
the mercantile business in Alsen , Franklin deceased; and Meckie L., 
the wife of John Fowler, of Deadwood.  

	Mr. Peterson gives his political allegiance to the republican 
party and has taken a very active part in public affairs. For eight 
years he was justice of the peace in Garfield township; for eleven 
years was clerk of that township; and for seven years was a member of 
the city council of Vermillion. He has also been honored by election to 
the lower house of the state legislature, serving as a member of that 
body in 1872 and 1873. In all of his official capacities he has 
discharged his duties with an eye single to the public welfare and as a 
private citizen he has done all in his power to advance the general 
good. In the early years of the history of this state he and his wife 
had to endure many hardships, but, although crops were often bad and 
pioneer conditions made it impossible to enjoy the usual  comforts and 
conveniences of life, they never lost faith in the ultimate prosperity 
of South Dakota  and their belief in the state has been more than 
justified. They are now financially independent are passing their last 
days in the enjoyment of well earned leisure and have the sincere 
respect and high  esteem of all who know them.