The Peterson Family
By Rodney Hines
(This information was collected by Rodney Hynes, who conducted oral interviews at a Peterson family reunion in the late 1950's or early 1960's. No one in the family can recall anymore whether this was a high school or college project. Rodney is dead and can't tell us, but the family is indebted to him for this collection. All of the old folks from whom he collected it are now gone too. Ed.)
Peter Anton Peterson, my maternal great grandfather, was born October 4, 1866. He was the son of John Peterson, a fisherman in Norway. John was born April 11, 1840 and died October 1, 1907; his wife, Sophie, was born December 30, 1834 and died July 15, 1915. The Petersons came to America with their four sons and three daughters in 1880.
The elder Peterson decided to come to America because he had heard of the opportunities America offered. He wanted his sons to be something other than fishermen.
Crossing the ocean was an ordeal in itself. At that time there were many storms. Although John had been at sea most of his life, his family wasn't quote as seaworthy as he was. They did manage to make the trip without any serious accidents.
The Peterson family landed in New York and then came to Jackson, Minnesota on a train. In Jackson, John worked as a carpenter and a farm hand. Peter worked on a farm near Bergen, Minnesota for awhile; he also clerked in a store. He and one of his brothers started a grocery store in Jackson but sold it after a few years.
When he was twenty-four, Peter got a job working for the railroad as a section hand. The railroad provided a job for him until he retired at 65. His job took him to Sherburn, Minnesota, where he lived until his death, March 16, 1949. He held the job of section foreman for the majority of his years on the railroad.
Peter recalled to his son, Roy, my maternal grandfather, about the Blizzard of 1880-1881. The snow was higher than the telegraph poles running along the railroad tracks. Trains couldn't get through the snow from November of 1880 until May of 1881. Workers had to tear up the railroad ties to feed the fire.
While working in Sherburn, Peter stayed at the town's hotel. He met his future wife, who was employed there as a clerk, through a mutual acquaintance from Jackson. His wife was Julia Matilda Danielson. They were married in Sherburn October 28, 1893.
This union brought about four children: Roy Alvin, my maternal grandfather, born November 18, 1894; Myrtle Alma, born February 14, 1897; Lillian Alice, born October 10, 1899; and Vernon Arthur, born September 15, 1907.
Taken around 1900, this old photograph shows Roy Peterson (left) with sister Lillian and Myrtle (right).
The Petersons were originally Norwegian Lutheran, but the congregation in Sherburn was so small that it became necessary for the church and a couple of other small churches to join together; they formed the Congregational Church. My grandparents were very active in church life.
Peter's wife's parents both had come over to America from the Old Country. Julia's father, Isaac Danielson, was born in Joy Kopings, Sweden on May 1, 1836. He was a shoemaker by trade. Great-great grandfather Danielson came to America in about 1868. He had a brother who had come over in 1866. They both settled in Rockford, Illinois and worked for the same man.
The two brothers were really only half-brothers; one, my great-great grandfather's name being Isaac Felt or Feldt, and the other was named Jacobson. Since the brothers had different names and their employer had no sons of his own, he gave them his name of Danielson.
Isaac met a man by the name of Perry Johnson at Rockford who was interested in coming to Minnesota to farm. He and Isaac came to Albert Lea to farm on their own.
It was at Albert Lea that Isaac met Caroline Martha Orstad. They were married about 1872. They moved to Sherburn and homesteaded 160 acres in Jay township, Martin county.
Isaac's wife, Caroline Martha Orstad, was born February 19, 1847 in Oslo, Norway. She had three brothers. Her father was a carpenter in Norway. The whole family came to America when Caroline was a young woman and bought a farm of 27 acres east of Albert Lea. She worked as a hired girl in a home until she married. Caroline died July 30, 1930.
Isaac and Caroline's first child was Julia, later Peter Peterson's wife; she was born in Jay Township, Martin county on February 6, 1867. Julia had two other sisters and two brothers.
After working his original 160 acres a few years, Isaac added another 160 which he bought from another homesteader, Fred Kemmer.
The first years on his farm proved to be full of hardships. He had to burn twisted hay during the winters to keep from freezing. Later the grasshopper plague twice forced him to abandon the farm and seek refuge in Albert Lea.
Julia worked in Sherburn at the local hotel when she was 18. It was while working there that she met and married Peter Peterson.