Emmons County record. [volume] (Williamsport, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-current, 1911-08-03
4. B. PETERSON DIES.
Another Of Emmons County S Early
Settlers Crosses the Dark River.

Almost monthly in late years the
Record has been called upon to
chronicle the passing away Of some
one of the editors fellow settlers
of the early days of the county. We
have herad the remark made recent
ly that it seems strange that so
many Of the pioneers have died at
dates not very far apart. This is
easily explained. Every new coun-
try is settled by people comparative
ly young. for the hardships and dis
comforts of new region can better
be borne by those men and women
who are in the vigor of life. In the
early days of this county there were
few persons settling here who were
beyond middle age, and a majority
were in their twenties and thirties.
Being so near in the matter of age.
they grew old together. and hence
their biddings to the other shore
come not far apart.
There died Monday of last week,
at his comfortable pioneer home
known as Center Valley Farm,
a few miles east Of Braddock, Albert
B. Peterson, man who had spent
the best years of his life in Emmons
county who came here when its
population consisted of but few
hundreds, and who lived to see
more thousands having homes in the
county than there were hundreds in
the early period of his residence.
Mr.. Peterson was born in Gottes-
rod, Bohuslan. Sweden. Aug. 8. 1914.
He was. therefore, at the time of
his death, in his sixty-seventh year.
He came to the United States in
l844 and settled at Green Bay,
Wisconsin. working i'm mine on
Lake Superior for year or a little
over. He then went to Winnipeg,
engaging in the shoe business in
that then young city. But he soon
grew tired of Canada and returned
to the States. taking up his residence
in Montana. In 1880 he went toBis-
marck. He was married to Miss
Mary jacobson the 9TH of December
of that year. He went back to Mon
tana with this wife in 1881, and
worked on the building of the North
err Pacific Railroad. being en-
ployed by contractors for while
and afterward taking contracts for
himself.
In 1883, in Bismarck, Mr.. Peter
son filed on a claim. and on that
homestead he lived with his family
continuously until his death.
Tho f,,porol tool, v,l-o. Al a..
noon of Tuesday. July 25th, the in
terment being made in the ceme-
terry Of the Swedish Lutheran
church, not far from the home
which Mr.. Peterson had occupied so
many years. The services were con-
Quoted by the Rev. A. F. Allison, pas
tor of that church.
1t was one of the largest funerals
ever held in the county, fifty or six
ty carriages containing friends and
pioneer neighbors of deceased TAX
ing part in the procession.
Besides his wife, Mr.. Peterson is
survived by two sons: John A. and
Grant F. Peterson. His widow is a
sister Of Axel jacobson and Mrs.
John Bohlin, pioneers residing in
the neigborhood.
There were few early settlers in
Burleigh county and in northern
Emmons who did not know and re-
spect the man who has just passed
away. Honest and straightforward
ne worked for all that he accumu-
lated, and the fine farm that. with
the assistance of his loyal sons and
his devoted wife. he built up from
the raw prairie, was and is an OBJ
ject lesson as to what may be done
by an earnest. faithful, mutually
helpful family in this region. Sure
ly, MIR. Peterson had the satisfaction
Of knowing, as he passed down the
hill of life. that he had done his
share in the making of sparsely-
settled territory into bright star
in the constellation of sovereign
states.
One by one the pioneers are pass
ing. A view more years and the hills
and valleys of Emmons county will
be dotted with graves containing all
that is mortal of the last of the men
and women who made their homes
here in the early days. who suffered
the hardships and discomforts of the
pioneer times, and who have left a
county of happy homes to their
children and their children's chill
dren. Surely, their lives will not
have been lived in vain.