Peter W. Petersen

PETERSEN, LINNETT

Posted By: Emmet County IAGenWeb Coordinator (email)
Date: 3/5/2011 at 14:17:57

For several years Peter W. Petersen has been prominently identified with the business interests of Ringsted where he is now conducting one of the best garages in the state. He handles the Oakland, Studebaker and Maxwell cars and also deals in farm implements. A native of Iowa he was born in Clinton, December 11, 1878, and is a son of Martin and Anna (Petersen) Petersen, who were born in Denmark but came to America in early life and located in Manistee, Michigan. There the father engaged in the furniture business for a short time and later was similarly employed in Chicago, Illinois. From the latter place he removed to Clinton, Iowa, where he worked in a saw mill for eight years and then came to Emmet county, buying land on section 1, Denmark township, to the improvement and cultivation of which he devoted his energies for many years. He then retired from active labor and removed to Ringsted, where he passed away in September, 1911. His wife survived him about two years, dying in August, 1913.

Reared upon his father's farm in Emmet county, Peter W. Petersen acquired his early education in the country schools but later attended college at Elkhorn, Iowa. He remained with his parents until twenty-one years of age and gave his father the benefit of his services in the operation of the home farm. In 1900 he embarked in the hardware and implement business in Ringsted, and continued along that line until November, 1916, when he sold out and purchased a well equipped garage. As previously stated he now handles the Oakland, Studebaker and Maxwell cars and is doing an excellent business as a dealer in automobiles. He also handles all kinds of farm implements and has built up a trade of extensive proportions.

On the 19th of October, 1905, Mr. Petersen married Miss Mary C. Linnett, by whom he has two children, Stella, born October 3, 1906, and Alice, born January 11, 1908. Mr. Petersen affiliates with the republican party and has been called upon to serve on the town council for nine years, while at the present time he is a school director. He belongs to the Lutheran church and is also identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Danish Brotherhood. He is one of the representative business men of Emmet county, is wide-awake, energetic and progressive, and usually carries forward to successful conclusion whatever he undertakes.

Source: History of Emmet County and Dickinson County Iowa: A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement, The Pioneer Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1917.