Grandfather Jonas Peterson

I come now to my grandmother’s house and first of all I shall describe the members of the Peterson family — my mother had done this from her viewpoint in the family history she wrote, but my impressions I think are rather different than hers were.

I shall start with my grandfather, even though I actually never saw him and my impression is based on what I have heard about his life and doings, plus a few items of written evidence. Of the early life of my grandfather in Sweden I know nothing — aside from a few vital statistics gleaned from the usual genealogical sources. He first came to this country about 1870 and he seemed to have been an individual who soon acquired information as to the possibilities for furthering his economic position as a part of his general approach to life. Thus, instead of settling in one of the places were Swedish immigrants were congregated (largely in the Midwest, perhaps in response to some pioneering immigrant who settled in some particular spot and attracted further, later, Swedish friends and associates) he ended up as a “gold miner” in Montana. This is what I heard from my mother and other of her siblings and his life there is buttressed by a few written relics.

One time when I was visiting my mother after she had moved form the little brown house to my grandmother’s house (this was after my father had died and after uncle Carl and aunt Esther had moved to the home in Madrid) and I was sleeping during my stay in one of the upstairs bedrooms. By chance I looked in the dresser drawers, largely empty, and found a packet of papers belonging to my grandfather and which he had apparently kept together in a little case as mementoes and records of his doings. I was intrigued by these and asked my mother if I could have them — she replied yes with the proviso that she would check with my uncles if they would want them. Apparently they didn’t so I have them it must have been on a subsequent visit that I actually acquired them. My recollection is that I was alone on this visit, perhaps I was just stopping off for a day or so while on a business trip.

The papers were largely having to do with the notes, mortgages, etc. having to do with the purchase of the parts of the Peterson farm. A few indicated that he had dealings with persons engaged in buying and selling farm real estate and this may be a clue to his business activities outside the farm.

There was a small residue however and three items pertain to his activities in Montana. Two were receipts for registered mail sent from Phillipsburg, Montana, to a Peterson, probably a brother in Elysian Fields, Texas. What he sent I don’t know but I suspect that it was money. Later I acquired copies of letters he sent back to Sweden shortly before and for several years after his marriage to my grandmother, and in these he mentions trying to get back some of the money he had loaned to various relatives of others. As a single man in the free-wheeling milieu of the frontier he might well have been in the position of having excess funds with which he could help out relatives.



Registered mail receipt [In the 1870 census, there is no Henry Peterson, born in Sweden, living in Texas. However, in the 1880 census, there is a Swedish-born Henry in Panola County, Texas, age 32, with a wife Francis, age 28, born in Alabama, and two sons, Miles, 4, and John, 2 — LS]

I have been in Elysian Fields twice. It is located in the northeast part of Texas and is thus on the way between Houston and Iowa. It is in the “piney” woods country which is really beautiful country, mixed forest and open grassy countryside. So the name Elysian Fields is rather appropriate. Someone with a background in Greek and Roman history must have been an early settler in the area as there is a Carthage in the area also. Elysian Fields is now little more than a crossroads, at least where we were told that the original site was (I seem to recall that a more substantial community exists now at the present site.) There is a fairly extensive cemetery but our looking revealed no names of interest.

The first trip to the town was made with Jean on an excursion to Iowa while we were living in Houston. On the second Palma was with me and we were driving north at the end of the summer of the year when I was back consulting at Shell (1975) after my retirement. She had come to Houston that summer and had worked first as a temp and then at Pennzoil. The third item was some recording of food items etc. which I deduced to be records at the time her was “batching” it in Montana — perhaps at the location where the 1870 census placed him.

My grandfather appears in the 1870 census near Butte, Montana. From the scanty information in the census he seems to have been living with several other individuals in some sort of makeshift living quarters. I surmise they were all miners. Since my grandfather had the nickname of “Gold” Peterson I had the original impression that he was an independent operator, perhaps a placer miner with a claim. I have concluded that this is incorrect and he more likely was a hard rock miner, and what he moved was not gold at all but some other ore for an organized company (like Anaconda). Perhaps he had the idea of being a seeker of gold and changed his tack due to lack of success. When we passed through Phillipsburg (I think it was when we took Laurel to Ames in 1977) Jean and I visited the courthouse in Phillipsburg and looked at the record of placer claims — there was no mention of a Jonas Peterson. Phillipsburg as a site is significant since that is where the post office was at which the two receipts for registered mail I have were sent from.



Page from 1870 census, listing Jonas P Peterson, age 25, male, white, occupation: quartz miner, place of birth: Sweden, not yet a U.S. citizen.