John and Sofia Peterson
John Peterson was born Jan Petter Pettersson on the 24th of August 1836. He was the oldest son of Petter Pettersson and Maria Eriksdotter. Sofia was born on the 6th of October 1836, the youngest daughter of Johannes Hendricsson and Maria Andersdotter. They were married on the 26th of October 1862. In the church register Jan is listed as a farmer in Styvatorp, Berga parish, Skaraborg district. Their first child, a daughter named Johanna Sofia died before reaching her third Birthday. However, they successfully raised five more children.
In March of 1884 at the age of 19 the oldest daughter Maria Christina departed for America alone. A year later the rest of the family followed. They departed from the port of Goteborg 6 March 1885 and arrived at the port of New York aboard the US Merchant Steamship Baltic 21 March 1885. In America they took the name Peterson.
I will take a few lines to explain the problems facing genealogical researchers. In the Peterson family, Maria was christened Maja Stina Jansdotter, Emily was Albertina Jansdotter. Fred began life as Adolf Fredrik Jansson. On arrival in America he became Fredrik Peterson. On his marriage he took his wife's last name because "there were already too many Petersons" (a story I was told by someone in Holt MN). Another unconfirmed story is about Charly Smith. He was named Carl Erik Anderson. The postmaster had a problem with so many Andersons so he suggested Carl take a new name. He chose Charly Smith. Charly Smith had eight sons, so all of us ....sons have a lot of Smith relatives.
After spending a year in New York, the family finally settled near Holt, Minnesota. The earliest record I have found is a purchase of 40 acres from the State land office for $5.00 per acre by John in May of 1893. There is also a land grant to Fred in October 1901 and a purchase of land by Anton in June 1903. August was granted a homestead in November 1905. Maria received a commission to become a Missionary and left for China in 1891. Her very interesting story is here. Each of the family members will have a page of their own. Use the links above to access them.
John died on the 25th of May 1910 and Sofia died on the 31st of May 1913. They are buried in Folden Cemetery, near New Folden Minnesota.