The Andrew Peterson Farmstead is a farm just east of

Waconia, Minnesota Waconia ( ) is a city in Carver County, Minnesota, United States. Waconia attracts visitors to nearby Lake Waconia, a lake locally renowned for its fishing and recreation opportunities. The city's population was 13,033 at the 2020 census. Geo ...

, United States. The farm is located in rural

Carver County, Minnesota Carver County is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The county is mostly farmland and wilderness with many unincorporated townships. As of the 2020 census, the population was 106,922. Its county seat is Chaska. Carver County is named for ...

, on

Minnesota State Highway 5 Minnesota State Highway 5 (MN 5) is a highway in Minnesota, which runs from its intersection with MN 19 and MN 22 in Gaylord and continues east and northeast to its eastern terminus at its intersection with MN 120 in Maplewoo ...

. The farm is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

for its association with its first owner, Andrew Peterson. It is owned and operated by the Carver County Historical Society.

History

Andrew Peterson (''Anders Pettersson'') was born October 20, 1818, at Västra Ryd parish in Ydre härad,

Östergötland Östergötland (; English exonym: East Gothland) is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish) in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland and the Baltic Sea. In older English li ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. He died March 31, 1898, in Waconia, Carver County, Minnesota. He emigrated from

Rydsnäs Rydsnäs is a locality situated in Ydre Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of ...

to American in 1850. With his sister and fourteen other emigrants, they arrived in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

on July 2, 1850. He arrived in

Burlington, Iowa Burlington is a city in, and the county seat of, Des Moines County, Iowa, United States. The population was 23,982 in the 2020 census, a decline from the 26,839 population in 2000. Burlington is the center of a micropolitan area, which includes ...

, about four weeks later and lived there for four years. He later moved to Minnesota in 1855, claiming near the southeastern shore of Lake Waconia. He kept a series of daily diaries and ledgers dating from 1850 until a few days until his death in 1898. Peterson's diary was donated by his family to the Minnesota Historical Society in 1939. These writings provided inspiration for

Vilhelm Moberg Karl Artur Vilhelm Moberg (20 August 1898 – 8 August 1973) was a Swedish journalist, author, playwright, historian, and debater. His literary career, spanning more than 45 years, is associated with his series ''The Emigrants''. The four ...

's novels '' The Emigrants'', ''

Unto a Good Land ''Unto a Good Land'' ( sv, Invandrarna) is a novel by Vilhelm Moberg from 1952. It is the second part of ''The Emigrants'' series. Plot This novel describes the journey of the Emigrants from New York City, New York to Taylors Falls, Minnesota. T ...

'', ''

The Settlers ''The Settlers'' (german: Die Siedler) is a City-building game, city-building and real-time strategy video game series created by Volker Wertich. The The Settlers (1993 video game), original game was released on the Commodore Amiga in 1993, wit ...

'', and ''

The Last Letter Home ''The Last Letter Home'' ( sv, Sista brevet till Sverige) is a novel by Vilhelm Moberg from 1959. It is the fourth and final part of ''The Emigrants'' series, the shortest book of the four, with a faster pace. Plot This novel tells about Karl-Osk ...

'', although they were set in

Chisago County, Minnesota Chisago County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 56,621. Its county seat is Center City. Chisago County is part of the Minneapolis-St. Paul- Bloomington, MN- WI Metropolitan Statistical ...

. While Andrew Peterson is not familiar to many Americans, his story is well known in Sweden. The Andrew Peterson Society was established in Sweden in 2003. In 2007 a tour group came from Sweden to visit the farm. The Carver County Historical Society restored the granary on the farmstead in 2006 with help from Swedish carpenters, and began restoration on the north barn in 2010. A musical called ''Andrew Peterson: The Genuine Pioneer Story'' had great success in Sweden in 2012.

Note

This article contains information obtained from the Swedish Wikipedia article Andrew Peterson.

References

External links

The Andrew Peterson FarmAndrew Peterson Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peterson, Andrew, Farmstead Farms on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Houses in Carver County, Minnesota National Register of Historic Places in Carver County, Minnesota Swedish-American culture in Minnesota 1867 establishments in Minnesota Greek Revival architecture in Minnesota

History

Note

References

Related reading

External links