John C. Petersen (November 2, 1842 – July 10, 1887) was an American

butcher A butcher is a person who may Animal slaughter, slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesal ...

and

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mig ...

from Appleton,

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

who served as a member of the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...

from

Outagamie County Outagamie County is a county in the northeast region of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 190,705. Its county seat is Appleton. Outagamie County is included in the Appleton, WI Metropolitan Statistical Are ...

. He was elected in 1878 as a Greenbacker, and was re-elected the next year as a "Greenback

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

" (even though he was opposed by a Democrat).

Background

Petersen was born in

Glückstadt Glückstadt (; da, Lykstad) is a town in the Steinburg district of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is located on the right bank of the Lower Elbe at the confluence of the small Rhin river, about northwest of Altona. Glückstadt is part of the ...

Holstein-Glückstadt Holstein-Glückstadt or Schleswig-Holstein-Glückstadt is the historiographical name, as well as contemporary shorthand name, for the parts of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein that were ruled by the Kings of Denmark in their function as dukes o ...

(now part of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

but then ruled by the

Kings of Denmark This is a list of Monarchy of Denmark, Danish monarchs, that is, the kings and queens regnant of Denmark. This includes: * The Kingdom of Denmark (up to 1397) ** Personal union of Denmark and Norway (1380–1397) * The Kalmar Union (1397–1536) ...

) on November 2, 1842. He received a common school education, and became a butcher by occupation. Petersen came to Wisconsin in 1862, and settled in Appleton, where he was elected to various

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

offices .

Public office

Petersen was elected to the assembly for 1879 from Outagamie County's 1st Assembly district (The City of Appleton, and the

Towns A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

Buchanan Buchanan may refer to: People * Buchanan (surname) Places Africa * Buchanan, Liberia, a large coastal town Antarctica * Buchanan Point, Laurie Island Australia * Buchanan, New South Wales * Buchanan, Northern Territory, a locality * Buchanan ...

Center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

Freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...

, Grand Chute and

Kaukauna Kaukauna () is a city in Outagamie and Calumet counties, Wisconsin, United States. It is situated on the Fox River, approximately north of Milwaukee. The population was 15,462 at the 2010 census. It is a part of the Appleton, Wisconsin Metr ...

), receiving 1,096 votes against 1,000 for

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

B. T. Rogers (Rep.), and 423 for incumbent William Smith Warner (who had been elected as an "

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Democrat" but was now the Democratic nominee). He was assigned to the

standing committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

on public improvements. He was re-elected for 1880 by 963 votes, against 779 for D. J. Brothers, a Democrat, and 434 for P. P. Wing, a Republican. Even though he was re-elected running against a Democrat, he is listed in the 1880 ''

Wisconsin Blue Book The ''Wisconsin Blue Book'' is a biennial publication of the Wisconsin's Legislative Reference Bureau. The ''Blue Book'' is an almanac containing information on the government, economics, demographics, geography and history of the state of Wisc ...

'' as a "Greenback Democrat": there were 71 Republicans, 27 Democrats, Petersen (listed separately as "Greenback Democrat") and one Greenback ( David Bean) listed in the Assembly roster for that year. He remained on the public improvements committee. Petersen was not a candidate for re-election for 1881, and was succeeded by Democrat

Henry Clay Sloan Henry Clay Sloan (August 12, 1846January 19, 1915) was an American lawyer and politician. He served two non-consecutive terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly. His father, , and uncle, , both served in the United States House of Representatives. ...

Personal life

Petersen married Wilhelmina "Minnie" Freiberg, born in

Stettin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin language, Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Po ...

Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...

in 1849; they were the parents of five children. Petersen was in the butcher business at Appleton for about twenty-five years, then moved to a farm in Grand Chute township which he operated until his retirement, and then returned to Appleton, where he died on July 10, 1887. His widow survived him, living until 1932.Ryan, Thomas Henry. ''History of Outagamie County, Wisconsin: Being a General Survey of Outagamie County History including a History of the Cities, Towns and Villages throughout the County, from the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time''. Chicago: Goodspeed Historical Association, 911? p. 681. They are buried at Riverside Cemetery in Appleton.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Petersen, John C. 1842 births 1887 deaths Farmers from Wisconsin Businesspeople from Wisconsin American butchers Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly Politicians from Appleton, Wisconsin People from Glückstadt Wisconsin Democrats Wisconsin Greenbacks 19th-century American legislators 19th-century Wisconsin politicians