John Peterson

In 1863, he married Tilda Moosberg, born January 31, 1843, the daughter of Aron Moosberg and his wife.  Two sons, Oscar and Helmar, were born in Sweden.  Oscar died at an early age.

In 1868, John Petterson came to America.  He landed in New York, along with another emigrant, Oscar Peterson, who became his lifelong friend.  The urge to go west brought both men on to Nebraska.

By 1870, Mr. John Petterson had saved enough money to bring his wife and son, Helmar, to America.  Their voyage was not a pleasant one.  Rough seas brought on violent seasickness which rendered the mother unable to care for her small son.  Other passengers, who were more fortunate, looked after her and Helmar until they landed in New York.  From there, they traveled by rail to Lincoln, Nebraska to be reunited with the husband and father.

 John Petterson became annoyed with the American tendency to mispronounce his name.  He decided that if he were to be called Peterson, he would change the spelling accordingly.  This he had done by court order, using one “t” instead of two.

Being a farmer at heart, his main objective was to be a land owner.  To earn the purchase price of a farm, he worked as a railroad construction foreman.  His family moved along with the work crew.  To supplement their income, Tilda Peterson laundered clothing and cooked for the road gang.  During this period of life in America, the family’s only shelter was a tent.  Stories of hardships during the bitter cold winter have been handed down from one generation to another.

On one cold day, a man with the work crew gave the young son Helmer, an apple.  To keep the apple from freezing, the mother put it under her pillow, but even this was not adequate protection against the low temperature.

Another story concerns Tilda Peterson’s efforts to learn the English language.  She had been hearing construction workers speaking to their mule teams in strong terms.  When her husband came in from work, she recited the English words she had learned.  His answer was “Why, Tilda, that is swearing.”  Tilda said, “Well, John, if everything in America is swearing, I should go back to Sweden.”

In 1872, the Peterson family joined a caravan of eighty wagons bound for Bonham, Texas.  From there, they followed the construction of a railroad into Dallas.

For a short time, John Peterson farmed land which is now a part of the Oak Cliff section of Dallas.  To increase his income, he drove a freight wagon which was a profitable enterprise, since railroads still were inadequate.

The Peterson’s were a hard working and frugal family.  Records still in existence show a detailed account of all income and expenditures.  By 1874, enough money had been saved to buy a farm in the north part of Tarrant County.  The family friend, Oscar Peterson, also bought a larger tract of land only a few miles to the west. 

In 1877, the John Peterson’s son, Edward, was born.  The father decided that this increase in the family created a need for more land and a larger house, so he and his good friend, Oscar Peterson, worked out a plan to trade farms.  In 1881, another son, Jim, was born.

The family continued to work and save in order to buy more land.  Eventually, the farm included 500 acres.  Thrifty is hardly the word to describe John Peterson.  From his grandchildren comes the story that as a measure of economy, he wore his shoes to the field, but took them off when he reached the ploughed ground and walked barefoot in the furrows.

As the three sons grew up, they took over the heavy farm work.  In the evenings, John Peterson read a great deal.  Many of his books were in English, but the Bible was always read in his beloved ‘Swenska’.  The family attended services at the Broadway Methodist Church in Fort Worth. 

In the late 1890’s, Tilda Peterson and her grown son, Jim, went back to Red Cloud, Nebraska to visit relatives.  An Aunt, Mrs. Carlson, urged her nephew not to be out after dark, because bodily harm might come to him since people in that area thought all men from Texas were savage desperados. 

In 1900, Helmar was married to Mary McIntosh.  They moved to Shreveport, Louisiana where he died in 1914. 

Jim was married to Lettie Hart in 1901 and continued to live in the ample parental home.  Their first child was Grace, who was born in 1902 and died at the age of tree months.  Tilda Mae was born in 1904, John W. was born in 1905, James T. in 1908 and Edwin T. in 1910.

After Jim’s death in 1910, his widow and older brother, Ed, were married.  Their only child, a son, George, was born in 1913.  Ed Peterson passed away in 1954 and his widow, Lettie, in 1960.  Both are buried in the Peterson Family Cemetery.

Grandpa and Grandma, as the older Petersons were called in later years, provided a home not only for their own children and grandchildren, but for other relatives who came from Sweden, a nephew, Frank Moosberg and his sisters, Hulda and Julia.  Grandma passed away in 1912 and Grandpa in 1925.  They were buried in the Peterson Family Cemetery.