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Our Petersen family can only be traced back to Peter Christian Petersen who emigrated from Schleswig, Denmark (now northern Germany) about 1869. He settled briefly in Keokuk, Lee County, Iowa and was on the 1870 census there. He married Magdaline Juhl in Keokuk, 13 Sep 1875 and their first child, Lizzie K. Petersen was born there on 4 Nov 1877. Their remaining children were born in Alta, Buena Vista Co., Iowa soon following.

1) Lizzie K. Petersen b. 4 Nov 1877 mar. L. C. Johansen

2) Anna Petersen b. 29 Apr 1879 mar. William Rydstrom

3) Severen Petersen b. 26 Aug 1883 mar. Ingeborg Johansen

4) Eric Petersen b. 28 May 1885 mar. Elma Katzenberg

5) Julia M. Petersen b. 5 Sep 1890 mar. John L. Smith

6) Maggie Petersen b. 3 March 1895 mar. Olden Olsen

The Petersen family changed their names to PetersOn when they moved to northwest Iowa so they could blend in with all the Swedes in the area. It must be noted that some of the Petersen's changed their names back to the proper spelling at later dates, but not all.
Please contact Bev Petersen at bev@petersenprints.com for more information on this family.