John Charles PETERSON

1863 - 1899

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Birth 10 Nov 1863 Monroe Twp., Richland Co., OH [10]

Sex Male

Died 27 May 1899 Chandler, Charles Mix Co., SD by tornado [11]

Buried Union Cemetery Bijou Hills, Brule Co., SD [12]

Person ID I00018 Jean

Last Modified 07 Mar 2010

Family Samantha Jane GUTHRIE, b. 11 Jun 1863, Perrysville, Green Twp., Ashland Co., OH

Married 14 Dec 1882 Richland Co., OH [13]

Children

	1. Alvah James PETERSON, b. 14 Oct 1883, Monroe Twp. Richland Co., OH
	2. Mabel PETERSON, b. 17 Aug 1885, Monroe Twp. Richland Co., OH
	3. Earl Victor PETERSON, b. 10 Aug 1887, Monroe Twp. Richland Co., OH
	4. Baby PETERSON, b. 14 May 1889, Monroe Twp. Richland Co., OH
	5. Nolaver Enola PETERSON, b. 21 Jun 1890, Chandler, Charles Mix Co., SD
	6. John Ivan PETERSON, b. 01 May 1892, Chandler, Charles Mix Co., SD
	7. Solomon Simon PETERSON, b. 25 Feb 1894, Chandler, Charles Mix Co., SD
	8. Vernice Fay PETERSON, b. 25 Apr 1895, Chandler, Charles Mix Co., SD
	9. Howard Allen PETERSON, b. 17 Dec 1896, Chandler, Charles Mix Co., SD
	10. Charles Floyd PETERSON, b. 24 Jul 1899, Chandler, Charles Mix Co., SD

Family ID F00007 Group Sheet

Notes	Homesteaded in Charles Mix County, SD, September 28, 1898, Twp 100N. R70W., Sec. 7, 80 acres, 39.7 acres and 39.66 acres, U.S. Patent #11843 September 5, 1899, State of South Dakota, County of Charles Mix, Administrator’s Deed. Decree directing administrator, Riley M. Girton, to make conveyance of the above described property to Saul Peterson on or before October 1, 1899.. (Book 10, p. 219 and Misc. Record 2, p. 70) (I have this conveyance, but it is not identifed as per above book and misc. record.) Peterson-Guthrie Tornado Tragedy by Jean Peterson Rosenkranz On May 27, 1899, a killer tornado forever changed the course of history for the family of Ohio natives, John Charles (known as Charles) and Samantha (Guthrie) Peterson. Born in Ohio on November 10, 1863, Charles was the third generation of Petersons to claim Ohio allegiance. His great grandfather, John Griggs Peterson, born in New Jersey, had migrated to Coshocton County, Ohio as a child. John Griggs Peterson married Mary Vail in 1809 in Muskingum County, Ohio, and by 1814 the young couple had settled in Monroe Township, Richland County. John is credited with being Mansfield=s first marshal in A. A. Graham=s History of Richland County Ohio: Its Past and Present, page 461. John and Mary were the parents of 11 children. Their son, Thomas, who married Mary Elizabeth APolly@ Archer, was the father of Solomon Peterson (married Mary Sabena Mitchell) who was the father of Charles. Although Charles Peterson=s paternal line has been traced back to his Dutch immigrant ancestor, Claes Cornelius Van Schouw, who is documented in New Amsterdam as early as 1638, much less is known about Samantha=s Scotch-Irish Guthrie ancestry. Her parents were Simon and Sarah (Hazen) Guthrie of Perrysville, Ashland County, Ohio. Her father, Simon, was the seventeenth child born to Richard Guthrie and Mary Van Scoyoc (Scoyce). Samantha was born November 14, 1835 at Perrysville, Ohio. Now that we have a genealogical framework for our story, let’s fast forward. Charles and Samantha with their first three children--Alvah, Mabel and Earl--had migrated from rural Mansfield, Ohio to Charles Mix County near Bijou Hills, South Dakota by covered wagon in the spring of 1890. During the next nine years Charles had proved up his homestead and five more children, Enola, John, Solomon, Vernice, and Howard, had been born. The following account of the tornado has been pieced together from newspaper accounts as well as the oral histories passed down from the survivors and eye witnesses. The tornado formed on a Saturday afternoon between 3:00 and 4:00 about 25 miles south of Chamberlain in the vicinity of Bijou Hills. It moved in a southerly course first destroying the Ara Goden farm, and then a church and schoolhouse before it hit the Peterson farm. Charles, noting the threatening clouds, had just unhitched his team of horses in the barn and probably was watching the storm from the porch. Alvah, the oldest son at 15, ducked into a root cellar where he rode out the storm with a bull snake to keep him company. The writer=s grandfather, Earl, 11, was hurled toward the house after the tornado had smashed the barn. His mother tried to catch him, but the twister carried him into a field and dropped him in a ditch. Earl was found by a neighbor, unconscious and severely injured. He was pulled to safety minutes before a flash flood swept through the ditch. Samantha was found in a muddy field some distance away, dazed and crawling around on her hands and knees, When found, her buttoned shoes had been torn from her feet, a large piece of wood had cut open her hip and she suffered a deep wound at the side of her mouth and head which left her permanently scarred and hearing impaired. She was hospitalized for several weeks at Chamberlain, South Dakota. The father, Charles, and the other children, Mabel, 13, Enola, 8, John, 7, Solomon, 5, Vernice, 4, and Howard, 2, did not live to tell their stories. The victims= bodies were scattered in all directions as far as one-half mile from the house. Charles= father, Solomon, made his home with his son and daughter-in-law. He was in Bijou Hills at the time of the storm and watched the destruction of his son=s farm from the porch of the Bijou Hills store. Destruction was essentially total--the barn, house, outbuildings, horses, livestock and crops. Anything the tornado may have spared was finished off by goose-egg sized hail, heavy rains and flooding. Stories abound of feather stripped chickens; bits of farm machinery found on neighbor=s farms; and sticks, nails and straw driven into animals= bodies. The Chamberlain Register of June 1, 1899, reported that the sight of two wagon loads of coffins parked in front of the undertaking establishment made even the most hardened persons contemplate the uncertainty of life, and the certainty of death. There were seven coffins...all for one home that but a few hours before was full of life and happiness, that in the twinkling of an eye was almost blotted out of existence. Samantha Guthrie Peterson gave birth to, Charles Floyd, July 24, 1899, two months after her own nearly fatal encounter with the fury of a tornado. Samantha’s descendants attest to the indomitable Peterson-Guthrie spirit that survived that fateful day. Today a gravestone in Union Cemetery, Bijou Hills, South Dakota, marks the common grave of the seven Peterson tornado victims.

Sources

[S00372] THE SAGA OF SULLY FLATS, Gnirk, Adeline S., (Name: Gregory, SD: Gregory Times-Advocate, 1977;), pp. 260, 261
[S00991] 1895 South Dakota State Census, Ancestry.com, 9533.
(Charles Mix Co., LaRoche Twp., John C. Peterson, Samantha, James, May, Earle, Enola, John, Solomon)
[S00425] Charles Mix County, SD Estate of J. C. Peterson
(Notice of Hearing Petition for Letters of Administration of July 8, 1899; Petition for Conveyance of Lots 6 & 7, and E1/2 of SW 1/4, Sec. 7, T100NR, Charles Mix Co. to Saul Peterson, of July 27, 1899; Decree directing administrators to make conveyance, of Sept. 5, 1899; Petition for Letters of Administration ( illegible date, but lists Floyd Peterson as age 2 so would be after July 1901). This documents besides the above land description lists 4 horses, 7 cows, 2 heifers, 3 yearlings, 7 spring calves, 1 bull, 7 hogs, 1 cultivator)
[S00659] 1880 Richland County, Ohio Federal Census, Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of the Census, (Name: National Archives;), FHL #1255061., p. 21
(Monroe Twp. 201/214Solomon Peterson, 42, OH, Mary S., 39, PA, Enola J. 17, John C. 16, Franklin E., 14, Isaac O. 12, Effie F., 11, Mary A. 10, Margaret E., 7, Wade H., 4)
[S00678] Photo Tombstone - John Charles Peterson & children
[S00645] SDGENWEB File, Bureau of Land Management Database
{Charles Mix Co., SD, Federal Land Records, John C. Peterson, T100N, R70W, Sec 7, (80, 39.7 and 39.66 acres), Homestead patent #11843, 9/28/1898}
[S00895] John C. Peterson homestead application #9384, National Archives, Washington D.C., (Name: U. S. Government General Land Offices of Mitchell and Yankton, South Dakota;)
(Homestead file consisting of application, affidavits, non-mineral affidavit, posting of notice, affidavit of publication, Homestead proof - testimony of claimant, Homestead proof - testimony of witnesses, and final certificate #11843.)
[S00445] 1870 Richland County, Ohio Federal Census, Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of the Census, (Name: Monroe Township;), p. 235
(Enum. 1 June 1870, Monroe Twp., 28/28, Solomon Peterson, 32, OH, Mary S., 25, OH, Larra, 9, Enola 8, John C. 6, Franklin E., 5, Isaac, 3, Effie F. 1)
[S01296] Afminstrator's Deed, State of South Dakota, County of Charles Mix, (Name: Filed for record Oct. 5, 1899 at 9 o’clock a.m. and recorded in Book 10 of Deeds on page 229, E. E. Wilson, Register of Deeds.;)
In county court in the matter of the estate of J.C. Peterson, deceased, conveyance by administrator (this document conveyed the real property of J.C. Peterson to his father, Saul Peterson.
[S00253] Birth Certificate - Charles Floyd Peterson, South Dakota State Department of Health, (Name: Filed April 2, 1942;)
[S01522] THE CHAMBERLAIN REGISTER, (Name: Chamberlain, South Dakota, June 1, 1899;)
(story of the death of John Charles and his children by tornado)
[S00032] Index of Union Cemetery, America Township, Brule County, SD, Lyman-Brule Genealogical Society, (Name: Maurice Krueger, 178 Southshore Drive, Mina, SD 574762, 1996;)
[S00732] Richland County, Ohio Marriage Record - Peterson & Guthrie, (Name: Richland County, Ohio, License issued Dec. 9, 1882, #983;), FHL #0338738.
License returned certified by J. A. Veall of marriage performed on Dec. 14, 1882