August Peterson

 

PAYSON PEOPLE

A turn-of-the-century essential worker, Per August Peterson was a carpenter and undertaker by trade. He advertised the cupboards, flour bins, the coffins and caskets he made, and the funeral services he provided in The Globe-Header — this ad appeared in the September 23, 1899 edition. August was born in Kippinge, Stockholm, Sweden in July 1841. He immigrated to the United States in 1876, settling in Payson with his wife Josefina Ulricka Hanson — she, too, a Stockholm native — and their children. August died of Bright's disease (glomerulonephritis) on December 29, 1905 and was buried on New Year’s Eve in the place once under his care, the Payson City Cemetery.