Anders Petterson (later anglicized to Andrew Peterson) was born on October 20, 1818, on a farm in Sjöarp in Västra Ryds parish, Östergötland, Sweden. His family had financial ties to the church, so he and his brother received a better education than many farmers of the time. He had interests in music, and experimental agricultural and farm techniques.[1] In 1850 age 32, Peterson immigrated to the United States, arriving in Boston on July 2, 1850. During his voyage, Peterson began keeping a daily journal. Peterson would continue writing for the next 48 years in his journal until two days before his death in 1898. Peterson's diary and papers are held by the Carver County Historical Society.[2] Most of the early journals were unfortunately later lost.[3] From Boston, he traveled west to Peru, Illinois, and then on to a settlement called New Sweden, near Burlington, Iowa. While in Iowa, Peterson “americanized” his name, from Anders Petterson to Andrew Peterson.[1]
Minnesota
On May 4, 1855 Peterson left for Minnesota permanently with his sister and her family. He settled on his claim close to a community called Scandia, near modern day Waconia, Minnesota. He began an orchard on his land, as well as farming more traditional crops. The farm was his by December 6, 1856. During these years, Peterson was a founder of the Scandia Baptist Church. Meetings were held in his home and a formal church building was erected not long after in the settlement.[1][4][5] Peterson continued to write in his daily diary, recording trips to town, work on the farm, visits with neighbors, and his thoughts on the Dakota War of 1862. His orchard blossomed, with the farm producing apples, pears, plums, grapes, and cherries.[1]
Influence on Apple Farming in Minnesota
In 1874, Peterson joined the Patrons of Husbandry, also known as the National Grange, a national fellowship of farmers and an agricultural advocacy group. Peterson sent apple grafts to growers as far away as Iowa. His experimental work was recognized at the January 1888 annual meeting of the Minnesota Horticultural Society, which he received an honorary life membership by unanimous vote.[1] At its height, Peterson's orchard produced over 200 apple varieties. Peterson hosted tours to leading experts in the field from nearby states and as far away as Ottawa. Later, his orchard became one of fifteen experimental fruit breeding research stations in Minnesota, run by the Minnesota State Horticultural Society. His farm was located six miles from what would become the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and Horticultural Research Center.[1]
Family
Andrew Peterson was married to Elsa Andersdotter (1835-1922) from Hörby Municipality, Skåne County in 1858 when he was forty and she was twenty-three. They had nine children in total: Ida, George, John, Charles (Carl), Frank, Emma, Anna, Josephine and Oscar.[1][5]
The Peterson family on May 8, 1885, from left to right: Andrew, 66; Elsa, 50, Oscar, 6; Anna Isabelle, almost 13; Josephine, 9; Ida, 26; Emma, 15; George “Sture,” 24; John “Axel,” 22; Charles “Carl,” 20, and Frank, 17.
Later Life and Death
Peterson died on March 31, 1898 in Waconia, Minnesota. His body was buried at the Scandia Baptist Cemetery, now part of Laketown Township. His wife Elsa Peterson ran the farm with her children until her death March 8, 1922. As their children died with no heirs, his last daughter Emma gave the farm to Sarah Peterson, a neighbor who had cared for Emma in her old age. The farm then passed into the hands of the Holasek family of Waconia, Minnesota who renamed it Rock Isle Farm.[1]
Peterson's farmstead, later called the Rock Island Farmstead, is preserved still today and includes much of the original farm, the farmhouse, granary, outhouse, the north barn, and south barn. The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 11, 1979. Currently, the Carver County Historical Society (CCHS) is working on restoring the property to its original 19th-century form.[7] In 2022 the CCHS was given a $250,000 grant from the Jeffris family Foundation for the restoration process.[8]
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