The Great Peshtigo Fire, cont’d…

Finding information about my great-grandmother, Christiana (Nelsen) Peterson was difficult.  I knew the names of most of my grandfather’s siblings and that Christiana had been born on the Island of Fyn, Denmark. We didn’t know her birthdate, her date of death, and at first, I was looking for Christiania Peterson.  On my grandfather’s death certificate, his mother was recorded as Christiania and not Christiana.

In August of 2018, my cousin Marylynn, sister Merry Jo and I went to Peshtigo.  We visited the Peshtigo Fire Museum and walked through the cemetery next to the museum.  We also went to the Riverside Cemetery where Christiana was buried.  At the Stephenson Library in nearby Marinette, WI, we found her obituary and at the Marinette County Courthouse, we retrieved her death certificate. 

I checked the Wisconsin Historical Society website and found a 1871 index entry for a Christina Nelson and Peter Peterson in Oconto County.[1] In 1871, Peshtigo was in Oconto County because Marinette County had not been formed yet.[2] When I requested the marriage record, I did not hold out much hope that it would be the one I was looking for, but….it was!

About a week after finding their marriage record, an ELCA Lutheran Church record popped up on my cousin’s Ancestry account.  The record corroborated Christiana’s birthdate and date of marriage. Christiana and Peter Peterson were wed on 1 April 1871, about six months before the great fire.[3] 

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[1] Marriage record, Peterson/Nelson, 1 April 1871, Oconto County, WI, Pre-1907 Vital Records, vol. 1, p. 47; Wisconsin Historical Society Library, Madison, WI. 

[2] Marinette County, Wisconsin Genealogy, “Boundary Changes”, rev. 16:24, 30 May 2020; database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Marinette_County,_Wisconsin_Genealogy : accessed 14 June 2020).

[3] ELCA, Swedish American Church Records, 1800-1946, ELCA film no. A211-214, SSIRC Film No. A213, Peter Peterson household for Christiana Peterson; database with digital images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 June 2020).