My mother always told my sisters and I that her paternal
grandparents were survivors of the 1871 Great Peshtigo Fire in Peshtigo,
WI. According to mom, my
great-grandparents and their many children survived the fire by spending the
night in the cold Peshtigo River.
Imagine my surprise when I found the 1870 U.S. census for Peshtigo on
Ancestry.
What?!! Where was my
great-grandmother? Peter Peterson was my
great-grandfather and Charles was my grandfather’s half-brother. What happened to all of the kids in the river? After finding the 1870 U.S. census, the
search was on to find out when my great-grandparents married. Was my great-grandmother, Christiana (Nelson)
Peterson, even in Peshtigo at the time of the fire?
[1] 1870
U.S. census, Oconto County, Wisconsin, Peshtigo, Peshtigo post office, p. 6
(penned), dwelling 33, family 33, Peter Peterson; database with images, Ancestry
(https://ancestry.com : accessed 1 December
2019); citing NARA microfilm publication M593, roll 1730. The census was taken 1 June 1870.
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