Peterson - Silas - 50th - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

Wednesday at their elegant country home in Sugar Creek Township, Mr. and Mrs. Silas Peterson celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage. Over one hundred invitations for the happy occasion had been issued and the guests began arriving at noon or shortly after. More were entertained in the evening. The home was elaborately adorned for the affair, there being in evidence in all the rooms of entertainment a wealth of roses, carnations, decorative plants, and graceful vines. A substantial menu was served and the affair was a complete one in all its details. Mr. and Mrs. Peterson received the guests in their parlor and were congratulated heartily on their really youthful appearance. Both are excellently preserved and promise to live many years yet to enjoy the fruits of their industry and right living. No citizens of the county stand higher in the public esteem than Mr. and Mrs. Peterson. They have been identified with the growth and progress of the county, contributing materially thereto, since practically the county’s beginning. In all the years they have stood as representatives of that which is strongest, cleanest, and best in the social and religious life of old Montgomery, and on this their golden wedding day, the people of the county delight to acknowledge the high regard in which these excellent ones are held.

Silas Peterson was born in Greene County, Ohio, in 1825, and came here with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Solomon Peterson, in 1830. With them also came the grandfather, John Peterson, a native of Virginia, who died here at the age of seventy one. John Peterson’s father, Martin Peterson, was likewise Virginia born, and when a young man had been for three years a captive in the hands of hostile Indians. He was a Revolutionary soldier and a fit representative of the sturdy Virginian in the early day.

When the Petersons came to Montgomery County, Silas was but five years of age, but he was old enough even then to make himself in some ways useful and his early life was as busy, if not as replete, as his later life. In the winter he attended the short sessions of the country schools and in spite of difficulties succeeded in obtaining an excellent rudimentary education. He was twenty five years of age when he met Lorinda Dain, the daughter of Casson and Ester Dain, and he at once lost his heart. She was, so we are told by those who lived in the neighborhood at that time, the belle of the whole country side, but Silas Peterson was a beau to match her and after a short courtship he led her in triumph to the altar. Their life together has been one as full of happiness as of usefulness and honor, its darkest days being those which chronicled the deaths of three of the seven children born to them. The four children who still live are J. Q. Peterson, of Crawfordsville, Mrs. George Seybold, of Darlington, Mrs. W. B. Slutz, of Wichita, Kansas, and Charles Peterson, of Darlington. Mr. and Mrs. Peterson are happy not only in four children, but in seventeen grandchildren, all stout and sturdy and prophetic of the perpetuation of the good stock from whence they came. Mr. and Mrs. Peterson have been for many years’ consistent members of the Church of the Disciples and their influence has been distinctively for the religious life.

Silas Peterson has been for years prominently before the people of Montgomery County and the positions of trust he has held are attestation of his standing. He was elected to the legislature in 1856 to fill an unexpired term and was sent to the state senate both in 1876 and 1884, both times running ahead of his ticket. He was made public assessor of real estate in 1868 and is now a member of the county council. He is also vice president of the Citizens’ National Bank and vice president of the Crawfordsville Trust Company. Mr. Peterson is one of the largest land owners in this county. Mrs. Peterson has been a contributor to the honors and blessings which have come to him and in them she has shared.