The Proeger Family · Generation 3 — Kristin's grandparents and their siblings

Betty Jane Peters

Daughter of Benjamin LaRoy Peters · 1937–2013

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Person · Betty Jane Peters

The record

The evidence

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Every claim is tagged

Most family trees flatten everything into the same confident typeface. This one does not. The three research tags below are the whole point of the exercise: they say what a document proves, what the weight of evidence suggests, and what nobody has found yet. A fourth marks what the family stated directly, where no document has been retrieved at all — it is kept separate on purpose and is never quietly promoted to confirmed. A fifth marks biological evidence: a DNA result is not a document, and it is not testimony either. Two further labels mark where this page withholds information rather than lacking it.

Confirmed

Attested by a document that was actually retrieved and read — a census sheet, a government index, a grave marker, a family-written obituary.

Probable

Strongly supported but not nailed down: a user-contributed tree, a masked index field, or a chain of consistent circumstances. Believable, not proven.

Not found

Searched for and not located. This is a statement about the search, not about the person — the record may well exist somewhere unsearched.

Family testimony

Supplied by the family and recorded on their word — no document has been retrieved for it. Note the diamond rather than the dot: this is provenance, not proof, and it stands apart from the three record tags above S24.

DNA evidence

Biological evidence consistent with a claim. It corroborates origins; it does not by itself establish a person or a link. Note the bar rather than a dot or a diamond: no DNA result on this page is ever counted as confirmed, because no document was read for it S46.

Living — withheld

The person is living. On the charts and in the chains of names a living person appears by name and relationship. A living adult’s full record is on their own card, published with the family’s consent and kept out of search engines. A minor appears by name only. The privacy note at the head of the page gives the rule in full.

Research in progress

A branch that is actively being worked on. The node exists in the structure so the shape of the family is honest; the detail is simply not in yet.

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Betty Jane Peters

South DakotaConfirmed

Daughter of Benjamin LaRoy Peters · 1937–2013

Parents: Benjamin LaRoy "Pete" Peters Sr. & Gertie Selma Selland
Sources: 5

Research status

Research status: CONFIRMED as the daughter of Benjamin LaRoy “Pete” Peters Sr. and Gertie Selma Selland Confirmed. Evidence: the 1938 baptism register, read from the image, names both parents S236; the 1940 and 1950 census sheets, read from the images, have her in their household S222 S953; her obituary names the same parents and her sister Dorothy S40.

Life in the order the records give it

Betty Jane Peters was born on 1 May 1937 at Sioux Falls, Minnehaha County, South Dakota. On 18 December 1938 she was baptised there with four of her brothers and sisters; the Evangelical Lutheran register, read from the image, gives her birth as 1 May 1937 at Sioux Falls and her parents as Benjamin Laroy Peters and Gertie Selma Selland S236. In 1940 she was Betty J., 2, born in South Dakota, in the household of B. LaRoy Peters at 1810 E 5th, Sioux Falls S222, and in May 1950 she was Betty J., 13, at 1032 Duluth with her parents S953. She married a Sanders. She died on 10 September 2013 and is buried in Pleasant Hill Cemetery, Burns, Polk County, Missouri S2454. Her obituary, from Pitts Chapel, Bolivar, Missouri, names her parents as Benjamin, Sr. and Selma (Selland) Peters and lists her sister Dorothy Walker of Fort Worth S40.

Family parents, marriages, children, siblings

Parents

Daughter of Benjamin LaRoy “Pete” Peters Sr. and Gertie Selma Selland.

Siblings

Sister of Dorothy LaVonne Peters and LaRoy Junior Peters.

Parents2026

History of this card. 26 Oct 2026

card added: she entered the family tree on 26 Oct as a daughter of Benjamin LaRoy Peters and Gertie Selma Selland (PA-1026D). She is Confirmed by the 1938 baptism register (S236) and the 1940 and 1950 censuses (S222, S953), all read from the images and already on the site, with her obituary (S40); her burial is in S2454 (new). Her husband and children are not named here.

Documents and record images for the Peters family →

Betty Jane Peters · Sources

Citations

Sources cited on this card

5 of the record's sources are cited here. The numbering is the record's own; the full list, with where else each is cited, is at Sources.

S40Obituaries of Dorothy's siblings — LaRoy J. "Pete" Peters (d. 25 January 2021), Miller Funeral Home, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, millerfh.com; and Betty Jane Sanders (d. 10 September 2013), Pitts Chapel, Bolivar, Missouri, via Legacy.com. A third, Shirley Darlene Peltier's (May 2026), names the same parents. Two funeral homes, two states, eight years apart, both spelling the mother's maiden name Selland. Betty's names "Dorothy Walker of Fort Worth, TX" as a sibling, which is what proves it is this family and not a same-name collision.
S2221940 U.S. Federal Census — B. LaRoy Peters household, 1810 E 5th, Sioux Falls, Minnehaha County, South Dakota. Ancestry record 112056159; sheet 5B. Read from the image at full resolution, 22 September 2026. B. LaRoy Peters, 34, born Iowa, laborer in meat packing; Selma, 37, born South Dakota; Dorothy L., 14, born Illinois; Shirley 12 (Ill.), Junior L. 10 (Iowa), Marlene 5 and Betty J. 2 (S.D.). House owned.
S236Evangelical Lutheran Church baptism register, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 1938, p. 15. Ancestry record 3676969; pastor Alfred O. Storvick. Read from the image at full resolution, 22 September 2026. On 18 December 1938 five Peters children were baptised together: Dorothy LaVonne, born 12 February 1926, Chicago; Shirley Darlene (8 Nov 1927, Chicago); Laroy Junior (13 Feb 1930, Marathon, Iowa); Marlene Elaine (10 Oct 1934) and Betty Jane (1 May 1937), Sioux Falls. Parents Benjamin Laroy Peters and Gertie Selma Selland; sponsors Mr. and Mrs. Ole N. Lone. Dorothy's birth date and place, and her mother's maiden name, in a church record.
S9531950 United States Federal Census — Sioux Falls, Minnehaha County, South Dakota, ED 50-76, sheet 80, lines 16–21 (May 1950). Ancestry record 8605848. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 24–25 September 2026. Confirmed Dwelling 92, 1032 Duluth: Peters, Benjamin L., head, 44, born Iowa, stationary fireman at the railway roundhouse; Selma J., wife, 46, born South Dakota, keeping house; LeRoy J., son, 20, born Iowa; Marlene E., 15; Betty J., 13; and Eileen Y., 6. On Selma's sample line both her parents were born in Norway. The "J." is the enumerator's. Every other record gives Gertie Selma, and the site does not add a middle initial. Collection: 1950 United States Federal Census.
S2454LaRoy Junior Peters and Betty Jane Peters — birth index and burials. FamilySearch and Find a Grave, searched 26 October 2026 (PA-1026D). Index entries only — no image was read. Probable Iowa birth index: Laroy Peters Jr, 13 February 1930, Marathon, Buena Vista County, parents Laroy Peters and Selina Selland; Find a Grave: LaRoy Peters, died 25 January 2021, Our Saviors Lutheran Church Cemetery, French Lake, Minnesota; Betty Jane Peters Sanders, 1 May 1937 – 10 September 2013, Pleasant Hill Cemetery, Burns, Polk County, Missouri. Their parentage rests on records already here and read from the images: LaRoy’s birth certificate (S2033), the 1938 baptism register (S236) and the 1940 and 1950 censuses (S222, S953); both obituaries are S40. No spouse or child of either is named here.

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