The Proeger Family · Generation 6 — Kristin's 3rd-great-grandparents

John Peters

Grandfather of Benjamin LaRoy “Pete” Peters Sr · father of Benjamin Peters (1881–1957)

John Peters

Confirmed

Grandfather of Benjamin LaRoy “Pete” Peters Sr · father of Benjamin Peters (1881–1957)

Born
Not found
Died
Not found
Married
Sophia Hermann
Children
Benjamin Peters, Louis Peters, Frank Peters
Sources
8

Research status

Research status: CONFIRMED as Benjamin Peters's father — Benjamin's 1903 Franklin County, Iowa return of marriages, read from the image, names the groom's parents as John Peters and Sophia Hermann S791, and Benjamin's 1957 Iowa death certificate, also read from the image, names his father John Peters and his mother Sophia Herman S785

Life in the order the records give it

Birth1834
Born and died: not on any record read. The fuller name “John Charles (Schumacher) Peters”, a birth on 26 October 1834 in Mecklenburg and a death on 30 January 1902 come from the family tree. The 1834 date belongs to a Mecklenburg baptism of Karl Johann Joachim Christian Friedrich Peters that no record read ties to this man, and the death date has no source. None of them is published here as fact
Record1834
FamilySearch agrees: its index of the same county marriage register, and a birth index entry for one of Benjamin's brothers or sisters, name the father John Peters S816. FamilySearch has nothing tying him to the 1834 Mecklenburg baptism
Census1884
🆕 In March 1884 he was farming in Fairfield Township, Grundy County, Iowa, where his wife Sophia, née Herman(n), 41, had their fifth child, an unnamed son born on 12 March; both parents were born in Germany Confirmed S998. added 29 September 2026
Census1885
🆕 In the 1885 Iowa census of Grundy County, read from the image, John Peters, 50, and Sophia, 41, both natives of Germany, head a household with eight children: William, 20, and Frank, 19, natives of New York; Charlie, 16, of Black Hawk County; Fred, 12; Louie, 10; Sarah, 8; John, 6; and Ben, 3, of Grundy County Confirmed S1010. Two New York-born sons put the family in America by 1865.

Family parents, marriages, children, siblings

Children1881
Father of Benjamin Peters (born at Cedar Falls, Iowa, on 12 December 1881; he died at Sioux Rapids on 19 January 1957), who married Edna B. Orsborn at Alexander, Franklin County, Iowa, on 1 April 1903 S791; and so grandfather of Benjamin LaRoy “Pete” Peters Sr.. Husband of Sophia Hermann. See the Peters–Hermann line
Children1896
🆕 Father of Louis Peters: Louis's 1896 Franklin County marriage return, read from the image, gives him as 23, a farmer of Alexander, a native of Cedar Falls, Iowa, and names his parents as John Peters and Sophie Herman. He married Carrie Augusta Latham at Alexander on 22 October 1896 Confirmed S1008.
Children1866
🆕 Father of Frank Peters (12 October 1866, New York – 2 September 1931, Alexander), husband of Addie and a farmer at Alexander for 25 years: Frank's death certificate, read from the image, names his father John Peters, a native of Germany Confirmed S1009. added 29 September 2026

Open questions what is probable, weak or missing — confirm or correct it

Probable
🆕 Probably him: in 1900 Johan Peters, 65, born in Germany in October 1834, owned his house in Scott Township, Franklin County, Iowa, with his wife Sophia, 56; both came in 1861 and had been married 38 years. John, 22, Saraha, 23, and a grandson, Wesley, 2, were with them Probable confirm or correct → S985. Evidence: the name pair, the German births and Franklin County, where Benjamin married in 1903 S791. Weak: Benjamin is not in this household, and the census does not name him. Know more? Use “Add to this record”. added 29 September 2026

In the record Generation 6 — Kristin's 3rd-great-grandparents

John Peters · Sources

Citations

Sources cited on this card

8 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.

  1. S785Iowa death certificate 114-57-00227: Benjamin Peters, died Sioux Rapids, 19 January 1957. Ancestry record 750938128. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 26 September 2026. Confirmed Benjamin Peters, a widowed farmer, died 19 January 1957 at Sioux Rapids Hospital, Buena Vista County; buried 21 January in Marathon Cemetery. Father John Peters, mother Sophia Herman. It gives his birth as 12 December 1882; his own draft card (S786), the 1900 census and the marriage return all say 1881. Collection: Iowa, U.S., Death Records.
  2. S791Franklin County, Iowa, return of marriages 1903, licence 1501: Benjamin Peters and Edna B. Orsborn. Ancestry record 903647093. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 26 September 2026. Confirmed Benjamin Peters, 22, born Cedar Falls, farmer of Alexander, son of John Peters and Sophia Hermann, married Edna B. Orsborn, 19, born Lawrenceburg, Indiana, daughter of John W. Orsborn and Armenia Howard, at Alexander on 1 April 1903, by J. C. Shirk, M.G.; witnesses Ray and Nettie Pence. The site had this marriage from a transcript; this is the image of the return. Collection: Iowa, U.S., Marriage Records, 1880–1950.
  3. S816FamilySearch index entries naming John Peters as the father of Benjamin Peters. FamilySearch ark:/61903/1:1:KC4H-R3R, ark:/61903/1:1:KCWX-1TF and ark:/61903/1:1:XVCT-Y3J, checked 28 September 2026. Probable FamilySearch's index of the Franklin County, Iowa marriage register (the 1903 marriage of Benjamin Peters and Edna B. Orsborn) and a birth index entry for one of Benjamin's brothers or sisters name the father John Peters. Index entries; the images were not examined here. They agree with the marriage return (S791) and Benjamin's death certificate (S785). Nothing on FamilySearch ties John Peters to the 1834 Mecklenburg baptism in the family tree.
  4. S9851900 U.S. census — Scott Township, Franklin County, Iowa, ED 140, sheet 6B, 11 June 1900, lines 76–80. Ancestry record 14339818. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 28 September 2026. Probable Johan Peters, 65, born October 1834 in Germany, and Sophia, his wife, 56, born July 1843 in Germany, both came to the United States in 1861 and had been married 38 years; she was the mother of 14 children, 7 living. They owned their house. With them were John, son, 22, Saraha, daughter, 23, and Wesley, grandson, 2, all born Iowa. The name pair, the German births and Franklin County fit John Peters and Sophia Herman, whose son Benjamin married at Alexander in that county in 1903 (S791). Benjamin, born 1881, is not in this household, and the census does not name him, so the match is probable, not proven. Frank Peters, 33, born New York of a German father, lived two households away; he is not stated to be their son.
  5. S998Grundy County, Iowa, return of births for the year to 1 October 1884, no. 390. Ancestry record 602503437. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 29 September 2026. Confirmed An unnamed son, born 12 March 1884 in Fairfield Township, the mother's fifth child. Mother Sophia Peters, née Herman(n), 41, born Germany; father John Peters, farmer, born Germany. Attendant D. M. Wicks(?), M.D., New Hartford. This is the image behind the FamilySearch index entry in S816.
  6. S1008Franklin County, Iowa, return of marriages, book 35, page 518, licence 657 (20 October 1896). Ancestry record 1053828428. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 29 September 2026. Confirmed Louis Peters, 23, farmer of Alexander, born Cedar Falls, Iowa; father John Peters, mother Sophie Herman. Bride Carrie Augusta Latham, 21, born Geneva, Iowa, daughter of Milton Latham and Emily Buss. Married at Alexander, 22 October 1896. The index reads the groom as “Lenis”; the image says Louis.
  7. S1009Iowa certificate of death — Franklin County, Scott Township, Alexander, registered no. 28 (1931). Ancestry record 600259568. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 29 September 2026. Confirmed Frank Peters, farmer, married, husband of Addie; born 12 October 1866, New York; died 2 September 1931 at Alexander; buried at Alexander 5 September 1931. Father John Peters, born Germany; mother's maiden name “Not Known”, born Germany. Informant Addie Peters. The informant did not know his mother's name. The 1885 Iowa census (S1010) has Frank, 19, born New York, in John and Sophia Peters's household.
  8. S1010Iowa state census, 1885 — Grundy County, page 239, dwelling 70. Ancestry record 7203660. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 29 September 2026. Confirmed John Peters, 50, and Sophia, 41, both born Germany, with William, 20, and Frank, 19, born New York; Charlie, 16, born Black Hawk County; Fred, 12; Louie, 10; Sarah, 8; John, 6; and Ben, 3, born Grundy County. A Frank Peters, 20, labourer, born New York, is also listed at dwelling 66, probably the same man counted twice.

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Compiled for the Proeger family

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