LaRoy Junior Peters

LaRoy Junior Peters

IowaConfirmed

Son of Benjamin LaRoy Peters · 1930–2021

Parents

Benjamin LaRoy "Pete" Peters Sr. & Gertie Selma Selland

Sources

7

Research status

Research status: CONFIRMED as the son of Benjamin LaRoy “Pete” Peters Sr. and Gertie Selma Selland Confirmed. Evidence: two record images read: his 1930 Iowa birth certificate, which names both parents S2033, and the 1938 baptism register, which names the same parents S236, and the 1950 census sheet, which lists him as Benjamin’s son S953; his obituary names the same parents S40.

Life in the order the records give it

LaRoy Junior Peters, known as LaRoy J. “Pete” Peters, was born on 13 February 1930 at Marathon, Buena Vista County, Iowa. His Iowa birth certificate, read from the image, names his father, LaRoy Peters, 24, a stone mason born at Alexander, Iowa, and his mother, Selina [Selma] Selland, 25, born at Clear Lake, South Dakota S2033; the birth index gives the day S2454. He was baptised at Sioux Falls on 18 December 1938 with his sisters; the register names the same parents S236. In 1940 he was Junior L., 10, born in Iowa, in the family’s Sioux Falls household S222. In May 1950 he was LeRoy J., son, 20, born in Iowa, at 1032 Duluth, Sioux Falls, with his parents and sisters S953. He died on 25 January 2021. His obituary, from Miller Funeral Home in Sioux Falls, names his parents as Benjamin and Selma (Selland) Peters S40, and he is buried at Our Saviors Lutheran Church Cemetery, French Lake, Minnesota S2454. He compiled the family book “Dad Called Me Bo” (2009) S1765.

Family parents, marriages, children, siblings

Parents—

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

Siblings—

Brother of Dorothy LaVonne Peters and Betty Jane Peters.

Parents2026

History of this card. 26 Oct 2026

card added: he entered the family tree on 26 Oct as the son of Benjamin LaRoy Peters and Gertie Selma Selland (PA-1026D). Every source here was already on the site (S2033, S236, S222, S953, S40, S1765) except the index rows in S2454 (new). His wife and children are not named here.

Documents and record images for the Peters family →

In the record Generation 3 — Kristin's grandparents and their siblings

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. S1765Family book — “Dad Called Me Bo” (2009), compiled by LaRoy Peters and his wife Adelaine and given to members of the family. Reported to this record through the “Add to this record” form on 12 October 2026 by LaVonne Danielson, a niece of the compiler, who sent a photograph of the cover and the facts below in her own words, and on 13 October 2026 photographs of four pages. Those four pages have been read by us from her photographs; the rest of the book has not been seen. Confirmed As relayed: Edna Blanche Orsborn Peters, born 7 May 1884 in Indiana; her husband Benjamin Peters, born 12 December 1882 in Black Hawk County, Iowa; married 1 April 1903 at Franklin, Iowa. Julia (Gyri) Lone, born 22 April 1870; she and Mons Selland came to America in 1889 and were married on 18 May 1899 at Madison, South Dakota. A family compilation made a century after the events. By Earl Proeger’s decision of 13 October 2026, what LaVonne Danielson contributes to this record is taken as verified, and the book’s statements that no other record carries are entered as Confirmed on the family’s account. Where the book and a record differ, neither is overwritten: both are shown on the cards. It agrees with the records on Edna’s birth (S784), on the 1903 marriage (S791) and on the 1889 arrival (S989). It differs on two dates: Benjamin Peters’s own 1942 draft card says 1881, not 1882 (S786); and the Røldal baptism taken to be Julia’s says 22 January 1870, where the book says 22 April and the 1900 census says April (S1128). The 1899 marriage date and place are on no record read so far. The four pages read on 13 October 2026 print the same statements and add: Benjamin L. Peters born 12 October 1905 in Scott Township, Franklin County, Iowa; Selma Gertrude Selland born 1 October 1903 on a farm near Clear Lake, South Dakota (agrees with S813); their marriage on 16 November 1925 in the Lutheran church at Brandt, South Dakota (agrees with S774), a move to Chicago and then to Marathon, Iowa; Mons T. Selland born at Røldal in May 1868 (agrees with S74); both Sellands arriving by the port of New York; their farm in the Hidewood Valley south-west of Clear Lake; and the name Selland explained as “Sjoland”. Chicago is also where the 1938 baptism register puts the births of the two eldest children (S236); the port, the farm’s place and the name are on no other record read so far. The book gives two birthplaces for the elder Benjamin Peters, Black Hawk County on one page and Scott Township on another.
6. S2033Iowa birth certificate, Buena Vista County, 1930 — son of LaRoy Peters and Selina Selland. Ancestry, record 300659825. Read from the image in the Stage 2 reading, 14 October 2026. Confirmed A son, LaRoy, born February 1930 at Marathon; father LaRoy Peters, 24, born Alexander, Iowa, stone mason; mother Selina [Selma] Selland, 25, born Clear Lake, South Dakota; three children living. The child is LaRoy Junior Peters (1930–2021).
7. 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.