Atley Peterson (February 21, 1847 – March 29, 1909) was a Wisconsin pioneer who served as a state legislator, and state railroad commissioner.

Background

Atley P. Peterson was born near the small village of Erdal at

Lærdal Lærdal is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on the south side of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Lærdalsøyri. The old Filefjell Ko ...

parish in

Sogn og Fjordane Sogn og Fjordane (; literally "Parish and the Fjords") was a Counties of Norway, county in western Norway, from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, after it was merged to become part of Vestland county. Bordering previous counties Møre og Romsda ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. He was the son of Niels Pederson and Marie Olsdatter (Helland) Pederson. He came to America with his family in 1852. The family moved to

Crawford County, Wisconsin Crawford County is a county in the southwest part of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 16,113. Its county seat is Prairie du Chien. History Along with Brown County, Crawford County is one of Wisconsin ...

in 1854, settling in the Pine Knob area near Soldiers Grove. Mr. Peterson attended local schools and the

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

Business College before going into business in Soldiers Grove at the age of 19. He died of

edema Edema (American English), also spelled oedema (British English), and also known as fluid retention, swelling, dropsy and hydropsy, is the build-up of fluid in the body's tissue (biology), tissue. Most commonly, the legs or arms are affected. S ...

at his home in Soldiers Grove on March 29, 1909.

Business career

In 1869, Peterson established the village's first post office in the Village of Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin. He later built a small building on the property to house a small store. In addition to being a sawmill and lumberyard owner, store owner, and part owner of the village's grist mill, Peterson's business career also included being a bank president and farmer. He was co-owner of the electric light plant, which enabled Soldiers Grove to be the first village in the Kickapoo Valley to have electric lights.

Political career

His political career included a number of years as a member of the Crawford County Board. Peterson served as president or supervisor of the Village of Soldiers Grove almost continuously until his death. He held the office of postmaster for 17 years, from 1869 to 1886. In 1879 he was elected to the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Assembly is controlled by the Republican ...

as a representative to the

Wisconsin State Legislature The Wisconsin Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The legislature is a bicameral body composed of the upper house, Wisconsin State Senate, and the lower Wisconsin State Assembly, both of which have had Republican ...

from Bad Ax (now Vernon County) and Crawford County. He served in the Thirty-second session, 1879, Thirty-third session, 1880, Thirty-fourth session, 1881, Thirty-fifth session, 1882. In 1886, he was elected to replace Nils P. Haugen as Wisconsin Railroad Commissioner and served in this capacity from 1887 to 1891. He served as

Presidential Elector In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors that is formed every four years for the sole purpose of voting for the president and vice president in the presidential election. This process is described in ...

for Wisconsin in 1900. Peterson unsuccessfully ran for the office of Wisconsin State Treasurer in 1890 and again in 1902, in an effort to succeed future Wisconsin Governor,

James O. Davidson James Ole Davidson (February 10, 1854December 16, 1922) was a Norwegian Americans, Norwegian American immigrant, tailor, merchant, and Progressive Era, progressive Republican Party (United States), Republican politician from Crawford County, Wisc ...

, to that position. He was served as a delegate to the

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the Republican Party in the United States. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal o ...

in 1908.''Atley Peterson Obituary'' (Soldiers Grove WI Scout. April 1, 1909)
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References

Other sources

*Nelson, Olof Nickolaus (1900) ''History of the Scandinavians and successful Scandinavians in the United States'' (Minneapolis, Minn. : O. N. Nelson & Company) *Ward, W. M. (1964
First 100 Years - A History of Soldiers Grove''

External links

Atley Peterson family photograph (Wisconsin Historical Society)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Peterson, Atley 1847 births 1909 deaths People from Sogn og Fjordane People from Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin 19th-century American merchants Businesspeople from Wisconsin Norwegian emigrants to the United States Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly 19th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature