Was the William Petersen family ''a modest, working-class family of limited means''? What I have from the Petersens is the following.

William (Wilhelm) Petersen was born in Hanover, Germany in 1816, and his wife Anna was born in Darmstadt, Germany in 1819. They arrived in the United States in 1841. He and his wife apparently moved to Washington, D.C. almost immediately as by 1843 Petersen is listed in a Washington directory as a tailor on Louisiana Avenue. After the required five years of residence in the U.S. Petersen and his wife became naturalized citizens. In February of 1849 Petersen purchased the south half of Lot 14 on Square 347 on 10th Street NW from Abner H. and Mary Ann Young for $850. He then built the main block of his house on 10th Street that same year ($2100). So, I think he was not “of limited means”, but richer than an 19th century “ordinary, working-class American”.

William and Anna Petersen moved into their house on 10th Street in 1849. They had then two children, William F. and Louisa, and a third (Fred), was born that year. Following their move to 10th Street and the construction of their house in 1849, the Petersen family began taking in boarders. Known boarders are: in 1850 two Congressmen from New Jersey (Andrew K. Hay and William A. Newell) and in 1853 Congressman John C. Breckinridge from Kentucky (later Buchanan’s Vice-President.)

In 1858 the Petersens had six children, after the birth of Pauline, Charles and Anna (Anna was born in 1858). The extra family members, coupled with the boarders made the living conditions in the house cramped. So in 1858 Petersen built an ell addition onto the main block ($1200). In 1863 the ell addition burned and was subsequently reconstructed. Lincoln died in the upstairs bedroom of this addition. Below this room was the kitchen. Remember that Dr. Charles A. Leale, had a hospital steward bring up "hot blankets and hot water from the room below"; these items were heated on the kitchen stove.

According to the census of 1860 Petersen lived in the house with his wife, children, a servant girl and seven boarders (16 people I guess). Servant girl … again a “sign” that Petersen was not “of limited means”. On April 14, 1865 there were at least six boarders at the house (the 2 brothers Ulke, Clark, Safford, Proctor, but who was #6 ??? or was there no #6 ???).

It was an unpleasant experience residing at the house following Lincoln's death. People torn up carpets and other items from the house as grim souvenirs, etc. The boarders started to move away shortly after the assassination. By 1870 only one boarder and three of the Petersen children were living at the house with William and Anna. In 1871, both William and Anna Petersen passed away; William (June 18) from an overdose of laudanum and Anna (Oct. 18) after a prolonged illness. The Petersen children almost immediately put the furnishings of the house up for auction and the house was sold to neighbors Louis and Anne Schade in 1878. The Schades subsequently sold the house to the Federal Government in 1896.

Was the Petersen House a small and modest house? I don't think so. It was dubbed “the highest house in Washington” in 1849, had a basement and three stories. Does someone know how many rooms in total there were to accommodate the Petersen family and the boarders?

On the litho of E(dmund) Burke en E(lijah) Chapmam, (“Death of Abraham Lincoln / April 15th 1865”, printed by Kellogg) is depicted “Young Petersen”, the son of William and Anna. I wonder who he is? William F. (in 1865 ca. 19 years old), Fred (in 1865 ca. 16 years old) or Charles (in 1865 ca. 9 years old)? Some confuse him with Tad....

Had the Petersons more than 6 children? I once heard that their youngest child in 1865 was 3 months old ???? I think not true, because his mother is in 1865 ca. 46.

And what was William Petersen's full name? William or William A. ? Who's helping me out?

I don't recall seeing a middle name in reference to William. The house was/is an impressive structure of very high quality workmanship and trim. The Petersens built the house with the intent of using it as a boarding house. During the 1850s, Vice President John C. Breckenridge lived there.

William was a successful taylor. It has often been stated that he had his shop in the basement, but for at least some time, he had a shop on 8th St (I'm pretty sure). During the war, his shop made officer's uniform and their boarding house was always full. With the end of the war, there was no longer much demand for officer's uniforms, so he experienced a decline in the taylor shop. With also with the end of the war, and the closing of Ford's across the street, his boarding business also decline. I wasn't help by the President dying in his house. Lack of business and boarders cause a great loss of income, which the Petersen family never fully recovered from.

BTW Louis Shade was Henry Wirz defense atty.

On another post, I mentioned Kathy Canavan as having done considerable research on the Petersens. I have her email at work and will try to remember to nudge her to contribute. However, I believe that she has a book in the works, so she may not want to share everything.

Kathy has really worked hard and has alot of original great material. She is a consumate researcher and all round great person.

At least the house didn't turn into a restaurant (like another one I know of)!

(09-03-2014 06:06 PM)Jim Garrett Wrote:  William was a successful taylor. It has often been stated that he had his shop in the basement, but for at least some time, he had a shop on 8th St (I'm pretty sure).

I am not sure of the location, Jim, but I have read that once Lincoln was settled and being cared for in Willie Clark's room, and Mary Lincoln was being cared for in the front parlor, he departed the Petersen House and went to his shop to finish up with work he had not completed during the day.

I bieve I've read that too. I will see if I can get Kathy to make a quick trip to this thread.

Since Petersen was born in Germany are we assuming he was German? Did his parents move from Denmark? Always wondered how he got his name.

I suspect that William & Anna Petersen had no more than 6 children: William F., Louisa A., Fred (Frederick / Ferdinand), Pauline, Charles and Anne. I also suspect that Anne died at an young age (before 1865) and that 5 children grew in maturity. As far as I know William F. married a certain Jennie and lived in Galveston, Texas. Pauline married Otto Wenzing (Weinzing) and lived in Baltimore, Md. Louisa A. was the first wife of Charles E. Rector and lived in Chicago, Ill.

In The New York Times of October 2, 1921 Louisa’s son George Rector is interviewed and says:

   

Sorry, Roger, Jim, Laurie and everyone, I wanted to respond but was at my new job and without my paper files.

I've been researching the Petersens since 2009, but I never recorded William's middle initial, possibly because I don't use a middle initial myself or more probably because he's listed on the records I just viewed as just William, and listed that way on his gravestone as well. I’m still searching for his death certificate, which must be misfiled.

William Petersen had a lucrative tailoring business, buoyed by the demand for officer’s uniforms throughout the war years. Add his rental income from the boardinghouse, and he was wealthy enough to hire a servant and to send one of his daughters to Moravian Seminary for Young Ladies in Pennsylvania, a pricey academy some of the wealthiest girls in the nation attended.
The Petersens’ house, as anyone who has visited will attest, is a swell four-story brick building with marble fireplaces, dentil trim and a lovely curved porch. It didn’t sound that way from some newspapers’ descriptions on Black Easter weekend, though. Anna Petersen was depressed after she came home from her Holy Week travels to a house torn and tattered by souvenir hunters. It couldn’t have helped if she read a New York newspaper’s description of her house: “There is nothing about the building to make it attractive.” Or if she saw the erroneous report of a Washington City paper: “The frail Petersen house, built rather on a tenement style, will not long stand as a memento of the great man who died in it.”

Anna did have children over a wide span of years. William and Anna had seven surviving children in 1860. Karen Getzinger and Church of the Latter-Day Saints records both list them as William F., Louisa, Fertner or Fred, Pauline, Charles, Anna and Julia.
There's no indication that William was still living at home in 1865. He and his wife eventually moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as a druggist. Fred was a teen on assassination night, but he later co-owned a Pennsylvania Avenue rug market. Louisa’s husband and son eventually ran a popular Chicago restaurant, a restaurant at the World's Fair, and, later, a NYC nightclub. Pauline eventually moved to Baltimore, where she and her husband operated a dyeing business. Charles, who was inside Ford’s when the president was shot, later worked as a clerk in the district. Anna and Julia never made it out of childhood. Another daughter was born in 1862, but she also died. On Jan. 13, 1863, four-year-old Anna Augusta Petersen died. Her one-year-old sister Caroline Augusta died the next day.

I no longer have my hand-drawn map of the Petersen's four floors, but the Petersen's rented every available inch while demand was high during the war years.

The English basement in the main house was probably used as a bedroom and a dining room. Petersen had a separate tailor shop on the west side of Eighth Street, not far from the house.


With the war ended and the American economy entering a slump, Petersen’s lucrative uniform business dried up. He slipped from proprietor of his own shop to cutter in other tailors’ shops. He took to going on drinking sprees once or twice a week. He died on June 18, 1871. The coroner’s inquest found he died of an “overdose of laudanum taken through mistake,” but the New York Times erroneously labeled it a suicide.
Exactly four months after William died, his wife Anna was also dead. She was buried on the same Wednesday she died. Her family never disclosed the circumstances of her death, and death certificates from that period were not preserved.

Hope this helps.

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And Loetar44, you are right. William and Jennie did live in Galveston before they moved to L.A.

(09-04-2014 09:29 AM)richard petersen Wrote:  Since Petersen was born in Germany are we assuming he was German? Did his parents move from Denmark? Always wondered how he got his name.

The patronymic -sen can be both: Noth German or Danish, originally Danish though. (Sure you will know it means "Peter's son".)

Hi Eva, I'm not certain if Petersen came from Denmark. I didn't realize, until you wrote it, that the "sen" also could be Northern German. William and Anna emigrated from Bremen on the Europa in 1841. They lived in Hanover. In his U.S. naturalization application, William said he was a native of Germany and renounced his former allegiance to the king of Hanover, according to Karen Getzinger. Getzinger said Anna Klomann Petersen was originally from Hepe Darmstadt, Germany.
I noticed all the censuses listed them as from Germany. I saw Petersen and Peterson on records I found, but Concordia Lutheran church records and L.A. tax rolls list them as Petersens. They were buried in Washington City's Prospect Hill Cemetery, which was largely German immigrants.

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Roger, You're right that Mr. Petersen left. Henry Ulke, who boarded at the Petersens' house, said Petersen left soon as he could after the president was carried in. He didn't return until his son Fred fetched him at his shop after the president's death. Kathy

Hi Kathryn, just to clarify: I didn't mean these Petersens came from Denmark, but in any case this family name origined in Denmark. "Sen" is the Danish word for "son", in German "Sohn". The Germans, unlike the Scandinavian peoples, didn't have the tradition of naming sons after their father as a family name (the Swedish version is "son", Norwegian "sen" either), and quite often both: as a first and family name. In Germany names with "sen" occur almost only in the very north (which is where I live) due to Danish conquest and influence. Here live many Magnus Magnussens (= "Magnus, son of Magnus"), Hans Hansens, Knut Knutsens, Christian Christiansens, Andre Andresens, and, and, and...I would think Hannover is even too far south for this tradition, (and Darmstadt in any case), it's typical in Hamburg and further north.

Hi Eva,
I understand. Thanks for explaining. It's so good to have your perspective. I hope you can return for the conference in April.
Kathy

(09-04-2014 08:49 PM)Lincoln Wonk Wrote:  Roger, You're right that Mr. Petersen left. Henry Ulke, who boarded at the Petersens' house, said Petersen left soon as he could after the president was carried in. He didn't return until his son Fred fetched him at his shop after the president's death. Kathy

Kathy, thank you for posting all this information. This is wonderful. I am curious, Kathy. What do you (or anyone who has read it) feel about the reliability/lack of reliability of Robert Bain's book?