Louis Peter Petersen, Anna Majoros, and children
Louis Peter Petersen, eldest son of Hans and Catherina Petersen, was born in 1880 in Fairmont, Nebraska, close to the town of Belle Prairie where the Petersen clan had settled as farmers in the 1870s. Louis was named for his paternal grandfather, Lorenz Peter Petersen, and his maternal uncle, Ludwig (Louis) Peter Petersen.
In 1882 the Petersen clan moved to Hebron, a growing agricultural community in Thayer County, Nebraska. Louis' maternal grandparents, Peter Hansen and Elise Momsen, accompanied the group.
About 1889 Hans and Catherina and their growing family relocated to Chicago, Illinois, accompanied by Louis' grandfather Lorenz, who died in Chicago in 1891. The Petersens rented a home on Paulina Street and Louis, as the eldest son, grew up to become a laborer like his father Hans.
In 1900 Louis married Anna Majoros, daughter of Albert and Mary Majoros, who had recently emigrated from Hungary. Louis and Annie had eleven children, definitely the most prolific of Hans and Catherina's children. The photo above right, taken about 1910, shows Louis and Annie and seven of their children. From left in front the children are: Louis Jr., Elizabeth, Marie, baby Irene on her mother's lap, and Mabel. In back of their parents are Albert and Henry. Three more children were to come: twins Agnes and Anna in 1914, and William in 1917.
Louis worked hard to support his large family and briefly accompanied his parents to Wisconsin from 1901 to 1905, where both Hans and son Louis had a farm. Annie Petersen was a great comfort to her parents-in-law at the time of sister-in-law Maggie Petersen's tragic death in 1903, traveling with Catherine Petersen to bring Maggie back home for burial.
After returning with his mother and siblings to Chicago in 1905 after Hans Petersen's death, Louis continued to find work as a laborer in town and even had time to register for service in World War I (thankfully he was not sent away). In 1926 at the relatively young age of 45, Louis died of pneumonia in Chicago. He's buried at Mt. Greenwood Cemetery in the Petersen family plot.
After ten years as a widow Annie remarried Emil Wuske in 1936. In 1940 census Emil and wife Anna Majorors Petersen Wuske were living with Annie's and Louis' daughter, Elizabeth Petersen Zaher, and her husband Steven. Two girls, Mary and Ruth Wuske were included in the household, daughters from Emil's first marriage.
Annie died about 1956 but is buried next to her first husband Louis at Mt. Greenwood. There must have been a bit of disagreement on how Annie would be remembered. Her family noticeably changed the inscription on her headstone so she was memorialized as Annie Petersen, not Annie Wuske.
