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HARVEY E. PETERSON. The career of Harvey E. Peterson, one of the enterprising men of affairs of Greene county and the Ozark region, who is owner and proprietor of the famous Sequiota Cave, would indicate that he is a man of industry, foresight and courage. Having begun at the bottom of the ladder he has mounted it unaided and often in the face of adversities that would have discouraged and thwarted men of less, determination and honesty of purpose.
Mr. Peterson was born in Graham, Nodaway county, Missouri, March 27, 1874. He is a son of George H. and Christie A. (Mauer) Peterson. The father was born in Williamsburg, Ohio, where he was reared and educated in the common schools. When a young man he took Horace Greeley's advice and went West, locating near Denver, Colorado, where he spent a number of years, removing to Nodaway county, Missouri, in 1875, where he purchased a ranch of one thousand acres and engaged extensively in general farming and the live stock business. He was very successful as a business man and was a leader in the affairs of his community. Owing to failing health he has been living in retirement for some time. The mother of our subject was born in Otisco, Indiana, August 30, 1849, and when young in years her parents brought her to Nodaway county, Missouri, where she received a common school education. When twenty-three years old she went to Colorado with an uncle and aunt, and met Mr. Peterson in Denver and they were married in 1874, soon after which they returned to Nodaway county, Missouri. She is still living and is an active member of the Presbyterian church. To these parents six children were born, namely: Harvey E., of this sketch; Mrs. Mary Shamberger and Mrs. Mae Badger are twins; Mrs. Frances Baker, Leroy and Chester.
Harvey E. Peterson was reared on the homestead in his native county and there worked when growing up. He received a good education in the common schools. He worked for his father on the ranch until 1900, then spent two years as assistant cashier of the Peoples' Bank at Maitland, Missouri. He then spent considerable time in traveling, worked one year for the Fowler Packing Company as livestock buyer. In 1904 he settled, on a farm near Graham, Missouri, where he remained about two years, then moved to Springfield, was in the heating and plumbing. business for himself under the firm name of the Peterson Plumbing Company until the fall of 1907, when he sold out and went to Utah, installing a plumbing and water system for the United States government there, then went to Denver, Colorado, and engaged in the plumbing business again. While in Utah he purchased a section of land, which he still owns. After leaving Denver he went to Cedar City, Utah, where he engaged in the plumbing and heating business, and installed irrigation plants there also. In the spring of 1913 he returned to Missouri on a visit and purchased the place where he now lives, six and one-half miles southeast of Springfield, twenty-four, acres of picturesque land on which is located the beautiful Sequiota Cave.
Mr. Peterson was married in June, 1904, to Edna M. Perry, of Springfield, Missouri. She was born in Kansas City, December 8, 1878. She is a daughter of Edward J. and Mary N. (Noyes) Perry. The father was born in Watertown, Wisconsin, September 11, 1854, and when fifteen years of age he began railroading in Watertown, and has been in the service ever since. He is at present vice-president of the Kansas City, Clinton & Springfield Railroad, the duties of which responsible position he is discharging in a manner that is satisfactory to all concerned. His rise has been rapid in his calling and he has been a student of everything that pertains to his vocation, with the result that he has kept well informed in all that pertains to railroading. He makes his home in Springfield and is well known in the railroad circles of the Southwest. Mary N. Noyes, whom he married in February, 1878, was born at Three Rivers, Wisconsin, March 18, 1860. She is prominent in club and social life in Springfield and an active worker in the Presbyterian church. Mrs. Peterson was reared to womanhood in Kansas City and Springfield and was given excellent educational advantages, graduating from the Springfield high school, and then spending three years in Chicago, studying at the University of Chicago and the American Institute, in which last named institution she was graduated in the kindergarten course. She was Superintendent of the kindergartens in Springfield for two years, taking a great interest in her work and was very successful.
To Mr. and Mrs. Peterson four children have been born, namely: Olivia is at home, Noyes, deceased;-Mary, deceased; and Marie, who is with her parents.
Politically Mr. Peterson is a Republican, and fraternally he belongs to the Modern Woodmen lodge. He is courteous and accommodating.
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