Peterson, Oliver A. "Ben" or "Benton"
1905-1979 | Maintenance Supervisor, Alaska Department of Highways
Oliver "Ben" or “Benton” Ansgar Peterson was born in Drummond, Bayfield County, Wisconsin on February 28, 1905, the son of Albert Peterson and Helen Marie Haugerud Peterson. In 1930, he was living in Kremlin, Hill County, Montana, and was working as a laborer for a local implement company.[1] He did not use his middle name of Ansgar and, instead, used his two nicknames, "Ben" or "Benton," interchangeably for most of his life.
Peterson first arrived in Alaska in 1932, when he landed in Haines aboard the S.S. Admiral Rogers. He worked at odd jobs in Haines for almost two years and then moved on to Juneau, where he was sent out to work for a contracting firm constructing a dock at Gustavus.
Peterson returned to Juneau and got a job working on the construction of the Juneau-Douglas Bridge, a highway bridge across Gastineau Channel, which connects the cities of Juneau and Douglas on Douglas Island.[2] The Civil Works Administration and the Public Works Administration provided the federal funds to build this bridge, which opened on October 13, 1935. He moved to Anchorage in 1935 to join the Alaska Road Commission and the Bureau of Public Roads on projects in Palmer and Anchorage.[3]
On August 24, 1936, Oliver Peterson and Leona Mary "Peggy" Gehlen were married in Palmer, Alaska. Peggy Gehlen was born on November 10, 1903 in Glencoe, Minnesota, the third of five children of German immigrants Paul and Augusta Schmidt Gehlen.[4] Gehlen's first marriage was in 1924, to Elmer Tuten in Cut Bank, Montana [5]. By 1930, she was the proprietress of a waffle shop in Havre, Hill County, Montana.[6] She left Montana to go to Alaska in search of employment and met Peterson in Haines, Alaska. During his years with the Alaska Road Commission, the couple lived in McKinley Park and Palmer and in 1940 they moved permanently to Anchorage.[7]
In Anchorage, Leona “Peggy” Peterson worked as a waitress at the original Hewitt's Lunch Counter (447 Fourth Avenue)[8] and was also employed by Nellie Brown in the old Nellie's Diner (437 E Street).[9] Nellie Brown and her business partner, Elmer Waugh, a fisherman and chef, opened Nellie’s Diner to the public on October 10, 1940. It was inside of a remodeled railroad passenger car that had been put out of service by the Alaska Railroad and moved to downtown Anchorage. The diner had one lunch counter lined with stools that extended the length of the car. The diner was in business for a three-year period.[10]
Peterson was a member of Anchorage Elks Lodge 1351 and the Pioneers of Alaska. Leona “Peggy” Peterson was a member of the Pioneers of Alaska Auxiliary No. 15.[11]
Leona Mary "Peggy" Gehlen Peterson died on September 3, 1972 at Providence Hospital in Anchorage.[12] Oliver "Ben" or "Benson" Ansgar Peterson died on May 22, 1979, in Anchorage. They are both buried in Angelus Memorial Park in Anchorage. They were survived by a daughter, Helen Marie Peterson Burkes.
Endnotes
[1] Benton Peterson, 1930 U.S. Census, Kremlin, Hill County, Montana, ED 21-24, stamped page 163, National Archives Microfilm Publication T626, Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930, Roll, 1257, 1930 Federal United States Census [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed September 17, 2016).
[2] Claus-M. Naske, Paving Alaska’s Trails: The Work of the Alaska Road Commission (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1986), 178-179.
[3] Obituary, “Oliver ‘Ben’ Peterson,” Anchorage Times, May 22, 1979, 4.
[4] Paul Gehlen, 1910 U.S. Census, Glencoe, McLeod County, Minnesota, ED 84, stamped page 276, National Archives Microfilm Publication T624, Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910, Roll 708, U.S., 1910 Federal United States Census [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed September 17, 2016).
[5] Marriage License, Elmer B. Tuten and Leona Gehlen, Cut Bank, Glacier County, Montana, October 16, 1924, Montana Marriages, 1865-1950 [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed September 17, 2016).
[6] Leona Gehlen, 1930 U.S. Census, Havre, Hill County, Montana, ED 21-17, page 21A, National Archives Microfilm Publication T626, Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930, Roll 1257, U.S., 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed September 17, 2016).
[7] John P. Bagoy, Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1935 (Anchorage: Publications Consultants, 2001), 380-381.
[8] Telephone Directory, City of Anchorage, May 1945 (Anchorage: City Telephone Department, 1945), 26.
[9]Telephone Directory, Anchorage, Alaska, March 1942 (Anchorage: Public Utilities Department, City of Anchorage, 1942), [33].
[10] Mary J. Barry, Jack and Nellie Brown: Pioneer Settlers of Anchorage, Alaska (Anchorage: Mary J. Barry, 323 West Harvard Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501), 109.
[11] Obituary, “Oliver ‘Ben’ Peterson,” Anchorage Times, May 22, 1979, 4; and Funeral Tomorrow for Mrs. Peterson,” Anchorage Daily Times, September 5, 1972, 4.
[12] “Funeral Tomorrow for Mrs. Peterson,” Anchorage Daily Times, September 5, 1972, 4.
Sources
This biographical sketch of Oliver "Ben" or "Benton" A. Peterson is based on an essay which originally appeared in John Bagoy's Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1935 (Anchorage: Publications Consultants, 2001), 380-381. See also the Oliver Benton Peterson file, Bagoy Family Pioneer Files (2004.11), Box 6, Atwood Resource Center, Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, Anchorage, AK. Edited by Mina Jacobs, 2012. Note: edited, revised, and expanded by Bruce Parham, September 17, 2016.
Preferred citation: Bruce Parham, ed., “Peterson, Oliver A.,” Cook Inlet Historical Society, Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1940, http://www.alaskahistory.org.
Major support for Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1940, provided by: Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, Atwood Foundation, Cook Inlet Historical Society, and the Rasmuson Foundation. This educational resource is provided by the Cook Inlet Historical Society, a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt association. Contact us at the Cook Inlet Historical Society, by mail at Cook Inlet Historical Society, Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, 625 C Street, Anchorage, AK 99501 or through the Cook Inlet Historical Society website, www.cookinlethistory.org.