John Peters
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| Name at Enlist | John Peters |
| Birth Name | Johannes Pedersen Engene |
| Lived | 23 Jun 1837 – 10 Mar 1907 |
| Birth Place | Engene, Bø parish, Telemark fylke |
| Birth Country | Norway |
| Resident of Muster-In | Primrose, Dane County, WI |
| Company at Enlistment | E |
| Rank at Enlistment | Private |
| Muster Date | 8 Dec 1861 |
| Death Location | Mt. Horeb, Dane County, WI |
| Burial Location | East Primrose Cemetery, New Glarus, Dane County, WI |
| Mother | Tone Olsdatter Aase |
| Mother Lived | 1806-1872 |
| Father | Peder Ellefsen Engene |
| Father Lived | 1798-1875 |
| Immigration | 1849 |
| Spouse | Maline Meland |
| Married On | 1865 |
| 2nd Spouse | Caroline Bowerson |
| 2nd Spouse Lived | -1880 |
| 2nd Marriage Date | 1870 |
| 3rd Spouse | Betsey Bowerson |
| 3rd Spouse Lived | May 1863- 1938 |
John Peters was born on June 23, 1837, in Bø, Telemark, Norway. He immigrated in 1849. He joined the WI 15th Infantry, Company E. The men of the company called themselves “Odin’s Rifles.”
The army listed him as living in Primrose, Dane County, WI, age 21, and unmarried. He enlisted for three years on November 11, 1861 in Dane County and mustered on December 8, 1861 at Madison, WI as a Private (Menig). Peters was left sick in hospital at Mississippi River Island No. 10 on June 11, 1862 and then sick again in Chattanooga, TN on June 29, 1864. He was promoted from Private to Sergeant (Sersjant) on September 1, 1864. On December 20, 1864, he mustered out with Company E in Chattanooga, TN. Peters was named Second Lieutenant (Løytnant) on February 25, 1867, retroactive to November 11, 1863.
After the war, he married Maline Meland in 1865. They had a son, Marius, and she died in childbirth. In 1870, he married Caroline Bowerson. They had two children: Melvin (1872) and Palmer (1876). She died in 1880. His third wife was Caroline’s sister, Betsey. They had five children, including Corella (1885), Stella (1889), John (1893), Emery (1899), and May (1896). He lived in Mt. Horeb, WI in 1907. He died on March 10, 1907 and buried in East Primrose Cemetery, New Glarus,WI. Betsey shared a grave site and headstone with John.
Sources: Series 1200: Records of Civil War Regiments, 1861-1900, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, box 76-7; Regimental muster and descriptive rolls, 1861-1865, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, vol.20, p.70; Payroll muster rolls of WI 15th Company E, saved by Captain T. A. Rossing; Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers], Ole A. Buslett (Decorah, Iowa, 1894), p.471; Nordmaendene i Amerika, Martin Ulvestad, 1907, History Book Co., Minneapolis, MN, p.258; Norwegian Immigrants to the United States. A Biographical Directory, 1825-1850. Volume Four 1849, Gerhard B. Naeseth and Blaine Hedberg, 2008, Anundsen Publishing Co., Decorah, IA, p. 161, IDs 2119, 2120, 2123; Bø parish register #7, born and baptised, p. 53, digitalarkivet.no; Blaine Hedberg, NAGC&NL; findagrave.com; 1880 Census, Roll: 1422, Family History Film: 1255422, Page: 289D, Enumeration District: 085; and 1900 Census, Roll: 1782, Page: 1B, Enumeration District: 0034, FHL microfilm: 1241782.