Bio: Petersen, Albert 'Al' (1879 - 19??)

Contact: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Petersen, Kiefer, Littlejohn, Esch, Hedstrom

----Source: History of Marathon County Wisconsin and Representative Citizens, by Louis Marchetti, 1913.

Petersen, Albert 'Al' (22 June 1879 - 19??)

Albert Al Petersen, funeral director at Wausau, with establishment at No. 307 Jefferson Street, has been in business here for himself since 1910, but during the greater part of his life has been identified with well known concerns of this city. He was born near the city of Thorondjem, Norway, June 22, 1879, and is a son of Andrew A. and Martha Petersen. The parents of Mr. Petersen came to Marathon County in the spring of 1881 and settled on a farm in the town of Stettin, which the father purchased and improved and the family lived there until 1890, when removal was made to Wausau. The father continued to be interested in farming and was a lumber scaler and dealer. He was accidentally killed in August, 1911, when his age was fifty-nine years. The mother survives and lives in the old home. They had four children, three sons and one daughter: Edward, who is a resident of British Columbia; Lewis, who is employed at Wausau; Alma, who lives with her mother; and Albert M.

Albert M. Petersen attended the public schools and then became a clerk in a general store at Wausau, where he remained ten years and after that went into the furniture business with the John Kiefer Furniture Company. He owned an interest in the Esch Furniture Company, which became in 1901 the Littlejohn Esch Company, which plant was destroyed by fire in January, 1905, and at this time Mr. Petersen and Mr. Esch bought out that company's interests and erected a new building. The Wausau Furniture and Undertaking Company then bought out the Esch interest and eighteen months later the concern became the Kiefer Furniture and Undertaking Company, of which Mr. Petersen was manager until 1910, when he went into business for himself, having prepared for the same by taking a course in the Chicago Embalming School in 1901.

In June, 1903, Mr. Petersen was married to Miss Helen Hedstrom, a daughter of Nels Hedstrom, of Wausau, and they have one son, Melvin Sylvester, who attends the public schools. Mr. Petersen and family attend the First Methodist Episcopal Church at Wausau. He takes no very active part in politics but his father was a Republican. Mr. Petersen is a Chapter Mason and belongs also to the Knights of Pythias.