He came to the United States in 1851, and first settled in Milwaukee, where he was a teacher and organist in the first Lutheran school of that city.
He moved to Chicago in 1852 and worked as a clerk; and to Racine in 1855, where he tried his hand as a merchant; and to New Holstein in 1861, where he became a farmer.
He was chairman of the town for a member of years and president of the Calumet County Mutual Fire Insurance Co. Peterson was first a member of the assembly from Calumet County in 1868 (succeeding Randolph Needham of the National Union (Republican) party) and was assigned to the standing committee on roads, bridges and ferries.
He was elected again in 1872, succeeding Democrat William Dick, with 880 votes to 855 for Republican John Merrill, and was assigned to the committee on lumber and manufacturing.
[5] He was not a candidate for re-election in 1882, and was succeeded by Republican Adolph Moeller, a fellow Schleswig-Holstein veteran of the First Schleswig War against Denmark.