JAMES PEET:

James Peet was born in Palermo, New York on November 18, 1828. He came to St. Paul, Minnesota, as a Methodist missionary in 1855. From 1856 to 1861 he was located in Superior, Wisconsin and Oneota (Duluth), Minnesota. At the same time he ministered to missions in Bayfield and La Pointe, Wisconsin.

During the Civil War, Peet was chaplain for an African American regiment, the 12th Louisiana Volunteers, which later became the 50th Colored Infantry Regiment. He was appointed chaplain on November 5, 1863, was mustered in on January 18, 1864, and was mustered out on May 15, 1865. During most of his service as chaplain he was located in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Peet returned to Minnesota after the war and settled in Anoka where he died on November 26, 1866.

Peet married Harriet Evens on June 15, 1854. She was born on August 18, 1827. Later she married Charles Jones of Minneapolis. She died in 1914. James and Harriet Peet had two children, Olin F. and Edoline.

Biographical data was taken from the James Peet papers; and from the Methodist Episcopal Church. Minnesota Annual Conference. Session, Minutes of the Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church (Red Wing, Minn.: Gazette Book & Job Print., 1856-)and Peet, Harriet E., Memories of the Lonesome Trail (Minneapolis: W.R. Callaway, 1912).

Return to top

These records are divided into the following sections:

Return to top

Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. James Peet papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession numbers: 2126A; 2170B; 2390; 4271; 6252; 10,805; 15,197

Processing Information:

Processed by: Frank P. Hennessy

Catalog ID number: 09-00027792

Return to top

Most of the items in this section were originally bound in two scrapbooks. These papers, which consist of letters, receipts, and printed materials, were removed from the scrapbooks and interfiled chronologically with the rest of the collection. An index to the scrapbook, formerly numbered as volume 1, is also included.

The letters were written to James Peet by members of his family; friends at academies in Cazenovia and Alfred Center, New York; friends teaching school in Bonaparte and Keokuk, Iowa; Harriet Evens, who later became his wife; missionaries and ministers; and residents of Superior, Duluth, and Oneota, Minnesota. The letters give information on schools, religion, family matters, and life in general during the 1850s and 1860s. There are also a number of letters written during the Civil War to Harriet Peet by her husband and by members of the Evens family who fought with New York regiments. The Civil War correspondence also contains a letter (Nov. 6, 1863) to James Peet from Robert S. Donaldson of the Second Minnesota Regiment containing Peet's appointment as chaplain of the 12th Regiment of Louisiana Volunteers.

Return to top

The clippings consist of photocopied articles from a scrapbook which was retained by the Peet family. The majority of the articles were written by Peet for the Northwestern Christian Advocate, Chicago, Illinois (1855-1860), and provide detailed information on Peet's missionary activities with the Methodist Episcopal Church in the Lake Superior region, the area's geography, and its economic and social conditions.

Return to top

Includes sermon manuscripts and a group of sermon outlines. The format of the sermons consists of a scripture verse, background, and application to the times. The sermons express Peet's ardent religious convictions and represent the teachings of a mainstream 19th century Methodist preacher.

Return to top

James Peet's diaries describe his activities in Hinsdale Town, New York; Stillwater and St. Paul, Minnesota; Superior and Bayfield, Wisconsin; and Duluth, Oneota, and other points along Lake Superior. The entries contain information on the social and economic life of the area's early settlements and record the arrival of steamboats in the region. The diaries also provide an account of Peet's Civil War experience (1864-1865). In addition to the 11 original diaries there are typescript copies of volumes 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, and 10. There is also a photocopy of Peet's 1859 diary for which there is no corresponding original in the collection.

Return to top

Photographs of the Peet family are available in Minnesota Historical Society sound & visual collections.

Return to top

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Education -- Minnesota.

Frontier and pioneer life -- Minnesota.

Frontier and pioneer life -- Wisconsin.

Places:

Anoka (Minn.).

Bayfield (Wis.).

Duluth (Minn.).

New York (State) -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865.

Stillwater (Minn.).

Superior (Wis.).

United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Participation, African American.

Vicksburg (Miss) -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865.

Persons:

Brooks, David, 1803-1891.

Brooks, Jabez, 1823-1910.

Carey, John Richard, 1830-1905.

Chaffee, James Franklin, 1827-1911.

Culver, Joshua B., 1830-1883.

Ely, Catherine Bissell, 1817-1880?

Ely, Edmund Franklin, 1809-1882.

Evans family.

Evens family.

Felt, Charles.

Fullerton, Thomas M., 1817-

Hamlin, Edward Oscar, 1828-

Hobart, Chauncey, 1811-1904.

Marvin, Luke, 1820-1880.

Merritt, Hepzibah Jewett, 1812-1906.

Merritt, Lewis, 1809-1880.

Merritt family.

Peet, Harriet Evens, ca. 1828-1914.

Peet family.

Pugh, John.

Rice, Henry Mower, 1816-1894.

Roos, Oscar, 1827-

Wright, William E.

Organizations:

Methodist Episcopal Church -- Missions -- Minnesota.

Methodist Episcopal Church -- Missions -- Wisconsin.

New York Juvenile Asylum.

United States. Army -- African American troops.

United States. Army -- Colored Infantry Regiment, 12th.

United States. Army -- Colored Infantry Regiment, 50th.

Types of Documents:

Diaries.

Sermons.

Occupations:

Missionaries -- Minnesota.

Return to top