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Robert Evans Peterson (November 12, 1812 – October 30, 1894) was an American book publisher and author. Along with George William Childs, he founded the publishing house of Childs & Peterson. He was a member of the Peterson family of publishers including his brother Henry Peterson and his cousin Charles Jacobs Peterson.
Robert Evans Peterson | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 12, 1812 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | October 30, 1894 (aged 81) Asbury Park, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Resting place | Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Occupation | publisher, writer |
| Language | American English |
| Period | Modern |
| Employer | Childs & Peterson |
| Spouse | Hannah Mary Bouvier Peterson, Blanche Gottschalk, Clara Gottschalk Peterson |
| Parents | George Peterson, Jane (Evans) Peterson |
| Relatives | Henry Peterson (brother), Charles Jacobs Peterson (cousin) |
Peterson was born on November 12, 1812, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to George and Jane (Evans) Peterson.[1] He studied law under his father-in-law, John Bouvier. He was admitted to the bar but never practiced law. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, with a medical degree in 1863, but never practiced medicine.[2]
He worked in the hardware business until 1834. He assisted his father-in-law in editing his law works. In order to absolve the debt of his clients, Daniels & Smith, booksellers, purchased their business, and operated it as R. E. Peterson & Co.[3]
On the death of John Bouvier in 1851, he partnered with George W. Childs and established the publishing house of Childs & Peterson, which became involved in 1857–58. Peterson then retired from the publishing and bookselling business and took up the study of medicine.[4]
He died on October 30, 1894, at his summer residence in Asbury Park, New Jersey[5] and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.[6]
He married Hannah Mary Bouvier, the daughter of Judge John Bouvier. After his wife died in 1870, he was re-married, in 1872, to Blanche Gottschalk, sister of Louis M. Gottschalk, and after her death in 1879, a third time, to her sister Clara.[5]
His family included several publishers and editors: his brother Henry Peterson edited the Saturday Evening Post for twenty years, and his cousin Charles J. Peterson was an owner of the Post and founder of Peterson's Magazine.[7]
He presented Judge Bouvier's law library to the University of Pennsylvania.[3]
He published Bouvier's Law Dictionary and Bouvier's Institutes of American Law; Dr. Kane's Arctic Explorations; Brazil and Brazilians, and numerous text books, and was the author of: The Roman Catholic Church not the Only True Religion (1891).
- Peterson's Familiar Science; or the Scientific Explanation of Common Things., Philadelphia: George W. Childs, 1866
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