Transcription of obituary from Port Angeles Evening News, April 26, 1930

Charles Peters, 77, pioneer of Clallam County and a resident of Dry Creek, passed away at 9:30 this morning after a lingering illness.

Mr. Peters was born at Gyrenbad Canton of Zurich, Switzerland on May 21, 1853. His parents were proprietors of a hotel and summer resort. He attended the common schools of his homeland and came to the United States when he was 18 years of age, landing in NY on Dec 9, 1871. He made his home for a time at Rochester, NY. The centennial exposition at Philadelphia attracted him to that city, moving from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh.

When the Southern Pacific offered attractions to the people of the Southwest, he moved to El Paso, TX in June 1885, where he spent a year. He lived 6 months in Fort Worth, TX. It was at Fort Worth he first heard of the Puget Sound Cooperative Colony, and acquaintance handing him a copy of "The Model Commonwealth," a paper published by the Colony.

He became a subscriber to the paper and joined the Colony branch at Fort Worth. In 1887 he became employed in Colony headquarters at Seattle. The Colony held a constitutional convention in Seattle in May, 1887, where delegates of the various branches met and organized. The first members came to Port Angeles. Mr. Peters remained in the Seattle office for a time but moved to Port Angeles in June 1887 and has remained here since. For years he operated an orchard at Dry Creek.

Mr. Peters was the first man to be married in the townsite of Port Angeles. The Colony had offered the present of a lot to the first couple to be married. Mr. Peters married Mrs. Laura Crane Hall on May 22, 1888.

He is survived by two step-daughters, Mrs. Eudora Mason of Port Angeles and Mrs. Louella Kitchell of Cleveland, OH; a niece, Mrs. A Forsberg of Port Angeles; a sister, Mrs. A Elunzer of Switzerland and a nephew, Paul Pflnater.

The remains are to lie in state at the Christman Mortuary until 2pm Tuesday at which time the funeral services will be held at the chapel.

Mr. Peters took up a pre-emption homestead at Dry Creek in the fall of 1888 and has lived on that farm for 42 years.

Submitted by Stacey Davis November 3, 2000