 West Hill Cemetery Sherman, Texas The Sunday Gazetteer Sunday, October 7, 1883 pg. 4 DEATH OF MAYOR PETERS An Honored and a Valuable Citizen Breathes his Last Sherman Courier P.H. Peters, mayor of the city of Sherman, died at his home in this city at 10 o'clock Sunday night, and was buried yesterday at 5 p.m. The funeral services were conducted by the Masonic fraternity, of which he was a bright and honored member. At 4 o'clock the Masonic brethren met at their hall, and, forming in procession, followed by the Sam Houston fire company, the hook and ladder companies, seniors and juniors, members of the city council, the police force of this city, and officers of our sister city, Denison, and a long procession of citizens in carriages and on foot, marched to the family residence in west Sherman. Here the casket was taken up by the special request of the deceased before his death, and borne by brother sir knights to the cemetery, where the remains were laid away with the imposing and solemn services of that order. The procession from the residence was one of the largest to visit that city of the dead to witness the sepulture of any citizen in the history of Sherman. At the conclusion of the ritual services, Rev. Dr. Lawson, who was rector of St. Stephen's Episcopal church when Mr. Peters became a member thereof, delivered a most touching and eloquent address, in which he paid a high and merited eulogium to the character of the deceased, and the large assembly dispersed with sad hearts at the untimely demise of a most useful and honored man. Mayor Peters came to Sherman in 1876, and for a short time engaged in commercial pursuits, but the old love for journalism, that had engaged his talents in editing a democratic paper in Kansas during the Tilden and Hendricks campaign, returned upon him, and he accepted a position as city editor on the Sherman Register, under the management of J.M. Martin, Esq. When that journal removed to Gainesville, Mr. Peters, in company with Ben Hughes and Miller Norwood, started the Sherman Evening Chronicle, which he conducted with marked ability until it was consolidated with the Courier. After the consolidation, the editorial columns continued to sparkle with the scintillations of his wit and rare genius, until failing health compelled him to seek different employment. He spent several months in west Texas, and returned to his family apparently much invigorated by outdoor life. He then engaged as manager for the Sherman opera house, which he conducted to the entire satisfaction of the company and the public. Last April only a few days before the municipal election, he was placed in nomination by his friends as a candidate for mayor, and in spite of a strong opposition, headed by a most popular man, he was triumphantly elected, and in the capacity of mayor he exhibited the same bold and independent course that had characterized his career as an editor, while his fearless discharge of duty, and devoted attention to the requirements of the position, as he sank day by day under the weight of disease, gave additional evidence of the indomitable energy and valorous spirit of the man. His positive characteristics, that in the editorial field had made him many warm friends, and some as warm enemies, when directed to the general good of our whole city, won the confidence of all the estranged ones back to him, and it may be truthfully said that he left no enemies behind him. He was the last master of the Sherman Lodge, No. 464, and Junior Warden of Individual Friends Commandery at the time of his death. Having for several years before coming to Texas held the position of state Grand Lecturer in the Masonic Grand Lodge of Kansas, he was peculiarly bright in all the teachings and traditions of that mystic order, and was a devoted follower of its beneficent precepts. Mr. Peters was born in North Carolina about forty-two years ago, and removed with his parents when he was a youth to the territory of Kansas, where was a witness to all the excitement incident to the settlement of that state and its admission into the Union. Amid these scenes and surroundings, he grew up a democrat, and remained in that faith. In his untimely death we have lost a friend, our community has lost a good citizen, and his family are bereft of a kind and indulgent father. We offer the stricken ones our heartfelt sympathy in this, their hour of unutterable anguish, but words of sympathy are idle in the presence of death. DEATH OF MAYOR PETERS We publish elsewhere the Courier's report of the death and burial of Mr. P.H. Peters, mayor of Sherman. The editor of this paper had known Mr. Peters for a number of years. He was a printer by professions and a writer of much above the average ability, and a gentleman whom we counted as a warm friend. The Courier speaks of his being a member of the Episcopal church, but we know from frequent conversation with him on religious subjects, that he was a liberal in the broad acceptation of the term. He believed our duty to God was summed up in our duty to our fellowmen, and he acted on that principle - the future to him was a mystery that had never been fathomed. In the death of Mayor Peters, Texas has lost a brilliant writer and a noble citizen, and his wife and children a kind husband and devoted father, who have our earnest sympathies in their great affliction. West Hill Cemetery Elaine Nall Bay ©2016 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |