Peet, James, 1828-1866.

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).

From the guide to the James Peet papers., 1846-1871., (Minnesota Historical Society)