ALLEN PETERS. One of the present County commissioners of Madison County, Mr. Peters is one of the most efficient and popular officials of the County, and the public business has never been entrusted to abler hands than to those of Mr. Peters, He was formerly a teacher and merchant in this County, where he has spent all his life and represents one of the oldest and most prominent families in the history of Madison. He had been connected more or less with political affairs for many years, and at the present time is engaged in farming in Boone Township.
Allen Peters was born September 2, 1869, on the old Peters farm about eight miles northeast of Elwood in Boone Township, He still resides in the vicinity where he was born and reared and most of his associations have been with this section of the County . His parents were Edmon H. and Eliza (Hull) Peters, His father was a native of Brown. County, Ohio, and the five children in the family are mentioned as follows: Emma Chaplin, of Boone Township; Allen; Mrs. Cora Hiatt of Duck Creek Township; James E. and Mrs. Ethel Mann.
As a boy Allen Peters attended the common schools of Madison County, and most of his education was acquired in the Red Oak schoolhouse which stood on the corner of the Peters homestead, He finished his preparation for life in the college at Danville, Indiana, and with this equipment attained a certificate and for eight terms taught in Boone Township and was a teacher for one term in Van Buren. He continued to apply his energies to farming and teaching until 1892. In that year he engaged in the hardware business at Summitville under the firm name of McLain and Peters, This business was conducted prosperously until 1898. In 1899 Mr. Peters took the superintendence of the old home farm, and in the following year bought a place of his own of fifty acres adjoining the old homestead, In 1900 he took charge both of his own farm and the estate of his father, and has since operated about four hundred acres of the fine soil of Boone Township, On May 13, 1900, Mr. Peters married Miss Fannie F. McDermott. Their children are Robert P. now deceased, and Violet E. in the 7th grade of school, Mr. Peters is affiliated with both the subordinate and Encampment degrees of Odd Fellowship, belonging to the Lodge at Summitville, and the Encampment at Elwood, His other fraternal affiliations include the Knights of Pythias, Gas Belt Lodge No.. 361, and the Improved Order of Red Men, Neoskaleta Tribe.
For the past twenty years he has been quite active in public affairs, and his first important position was as deputy assessor in Boone Township in 1892. He served as trustee of the Township from November, 1900, to January, 1905, and during this time he administered the affairs of the township in a praiseworthy manner and the schools in particular prospered under his term of office. Two years ago he was elected commissioner from district No, 3 by a large majority and has made an excellent record in that office, He and his family have membership in the Methodist church.