Career
Peterson was an influential Bourbon Democrat and in 1892 he was a Presidential Elector in support of Grover Cleveland, the party faction"s sole Presidential success. He served for a time as Police Commissioner and Railroad Commissioner before being nominated as Mayor of Lockport. Peterson was born in Belfast, New York and attended Bryant & Stratton College in Buffalo.
He was the son of Gilbert Peterson, brother of Charles Gilbert Peterson and the great-uncle of Charles Sterling Bunnell.