Background
He was born on October 9, 1822 in Ellsworth, Maine, United States, the son of Andrew and Sally (Jordan) Peters. His father was a merchant and shipbuilder and one of the most prominent men of Ellsworth.
He was born on October 9, 1822 in Ellsworth, Maine, United States, the son of Andrew and Sally (Jordan) Peters. His father was a merchant and shipbuilder and one of the most prominent men of Ellsworth.
Peters was educated at Gorham Academy and Yale College, where he graduated in 1842 with an oration on "The Profession of Politics. " He then studied law at the Harvard Law School and in the office of Thomas Robinson of Ellsworth.
He was admitted to the bar in Ellsworth in 1844. Moving to Bangor in that year he began the practice of law in the office of Joshua W. Hathaway, whose partner he became. Later he entered into partnership with Franklin Augustus Wilson.
His first political offices were those of state senator, 1862-63, and representative in 1864. In 1864 he became state attorney-general and served in that capacity until his election to Congress. Reelected twice he remained in Congress from 1867 to 1873, working on the committee of patents and public expenditures, the committee on the judiciary, and the joint committee on the congressional library. As a friend of Blaine, then speaker, he several times sponsored measures that Blaine wished passed.
Having refused further election to Congress he returned to Maine to be made at once, 1873, associate justice of the supreme judicial court of the state, and he was again chosen when his term expired in 1880. Three years later, 1883, he was elevated by Gov. Frederick Robie to the position of chief justice.
In 1900 his failing health caused his withdrawal from active public service. The remainder of his life was spent in Bangor, where he died.
His knowledge of the law, remarkable even when he began the practice of his profession, grew to be encyclopedic. He had imperturbable dignity and never-failing courtesy. A keen wit and overflowing humor, said to have been inherited from his mother, made him a most effective speaker both in campaigns and in the court room. As an after dinner speaker, he was thought to have no equal in his state.
On September 2, 1846, he was married to Mary Ann Hathaway, the daughter of his partner, who died the following year, leaving a son who died in infancy. On September 23, 1857, he was married to Fannie E. Roberts, the daughter of Amos M. Roberts of Bangor. They had two daughters.