The Peters family was one of the most prominent free black families in antebellum Harrisonburg. In June 1860, William Peters, age 40, headed a household that included his 40 year old wife Harriet, their three children, 20 year old James, 14 year old Sallie, and 10 year old Jason, as well as a 19 year old man named Kirk Hall. The presence of Kirk Hall further suggests possible family ties between the Peters and Hall families. The family lived on property initially purchased by William's father located on East Market Street.

 

Unlike most of Harrisonburg's African American residents, William's background is rather well-known. In 1820, he was born a free man to Joshua and Sally Peters in Harrisonburg. Joshua, a five-foot-four-inch tall "mulatto," was born March 30, 1783 in Culpepper County, Virginia. As a child, for unknown circumstances, he was bound by the county overseers of the poor to serve a saddler named Thomas Lindsey until he was 21. Joshua may have been an orphan, or the son of parents who were otherwise unable to care for him. Following his emancipation at age 21, he removed west to Harrisonburg.

 

Joshua's time with Lindsey was beneficial in that it taught him a valuable trade. In Harrisonburg, he opened a saddle-making business of his own, and the contents of his home strongly suggest financial success. In 1819, after running into debt problems, Joshua created an itemized list of his personal possessions, listed at the right. The list not only reveals the tools of his trade and a surprising amount of livestock, but also shows relatively expensive consumer items such as multiple walnut desks and drop-leaf tables. Additionally, the list appears to have been prepared in a room-by-room fashion, and suggests a home that may have included as many as four rooms, as well as a possible out-building. Joshua passed down his saddle-making trade to his son William.

 

William was a very successful businessman. In addition to working as a saddler, he also operated a livery stable, which boarded city residents' horses. Due to his financial success, William became a key figure in the antebellum African American community, and by the time of the 1860 census, he owned three homes in addition to his own that he rented to other free black families. Two of these homes were in the neighborhood near the Hopkins and Strother properties in the block between Elizabeth Street and Market Street; the other was at the southwest corner of Rock Street and Main Street.

 

Sometime prior to 1840, William married a "bright mulatto" woman named Harriet, who was born free in Virginia about 1820. Together the pair produced three children, and much like his father before him, William passed on his trade to his sons. The Civil War disrupted William's thriving business, however, and according to testimony he later delivered to the Southern Claims Commission, Confederate forces coerced him into working as a laborer for the Southern cause, which he "hated to do, but could not help it...they talked about lynching me if I did not do it." After the war, he reopened his business, and became one of the most influential members of Harrisonburg's postwar African American community. For example, William sold lots of land to be used for both the original John Wesley Methodist Church, and an African American school. Today, the neighborhood where the Peters family lived is largely a commercial area, and no trace of their home remains.