From "History of Wheeling City and Ohio County, West Virginia and  
Representative Citizens," by Hon. Gibson Lamb Cranmer, 1902. 
 
Typed by E. J. Heinemann 
 
p. 679 
 
HENRY C. PETERMANN, notary public, and justice of the peace of Madison  
district since his first election to that office in 1881, is a resident  
of the Island, which comprises one ward of the city of Wheeling, West  
Virginia.  Mr. Petermann's location  as a magistrate is No. 15 Florida  
street, where his residence also is, and his notarial office is at  
No.42 Fourteenth street, where it has been located for the past twenty  
years.  Besides his business in general notary work, a large amount of  
pension work is also done by him, and he is a very busy man. 
Mr. Petermann was born in Leipzig, Germany, August 6, 1838.  His father  
was a prominent military man of the old country and is long since  
deceased.  His mother is still living in Leipzig, at the advanced age  
of eighty-nine years. 
     July 3, 1851, shortly before his thirteenth birthday, young Petermann  
was sent across the ocean to America.  Comparatively alone, he landed  
at New York City and proceeded to make his way to Cincinnati, where he  
had an uncle, who obtained employment for him.  He worked several years  
for Jacob Fell on Main street, of that city, between Eighth and Ninth  
streets, and when that gentleman discontinued business, Mr. Petermann  
worked for Mr. Ehlers a short time in the leather business. 
     About 1856, in company with David A. Guerney, he went west to Peoria,  
Illinois, and was in that gentleman's employ for about one year.  He  
returned to Cincinnati the following year, on account of having fever  
and ague almost constantly in Illinois. 
     Shortly after his return from Illinois, Mr. Petermann went to  
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and was engaged in various occupations until  
1860, having in the meantime studied law for a while with Thomas  
Marshall, a prominent lawyer of that city. Although not a native-born  
American citizen, Mr. Petermann showed a true spirit of patriotism and  
proved his loyalty to the country of his adoption by responding to the  
first call for volunteers, during the Civil War.  He enlisted under  
Capt. J. H. Foster, in Company A, 13th Regiment reorganized.  Mr.  
Petermann served until the latter part of the war, but was taken sick  
in the South and incapacitated for further service. 
     Returning to Pittsburg, he in time regained his health, and engaged
in various business pursuits, working nine years in the Pennsylvania stock  
yards.  He was also associated with Mr. Lannahan in the liquor  
business, and was interested in the iron industries.  In 1874 he came  
to Wheeling, West Virginia, where he worked at various occupations  
until he was elected justice of the peace. 
     While at Pittsburg, Mr. Petermann was joined in marriage with Mary  
Limegrover, a native of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania.  Three  
daughters and one son blessed this union, and all have long since  
reached maturity.  They are, --Josephine, Ida M., Lulu Louisa, and John  
McPherson.  Josephine married D. A. Taylor, an employee of Ott Brothers  
& Company, of Wheeling; they have four children, --Catherine, Morgan  
Ott, Virginia and Eleanor.  Ida married Robert B. Burt, who is  
deceased.  Mrs. Burt conducts the Island Pharmacy, which was her  
husband's business prior to his death; she has two children,--Virginia  
and Charles P.  Lulu Louisa married H. F. Cimiott, Jr., of Pittsburg,  
who travels for a woolen house; they have three sons, --Harry C.,  
Stanley M., and George.  John McPherson, the only son of Mr. Petermann  
and his estimable wife, is a resident of Wheeling, and a prominent  
salesman in the mercantile establishment of House & Herrmann. 
     Politically Mr. Petermann is a Republican, having cast his first  
presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, at the time of his first  
election.  He was formerly a member of the G. A. R. and the Union  
Veteran Legion.  He has served as secretary of the assessment board,  
and proves his worth as a good citizen in many ways.  He has one sister  
living in Berlin (Prussia), Germany.