McNear: Danish immigrant finds ‘the promise land’ in 1836

Born in Denmark on February 3, 1836, Thomas H. Petersen arrived in San Francisco when he was 21. He came penniless to what he called the “promise land,” but excited for the future, so excited that he left the ship that brought him to California before he received his final paycheck for working as the ship’s carpenter.

Tom, as he was called, began working on the Constitution, delivering mail to the Puget Sound. In 1865, he married Sophia Von in San Francisco, and the couple would have five children over the following ten years. The same year they married, Tom received his first contract to build a schooner, a type of sailing boat with multiple masts, known for its speed and use as working vessels.