He is buried in the Happy Valley Cemetery. His gravestone has this inscription:
| 08---/21/01- | Sacred/ to the memory/ of/ PETER PETERSEN/ A native of Sweden/ who died in Hong Kong on the/ 23rd August 1876/ aged 52 years./ Stay stranger, stay as you are passing by./ As you are now, so once was I/ As I am now, you soon may be/ So then prepare to follow me./ May his soul rest in peace.pedestal and block [fallen off] - Sacred to the memory of Peter the only son of Peter Petersen who died on the 18th January 1877/ aged 6 monthson side of pedestal - Chinese characters#4257 |
A look through the Hong Kong Daily Press for 23rd / 24th / 25th of August 1876 found a brief mention in the 25th Aug edition on page 2 :
DEATH.
On the night of 23rd inst., at half past nine o'clock, at his residence 208, Queen's Road, after a long illness, Mr P. PETERSEN, a native of Sweden, aged 32.
No other newspapers are available to view online in MMIS for these dates.
He is also mentioned in the book "Merchants' Daughters: Women, Commerce, and Regional Culture in South China". The passage is mostly about his wife, but also says:
In 1869, at the age of seventeen, she became the protected woman of Peter Petersen, a Swede, who began his career in Hong Kong as a tavern barman and later a proprietor. In 1872, he was at the “Land We Live In” and two years later at “City of Hamburg." He died in 1876 at his tavern “The Royal Oak" at 208 Queen’s Road at the age of 32 years after a long illness. In his will, made shortly before his death in 1876, he described himself as a tavern keeper. He left $500 to his mother in Sweden and the residue of his estate to “Lum Asing, of Victoria, unmarried woman, at present living under my protection.” He appointed her and his friend Johann/John Olsen, also a tavern keeper, as his executors. He left her with three young children, three thousand dollars, and the tavern/hotel business.
Comments
Petersen
Wilhelm Petersen was the executor of my great grandfather's Will. He died in 1896 and was also a publican close by my great grandfather in Queen's Road. I wonder if tge book is correct . Mt info comes from the Carl Smith archive and the name is noted in the Will which was made in 1890. My great grandfather was also from Sweden. Another mystery?
Sean