Item OS8388 - Peterman Dairy Farm

The Peterman Dairy Farm on Simcoe Street.

This dairy farm ran for years by George and Sarah (Leopard) Peterman. George Walker Peterman was born on March 19th, 1870 to George and Charlotte of Tecumseth, and he decided to come to Bradford to clear land on Simcoe Road to build his dairy farm. With his wife Sarah Jane Leopard (born January 31st, 1869) of North York, and ten children, the Peterman Dairy farm came into being at 319 Simcoe Road. All the boys worked on the farm until they moved out to start families of their own. Out of the four girls, Vera Peterman (later Williams) was the first to drive the horse-drawn dairy wagon through town. She did it for seven of the 35 years the family farm ran. As the dairy farm died out, most of the Peterman family stayed in the Bradford area (Monty and Norma left for Detroit). George Peterman died on September 17th, 1950, and Sarah died soon after on April 15th, 1955, both in their 80s. Most of their children are buried with them in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Bradford.