Peder and Lene were born in and lived their first 53 years in Vejle county located on the southeast part of the Jutland peninsula. Their children were born and baptized there; near the time of confirmation the four oldest boys (Hans, Jens, Ole, Carl) were apprenticed to individuals who would teach them a trade in exchange for their labor. Emigration from Denmark took place during the latter part of the 19th century; the two oldest boys settled in Omaha, Nebraska with the rest of the family initially occupied as farmers in Hamilton county. Peder purchased 80 acres in 1882 in Otis precinct; the 1885 Nebraska census indicated his successful diversified farm was raising cattle, pigs, chickens, horses, barley, corn, oats, rye, wheat and flax. Lene sold this acreage in 1899 then lived her final years with her youngest son, Soren Petersen, who farmed Peter Wind's land a few miles north of Hampton, Nebraska; this land was located one mile west of the Lars Eskildsens and likely provided Soren an opportunity to court Marie Eskildsen, his future wife.
