Axel Peterson was born in 1865 in Sweden and emigrated in 1893. He was hired in 1900 by Butler-Ryan as a laborer. He became a hoisting engineer and was active in the Union. His name is also found in the Payroll records of 1904-5.

Maria Benson, Axel's great-great-granddaughter, shared these family memories:
"My great-great-grandfather, Axel Peterson, worked on the capitol. Esther Peterson Smith, his daughter, would tell my sister and I many stories about visiting her father at lunch time. She and her siblings would bring lunch to her father and before the steps were installed, they would slide down huge marble slabs like a slide. My great, great grandfather made a few pieces of jewelry out of leftover marble {crosses, hearts, etc.}."