Henry ran away from home at age 14 because his parents wanted him to be a priest. He got a job on a boat to pay his passage to the U.S. in 1867. He worked in Chicago as a journalist for the "Abendpost" and other German daily newspapers. Later he published the Lake View Tribune, a German Republican weekly. In 1888, he was appointed Deputy Postmaster of the Lake View postal Station. In 1895, he was named Justice of the Peace, and later was named Police Magistrate of Chicago. He held court at the police station on Sheffield near Diversey. His law office was at Wrightwood, Lincoln, and Sheffield. An 1896 publication states that Henry "is a prominent member of the 25th Ward Republican Club, and is one of the most popular German-Americans in the North Division of the city."

Peter was first a shoemaker, and by 1871 he had a factory with 14 employees. After his factory burned in the Chicago Fire, he became a fireman.

Peter and Kate had 13 children, 3 of whom died in infancy.

Kate came to the U.S. in 1848 with her mother's sister and family. She was a housekeeper for an English family in Buffalo, NY, where she met and married Peter.

Kate raised Emilie ("Mammy") after her mother Caroline died.