Born in Bavaria, Peter immigrated to the United States in 1889. As a young man, he wanted to be a teacher but worked at a sawmill before apprenticing with Friedrich von Parrot, publisher of a weekly German newspaper called the "Volkszeitung." Within several years he became involved with German language newspapers in Peoria and Rock Island, Illinois. In 1904 when the "Volkszeitung" went bankrupt Peter purchased the paper for $1,500 and at twenty-two years old he became the youngest editor in all of Illinois. In 1907 Peter moved to Omaha, Nebraska and bought the "Westliche Presse" and in the following year purchased and re-opened a newspaper called the "Omaha Tribüne". Peter consolidated the two papers to create the "Omaha Tribüne-Westliche Presse." Over the next several years he would continue to merge German language newspapers from across the state. On March 14, 1912 Peter introduced the "Omaha Tribüne," a paper that would serve the German populations of Nebraska, Iowa, and other Midwest states until 1960.