Peter was raised on a farm in Somerset Co., PA, until his marriage to Margaret Adams. They moved to Stark Co., OH, about 1830, then moved on to Van Wert Co., OH, where he had purchased 120 acres. The next year, six other men joined him at his log house to form Liberty Township from Willshire. The first election was held, and he became one of the trustees. Peter was the first Justice of the Peace in Liberty Township and held that office for 16 years. He also ran the first thrashing machine in the county. A Republican, "He was one of the most public-spirited men in his county, always ready to aid any worthy enterprise that might promise to promote the public good. He donated a portion of his property, the southwest corner, for the Ridge (Slater) Cemetery.

His daughter Arminta once related - "My father did not like square dancing and other parties. After a hard day in the fields, he would come home to eat, drink whiskey which he dispensed from a small keg with a spigot on the end, and then go to bed. Afterward, if it were a Saturday night, my mother would help we three youngest daughters to put on our frilly dresses and sneak out of the house to go dancing. Then she would help us back in when we returned."

From the "Wilmot [OH] Weekly Review," August, 1888, regarding a Putman Reunion of Andrew Putman descendants: "Peter Putman moved to Van Wert County where he settled down in the woods, and by unceasing toil, he made for himself a pleasant home...The Putmans are long lived and an industrious class of people...From all appearances, it will be many years before the name of Putman will have become extinct and methinks in the year 3000, there will be enough to again reunion."

In September, 1926, the first Peter Putman Reunion was held at the Van Wert [OH] Fair Grounds with over 300 attending. The 46th Annual Reunion was in 1969 in Ohio City.

Peter was the son of Andrew Putman and Anna Elizabeth Lenhart. He married first Margaret Adams and they had children: Alexander, Isaac, Rosannah, John, Mary, Mariah, and Catherine. After she died, he married Sarah Elizabeth Neiferd, and they had these children: Winfield Scott, Zachariah Taylor, Jasper Newton, Peter Farmer, Sarah Elizabeth, Francis Marion, Elder Willis, Arminta, William Clarke, Clara B., and Andrew.