The last of the Colbert children, Peter, probably had the most untimely death. Margaret, with her many responsibilities, often had to take her young son with her while she did her chores. One day Margaret took her two-year-old son down to the river with her to wash cloths. While Margaret scrubbed cloths on a rock, her son occupied himself by playing with bugs and blades of grass. Washing cloths was an involving task, and Margaret soon lost track of her son. When she finished her work, he was nowhere to be found. Peter's body was found a day later about a mile down stream from where his mother had been doing laundry. He had apparently been playing near the edge of the river and fell in and drowned.