sentences:  Petrie was elected as an Independent Democrat to the Thirtieth Congress (March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1849)
  
  He was employed as a clerk in the Post Office Department in Washington, D.C. from January 1, 1869 until August 31, 1875, when he resigned.He died at Little Falls, New York, May 8, 1879.He was interred in Church Street Cemetery.