Friday, January 29, 2016

January Ancestor: Alfred Jorgensen

My January ancestor is my grandfather Alfred Jorgensen. I never met this grandfather of mine.

He was born Lars Alfred Jorgensen on 10 May 1899 in Minden, Kearney county, Nebraska to Jorgen Christian "Chris" and Inger Katrina "Katie" (Nelson) Jorgensen. They stayed there in Kearney county for a few years. By 1910 they moved to Cheyenne County, Nebraska farming near Sidney.
He was the oldest child, having 2 younger sisters. One of his sisters, Martha Jorgensen died in 1920 at about 18 years of age. His other sister was my great aunt, Anna, and she lived the longest of the three to the age of 90 years old. So Anna was the only one of the three that I met in person.

Alfred grew up helping on the family farm. He married Mable L. Foster on 6 March 1935 in Sidney, Cheyenne County, Nebraska.

This photo of their marriage license, wedding rings and wedding photo hangs in my house.

Alfred and Mable were the parents of 3 boys: my father (who is deceased) and my two uncles (who are still living). Alfred was a farmer, farming for years until his death. He passed away in Denver, Colorado on March 10, 1951 at the age of 51. I realize I don't know much else about this grandfather. I should ask my uncles or look for an obituary.

For documentation about this grandfather, I have a marriage license, federal census for 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930 and 1940, and a cemetery photo. My mother has a death certificate which eventually I will get after a while. I should take a trip to Sidney (which isn't that far for me, across the state) for genealogy and visit several graves in person and look up an obituary and land records. I also have a few photos of him, the wedding one, one as a child with his family, a baby photo, and the one that I remember Grandma always having standing on her dresser.




2 comments:

  1. Some of my good friends are Jorgenson's from Minden. Did a sibling stick around Kearney County, or perhaps and aunt or uncle? They still farm there.

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  2. Yes, for a while. Don't think there are any of his close relatives still there. Could be a distant cousin. Jorgensen is a rather common name, and there was more than one family of Jorgensens in the area.

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