January: Anna (Jorgensen) Dorman

Since my genealogy meeting got postponed, it's a good time to do a blog post. This one is not an ancestor, but is a relative. My paternal grandfather's sister, my great aunt, Anna (Jorgensen) Dorman.

Anna Marie Jorgensen was born June 23, 1905 at Minden (Kearney county), Nebraska to Jorgen Christian "Chris" and Inger Katrina "Katie" Jorgensen. She was the youngest of three siblings, and also the only one I met as she lived the longest of the three.

In 1907, the family moved to Sidney, Cheyenne county, Nebraska. Her father was farming. They remained there for a long time. The family is still in Cheyenne county, Nebraska in the 1920 census. A short time after that census, her older sister passed away. Martha Irene Jorgensen died March 9, 1920 at the age of 17 from influenza at their home in Cheyenne county. It must be hard to lose a sister when you are 14 years old.

Anna absorbed all the "book learning" she could in school. Anna kept herself busy working and writing the local gossip column. In the 1920s and1930s, from 1932 to 1940, she wrote the social news under the heading "Grand Prairie" for The Telegraph newspaper. She was paid 50 cents a week, and was supplied with paper, pencils, pens, envelopes and 3-cent stamps.

Anna got married a little later in life. At the age of 35, she married Clarence A. Dorman in Sidney, Cheyenne County, Nebraska. To this union three sons and one daughter were born. To my knowledge, two of the sons are deceased, David and Robert. One son and one daughter are still living.

They bought a farm northwest of Sidney, and not long after, oil was discovered on their property. They raised cattle and used the profits from the oil wells for a few additional conveniences.

On December 16, 1971 she lost her husband as he passed away at the hospital in Sidney, Nebraska.

Anna Dorman celebrated her 90th birthday in June 1995 at the Mountain Vista Health Center in Wheat Ridge, Colorado with many cards from her friends from Sidney. Shortly after, on August 11, 1995 she passed away in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

I should have a few photos of Anna somewhere. For records on her, I used the census, newspapers online, gravestone photos and family notes. If/When I find more family photos, I will add them. For now this will have to do. Rest in peace Great-Aunt Anna (or should it be Grand-Aunt). Another post to debate that.