HANS JORGENSEN.
A student interested in the history of Audubon county, Iowa, does not have to carry his investigations far into its annals before learning that Hans Jorgensen has long been an active and leading representative in its agricultural affairs. His labors have proved a potent force in making Audubon county a good farming region. During several decades Mr. Jorgensen has carried on farming, gradually improving his farm. While he has prospered in farming, he has also found ample opportunity to assist in the material development of Audubon county. His co-operation has always been of value and has been much sought by the people of his community with whom he stands very highly.
Hans Jorgensen was born on October 7, 1863, in Fynn, Denmark. He is the son of Peter and Birgitte (Nelsen) Jorgensen, who were also born in Fynn, Denmark. The father was a tailor by trade while living in the old country but, after coming to America, he followed farming. He was the father of ten children, of whom Hans was the eldest.
Hans Jorgensen received a good education in Denmark, which he supplemented by attending school at Oakfield, in Audubon county, after coming here. When he was seventeen years old, or in the spring of 1880, the family came to America, landing in New York city, thence coming direct to Atlantic, Cass county, Iowa.
After reaching this country, Hans Jorgensen went to work immediately on a farm near Elkhorn, in Shelby county. He worked out by the month until he was twenty-four years old and then rented a farm in Shelby county but lived there only one year. At this time he came to Hamlin township, Audubon county, where he rented land for two years more. In 1890 Mr. Jorgensen purchased eighty acres of land in Sharon township, where he lived until 1910. In 1888 Mr. Jorgensen's father had bought two hundred and thirteen acres of land in Hamlin township but, in the meantime, he had sold some of it, and at the time of his death, in 1906, he owned only one hundred and sixty-nine acres. In 1910 Hans Jorgensen purchased the farm of his mother, who is now living in Elkhorn.
Hans Jorgensen was married on April 23, 1888, in Audubon, to Katie Bartelsen, who was born on April 20, 1870, in Schleswig, Germany. She is the daughter of Hans E. and Anna K. ( Schelleiup) Bartelsen. They were of Danish blood and came to the United States in 1884, locating in Audubon county. Mr. and Mrs. Jorgensen have no children.
Mr. Jorgensen makes a specialty of raising thoroughbred registered Shorthorn cattle, of which he is one of the few breeders in Audubon county. He also raises and feeds about seventy head of hogs per year. Mr. Jorgensen is a stockholder in the Elkhorn-Marne Telephone Company. He has a clear recollection of the Strawl murder near Brayton, which was one of the first murders in Audubon county and occurred about the time the Jorgensen family came to Audubon county.
Hans Jorgensen is a Democrat, but he is not "hide-bound" in his political affiliations and generally votes for the man rather than for the party. He has served as road supervisor and justice of the peace in his township and has held other minor offices of trust and responsibility. Mr. Jorgensen is a good citizen, an industrious and capable farmer and is devoted primarily to his home and has always made it his chief interest in life.
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Transcribed from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pp. 504-505.
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