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When the Jorgenson family arrived in the United States, they first located at Mabel, Fillmore, Minnesota where they resided about a year.
A short time was spent at Rushmore, and in 1874 they came to Willmar where Jennie lived for the remainder of her life.
In the June 15, 1880 U.S. Federal Census, Jennie was 12 years old and living with her parents, Martin C. and Gustava, and
8-year-old brother, Charlie, in Willmar, Kandiyohi, Minnesota. Her father was a harness maker [1880 U.S. Federal Census, Willmar, Kandiyohi,
Minnesota; Roll: T9_624; Family History Film: 1254624; Page: 84.2000; Enumeration District: 47].
The Jorgenson family were accomplished musicians. Jenny was renowned for her artistry as a pianist, Laura played the violin and Carl played the
banjo. While on a visit to the Willmar home of Laura Jorgenson Braithwaite's grandson, Doug Braithwaite, Rae Bordua saw both Laura's violin with burgundy velvet
case and two horsehair bows, along with Carl's banjo which has the inside skin of the head autographed in pencil with the signatures of scores of his contemporaries.
In the June 1, 1900 census Jennie was 32 years old and living
with her husband Emil and mother-in-law Gurine in their home at 205 East Litchfield Ave. in Willmar, MN; brother-in-law S. B. Qvale,
S. B.'s wife Mayme and their and Swedish servant Phoebe Lund
lived next door. In the June 21, 1905 Minnesota state census she
was 37 years old, still living with her husband, mother-in-law
and son Maurice next door to her brother- and sister-in-law at 205 Litchfield Ave. in Willmar, MN. In the April 20, 1910 census,
Jennie was 41 years old and living with her husband, son Maurice,
daughter Florence and mother-in-law Gurine at the same address
in Willmar. On January 19, 1920 census she was 51 years old and
living at 205 Litchfield Ave. in Willmar next to her brother-in-law S. B. and his family. At the time of the April 22, 1930 census, Jennie was 61 years old and
living with her husband Emil in their spacious home valued at $10,000
(over $100,000 in 2001 dollars). The family did not own a radio.
Brother-in-law S.B. and Judge Qvale were friends and business associates of Lt. Gov. Albert Rice's family, and his son, renowned soldier of fortune Cushman Rice, was rumored to have been enamoured of
Jennie Jorgenson prior to her engagement and marriage to the Judge. Lt. Governor Rice supposedly gave his son $5,000 and sent him
temporarily out of the country to keep him away from Jennie shortly before her marriage. Cushman Rice remained cordial toward the extended Qvale family and involved in their
social sphere during his visits home until his death over Labor Day weekend, 1932. He sent Jennie a radio as a gift
from one of his travels; the Judge immediately had it dispatched to the basement in storage.
Jennie passed away at Rice Memorial Hospital (which had been built through a trust given to the city of Willmar from Colonel Cushman Rice in memory of his parents, Lieutenant Governor and Mrs. Albert Rice) on May 4, 1938,
a scant two weeks before her 70th birthday, from breast cancer that had metastasized to her lumbar and sigmoid region in the last four months of her life. She and her sisters Laura M. and Amy D. are buried in the Gauthe Qvale family plot at Fairview Cemetery in Willmar, Kandiyohi, Minnesota.
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Chronological