jorgensen family

Jens Peter Jorgensen (d 1899)

Jens Peter and Annette Henrietta Jorgensen were from Møen, an island in Denmark. They arrived at Wellington with four sons on the ship Halcione in 1872. Shortly after their arrival they moved to land at present-day 148 Moxham Avenue. Although they spoke only halting English at first, the Jorgensens opened a shop and post office which served the sparsely-populated Kilbirnie area. They delivered bread as far as Miramar. They also developed a large market garden, and the children used to help carry the produce on their backs over the Town Belt to the markets.

The Jorgensens had seven sons, said to have been named after Danish kings: Frederick, Emanuel, Carl Oskar, Waldemar, Albert and Victor. The property passed to their son Waldemar, who sold it to Chinese man Harry Howe. It later became Ting's Market Garden and eventually was bought by the Mormon church.

Source:Hataitai, a collection of memories

Albert George Jorgensen (c1883-1951)

Albert Jorgensen was a son of Jens Peter Jorgensen. He began his legal career in 1888 as an office boy in a law firm and worked his way up until he became a partner in 1919. For many years Mr Jorgensen took an active part in civic affairs, being a member of the Melrose Borough Council from 1900 to March 1903 when Melrose was amalgamated with the city. He served on the Wellington City Council and his name appears on a copper plaque in the Wellington Town Hall commemorating the erection of the hall (1902-1904).

Among other public activities Mr Jorgensen took a prominent part in school committee affairs at Kilbirnie School for 30 years. Albert married Catherine Kirk in 1899. She died in 1907 and he remarried in 1923 to Edith Heywood, who died in 1938. Albert died in Sydney in 1951 aged 78.

Sources: Evening Post obituary 14 Jun 1951, cemetery records

Carl Owen Jorgensen (1889-1970)

Carl Jorgensen was a grandson of Jens Peter Jorgensen. Carl served in the First World War in the NZ Army Medical Corps and was at Gallipoli. He then served in France and later the Hornchurch Military Hospital, England.

After qualifying as a masseur in London he returned to New Zealand and worked in Rotorua before going into private practice in Wellington. He was also visiting chiropodist at Wellington and Silverstream Hospitals, where he was well-known for about 30 years.

He was prominent in the Order of Oddfellows, having joined Loyal Kilbirnie Lodge when he was 18, and served in other community groups. He was a member of the NZ Society of Physiotherapists and the NZ Society of Chiropodists Inc. In 1958 ill-health forced Mr Jorgensen to give up many of his activities. He died in hospital after living all his life in the home in which he was born at Moxham Avenue. Carl was married to Evelyn, who died in 1984 aged 86.

Sources: Evening Post obituary 29 Jul 1970, cemetery records