Robert Jorgensen was born November 5th 1857 He was born Rasmas Rasmussen in Albjerg Denmark. He came to the U.S.A. in 1859 with his parents Dorthea and Jorgen Rasmussen and a half sister Anna and a sister Mary.

When Danish boys are Baptized the are given a new name by taking the father’s first name and adding sen to it. So his name became Rasmas Jorgensen. He later Americanized it to Robert Jorgensen

The family settled in Chicago. Jorgen Rasmussen was a cabinet maker. He died 2 years after they arrived in Chicago during a Cholera epidemic. Then Robert age 4 became the man of the house.

Dorthea made ends meet by making dresses and doing alterations. She also did ironing and sold preserves and jellies. Robert went to school until he was 8. Then he got his first job getting glue pots ready for cabinet makers. He gave the money to his mother to help the family.

At 14 he got a better job in a local print shop. He would do odd jobs at first. Robert eventually became Overseer of pressroom activities. Because of his lack of education he could not get a better job. His pay was always very low.

On October 21 1884 Robert became a U.S. citizen. It was one of the happiest days of his life.

On October 6th 1985 he married his neighbor Elizabeth (Lizzie) Jones. They had 6 Children, Robert Evens born 8/20/1886., Mabel Elizabeth born 3/6/1891, Harold Thomas born 8/20/1895, Clarence William (Clare) born 5/6/1898, Raymond Joseph born 2/10/1902 and Mildred Grace born 8/19/1905. That is a big family and Roberts small pay did not go very far at all. So Lizzie found all the help she could in Chicago to feed and cloth her children. There was one thing they had plenty of and that was love.

In 1903 Raymond was suffering from Pneumonia and not doing good. The Doctor had just left the baby and asked his mother to close the windows because the cool night air was not good for the baby. Before they could close the windows a white pigeon appeared out of the night and sat calmly on the open window ledge. The kerosene lamp all of a sudden got real bright. Lizzie looked up at the pigeon and prayed with tears in her eyes. She prayed “Lord you have sent me a messenger to make me strong in this hour of human strife and sorrow. I now know that my baby will gather strength as you take him in your care to live in your house forever.” Then God sent an angel to take baby Raymond home.