jack Jorgensen

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 (5 July 1842 – 20 January 1880) 

Jack Jorgensen (sometimes Jorgenson) was born in Berlin in 1842 and given the name Johanna Jorgenson. 

As a teen, he migrated to Australia where he worked in a variety of jobs around several states. 

He was a lady's man, wooing a number of women, and he joined the Mounted Riflemen, a regiment of volunteer solders.  He had a scar on his face and an injured eye which he told people had come from being shot in battle but his sister claimed he had been kicked in the face by a horse before he was 16. 

He was a hard worker and a friendly fellow, he was known for his pipe (see the photo at the right) and for occasionally shouting everyone at the pub a drink. 

While there were occasional rumours about his gender, it was only revealed after his death that he had been assigned female at birth. 

Image: Jorgensen, Keith (1994) A family history of the forbears [i.e. forebears] and descendants of Christian Seidler Joorgensen : who immigrated to South Australia in the year 1848, Open Book Publishers, Australia, p31.

We are grateful for one of his descendants reaching out to let us know that Jorgensen's photo (right) appears in the above family history book.