“Dad grew up on a small family farm on Fox Hollow Road just outside of Eugene. It seemed natural to return to my Oregon roots.”
Left: Grandparents on the left, Thelma Thorson Jorgensen (holding my dad, Kermit) and Lauris “Lawrence” Jorgensen, with my uncle Ken and aunt Irene in front, next to great-aunt Maysel (Thelma’s sister) and great-uncle Johnny (Lauris’s brother) with children Don and Mavis, 1937.
How cute – two sisters married two brothers!
Right: My uncle Ken, my dad Kermit (on tricycle) and my aunt Irene Jorgensen at their farm on Fox Hollow Road in Eugene, Oregon, 1941.
Agricultural Roots in Oregon and Beyond…
In 2004, Leah made her way out west to her father’s home state of Oregon to attend a highly coveted wine industry event – Oregon Pinot Camp. Within hours of her visit in the Willamette Valley, she found a way back to the Pacific Northwest to work where her great-grandparents had settled and farmed. Her grandfather’s side came to Oregon by way of Denmark and her grandmother’s side from Norway. Both lines of her family had been farm owners and workers in Scandinavia long before coming to America in the late 1800s. Both families lived and worked on farms in Montana and Minnesota, prior to Oregon.
Early Family History: Jorgensens in Montana & Minnesota Before Arriving in Oregon
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- Great grandfather Peder Jorgensen on his wedding day in Aalborg, Denmark.
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- The Jorgensen Family in Culbertson, MT. My grandfather is standing in the back, on the left.
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- My grandfather, Lauris Marinus Jorgensen.
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- My grandfather with woodsaw in Moorhead, MN.
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- Grandfather with horses and snow sled in Moorhead, MN.
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- Grandfather on a horse in Moorhead, MN.
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- Grandfather working on a tractor in MT.
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- Grandfather packed up the family to move to Eugene, Oregon. Photo at Flathead Lake, MT.
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- Some of my grandfather’s carpentry tools.
Early Family History: Thorsons in Minnesota & Montana Before Arriving in Oregon
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- Great-great-great grandparents Iver Thorson Ase and Ana Thorsdatter Fosse on wedding day, 1847.
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- My great-great grandparents Thor and Anna Thorson.
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- Thor and Anna Thorson and children. My great-grandfather Isaak is second standing in the back.
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- Great-grandmother with grandmother Thelma (standing) and great-aunt Maysel (seated) on farm in Whitetail, MT.
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- My grandmother, Thelma Thorson Jorgensen.
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- The Thorson Family in Crookston, MN.
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- Great-grandfather Isaak Thorson.
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- Thorson sisters and great-grandmother with children (my dad is in my grandmother’s arms) in Fertile, MN.
Early Family History: Former Jorgensen Family Farms in Aalborg, Denmark
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- Former Jorgensen Family Farm, Gammel Ullits, Aalborg
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- Former Jorgensen Family Farm, Gammel Ullits, Aalborg.
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- Blacksmith Home, Great-Grandfather 8 generations ago. Gammel Ullits, Aalborg.
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- Great-Great Grandfather’s Farm
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- Great-Grandparents Peder and Maren’s last residence before immigration. in Gammel Ullits, Aalborg.
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- Leah standing in the slip where Peder and Maren boarded the ship “Island” (Danish for Iceland) for America in Larsen Plads in Copenhagen.
Early Family History: Thorson Family Farms in Vik, Sogn Fjordane, Norway
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- Asa Farms, great-great-great grandfather Iver’s family.
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- Fosse Farms, great-great-great grandmother Ana’s family.
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- Fosse family farms.
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- Fosse family farms.
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- Asa family farms.
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- Salmon run in Vik and farmland.
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- Farmland of Vik.
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- Municiple of Vik, in Sogn Fjordane, Norway.
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- A viking settlement on the way to Vik.
Italian Winemaking Lineage
Leah’s maternal great-grandfather, Pasquale Stravino, left his home in Caserta, Italia in the early 1900s to follow his dreams to establish himself as a prominent businessman in America. He started his distribution and Italian grocer business in Allentown, Pennsylvania where he imported Italian meats, cheeses, olive oil and yes – wine!
Pasquale was a descendent of Marchese Piero Stravino, a baron and landowner in Montefalcone in Caserta, Italia (in the Campania region). Wines from Marchese Stravino were in production beginning in the mid 1700s.
Stravino Family in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. Great-grandparents Pasquale and Filomena with my grandmother, Alvira, in between them.
Stravino Heritage in Caserta, Italia
Former marketing card for Marchese Stravino wines by Cive Imports in Boston, MA.
Vineyards in Montefalcone.
