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Jorgen Jorgensen was born in Horsens, Jutland, Denmark, on November 25, 1856. His grandfather died shortly before he was born. His family leased a farm, raised and sold cattle, and owned a bakery in Horsens. His mother died of diphtheria in 1864, as had two of his young sisters before her. He also had three younger brothers, one of which became a lawyer, and another the post-master in Knebel on Mols. In this same year Jorgensen witnessed the German invasion of Denmark. They stole linens from his house and bread from his father's bakery. His father re-married in 1866. As a child he attended "citizens school" and spent his summers with his grandmother in the country. On winter break he helped at the family bakery. Upon his graduation in 1870 he helped out on the farm. In 1878 he left to attend Gedved high school. That same year his father sold the farm and leased the bakery, moving to Ostbirk to lease a bigger farm. In 1883 his step-mother died in childbirth. That winter he helped build a meetinghouse that became the local high school, and acted in a play. In 1885 he left home to find employment. His first job did not work out, but then he was hired by a man named Burchardi to be a dairy creamery operator on Birkengaad at Kalundborg. Here his job was to oversee the milking of 160 diary cows, pack butter, and butcher some calves and feed the rest. At the creamery Mr. Jorgensen met his wife, Kristiane, and they married on October 15, 1885. They were hired at Bronderi Farm, and here they had their first two children. The oldest was a boy who died at three weeks old in 1886, the second was a daughter, Karen, who was born on November 16, 1887.

The family moved back to Horsens where Jorgen earned a living through heavy labor for low pay at a brewery. In 1889, Mr. Jorgensen joined the labor union at the brewery, and that winter they went on strike to protest low pay and poor working conditions. They were quickly replaced by management so Mr. Jorgensen was unemployed. Kristiane had a sister in Wisconsin whose husband, Kristen Andersen, had a good job there. The Jorgensens wrote them asking for a ticket to America, and received one in 1889. On November 26, 1889 the couples' second daughter, Laura was born. On May 20, 1890 the family sailed from Copenhagen on the "Norge". They arrived in Waupaca, Wisconsin on June 11, 1890. Mr. Jorgensen found work right away working with a Danish farmer for $16 a month plus room and board. He then found a job on the Railroad for $35 a month, but most of the work was in the summer, and he had to work several odd jobs in the winter. On Aug. 17, 1893 the couple's third daughter, Helga, was born. Mr. Jorgensen was always looking for his own land, and in 1894 he leased a forty acre farm with a creek, a meadow, some woods, and a shack, for $450 a year. He fixed up the shack, and cleared some of the woods, building a chimney and a barn out of logs. He had some cattle, some chickens, two horses, some hogs, and a wagon. He was able to grow sorghum for sugar, up to sixty-seven gallons a year. He also grew enough corn, potatoes, and clover to feed his family and have some left over to sell. His family continued to grow. On October 5, 1895 his son Otto was born; on May 27, 1898 his daughter Ester was born; on January 28, 1901, Marie was born; and on August 12, 1904, his twin daughters Thyra and Dagny (who was called Eli) were born. The Jorgensens' children could read Danish, and were taught English in school.

In 1900 Mr. Jorgensen bought more land, increasing his farm to one hundred and sixty acres. In 1905 he built a new barn. His farm was surrounded by other Danish immigrants, and they wanted to be in a community with other Danes. They were quite interested when E. F. Madsen called for farmers to move to his proposed colony in Dagmar in the extreme northeast corner of Montana, named after the Danish Queen Dagmar. This would be the first Danish colony in America. The land in Dagmar is smooth rolling prairies, barren and windswept lonely grassland, good for growing wheat. It had not been surveyed but the colonists could claim it by squatters' rights. In 1907 the pioneers went to pick out land, but this was difficult because it was all covered in snow. In the spring the Jorgensens moved to Dagmar, taking a freight car to Culbertson, and a wagon the rest of the way with a load of household goods, farm machinery, and domestic animals. E. F. Madsen was the leader of the community. He established a post office and schools, and also negotiated with the railroad to lower freight rates. The year before the colonists moved to Dagmar there had been a large prairie fire, so there was not much grass to graze the cattle. Drinking water was obtained by digging a hole by a creek that only ran after a big rain or the spring snow runoff. Most of the new settlers built sod houses because they were cheap and warm, but some rich people built wood houses with a shingled roof and a chimney. That first year the community formed a congregation, and a sod house was built to serve as a church and a school. In 1907 Mr. Jorgensen built a sod house, which the family lived in for four years. In 1909 a 24 x 50 foot wood meeting house was built by the community. That same year Mr. Jorgensen built a two story house of wood, sand, and cement, with a cellar, and a barn with a straw roof. He plowed four and a half acres with his two horses, sometimes borrowing two more from the neighbors, and raised seventy-nine bushels of wheat. In 1908 daughter Helga was crowned Queen Dagmar at the annual Christmas festival. In 1911 Mr. Jorgensen held a meeting to organize a ladies' aid society, and signed up twenty eight ladies to help serve the Church and community. In 1912 the family was ready to move into the new house with three-hundred and twenty acres. That same year the families two eldest daughters were married. Daughter Laura married an American, but died of appendicitis on Feb. 12, 1912. In 1913 the congregation (of the Lutheran Church) was divided into four districts, and Mr. Jorgensen was elected president of district one, serving for one year.

The community, reliant on the wheat crop to survive, was always at the peril of the weather and the price of grain. Mr. Jorgensen was the moving spirit behind the creation of the Farmers Elevator of reserve in, and the Farmers Cooperative Store of Dagmar in 1914, serving as the secretary for its first year. The Farmers Cooperative served as a general store for the community, as well as buying cream from the farmers to sell on the market. Stockholders of the company then shared in the profits. In 1914 the first midsummer festival was held in Dagmar, and the tradition has continued to this day. In 1916 a wood Church was built. In 1917 Otto Jorgensen was drafted to the army and sent to France, where he was wounded in the leg. He returned to Dagmar in 1919 and became an electrician. 1919 and 1920 were the driest years on record, and it was so dry no one could plant or plow. There was a lot of rain in 1921, but a heavy hailstorm beat down the wheat and ruined the crop. Other farmers, on hearing of the disaster, donated food and money, keeping the community from hardship. There were good harvests for the rest of the 1920's. In 1929 Mr. Jorgensen had surgery in the hospital, he was in poor health and had rheumatism. In 1930 he leased out his farm and moved to town. In 1931 he became the Church sexton, fireman, janitor, and librarian. In 1931 the colony celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary. Jorgen Jorgensen died in Dagmar, Montana, on Oct. 26, 1940. His wife survived him by nine years.