(NB. This post was written while flying to
Australia. I couldn’t post it until I
returned!)
A few posts ago I talked about the Jorgensens
and their rebellious daughter. I must
admit I was a little worried that Reid Jorgenson, their grandson, would read it
and be offended. Quite the opposite,
this week I got a response from him in email correcting some of the mistakes
I’d made about the family and giving us some more insight into the
Jorgensens.
Reid wrote:
I have to correct some
info:
My Grandparents, Arthur and Lona
Jorgensen, had four children, not two. Their names were Gordon, Reid
(Sr.), Elizabeth (Betty) and Jean.
The youngest, Jean, would have
been the rebel...I never knew of the wine stash, but my Grandparents did keep
Sherry in the house, which they would break out (occasionally, not
always) when close friends would come out from town for a visit.
Jean lived at the house, for a
time, in parts of 1945-46. The pilots (student pilots, really) were my Mother
and Father (Reid (Sr.) Jorgensen and Virginia Jorgensen. They would take
lessons at the airfield just as you leave New Paltz and head for Springtown Rd.
I did not know that Jean "hung out" there, but since she later
married a big-time jet fighter pilot, perhaps that sparked her interest in the
field of aviation. She would have been 22 in 1945.
The Benjamin family name I
remember (now that you've mentioned them), but not anything
beyond that. My grandparents used to buy eggs from a chicken farm on
Springtown, but I don't remember the name of the family who ran it. It could
have been the Benjamin's or (another family name comes to mind) the
Kurtz's.
A little additional history:
The two bedrooms on the right of the
house (upstairs, of course) were the daughter's rooms. Betty's was on the left
and Jean's was on the right. The two rooms that your master bedroom has
replaced were the son's rooms - Gordon's on the left and Reid's on the right (as
one looks at the back vegetable garden).
I hope this finds you well and thanks
for maintaining your "posts".
Sincerely,
Reid Jorgensen
Thank you so much Reid. I love hearing about the house and its
previous occupants. I suspect the name of the other family on Springtown Road was Deitz. The Deitz family is further
down the road and they plough our drive when the snow is heavy. There seems to be quite a few generations
living on the street still.
Progress on the house continues. The
plasterers have finished all the rooms except the kitchen and the master
bedroom that require millwork before they can plaster.
The Mill workers have been hard at work too.
The bookcases are fully installed in the library and the fireplace surround has
been promised this week.
Daniel and I have taken over the upstairs of the
house. We have taken up the floor covering and
vacuumed the dust. Upstairs is now fully
livable. We have moved the airbed into
the master bedroom and the whole thing feels like it’s coming together. The sinks and taps go into the bathroom this
week too and hopefully that will mean we won’t have to keep leaning over the
bath for running water. Our friends Jane, Allison and Ken are all
coming to visit next weekend (those brave adventurers). Our very first guests post the
renovation… Now, where was that
visitor’s book?
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