Lauritz Jørgensen ²

   Other names for Lauritz were Lauretz Johnson, Lauritz Johnson ⁴ and Louis Johnson.

  Research Notes:

Name Lauritz Johnson from published obituary of John J. Johnson d. 1929. First and last name may not have been Lauritz Johnson originally. Some family oral traditions hold that the name was originally Jorgensen. The death certificate of his son J. J. Johnson gives his name, probably provided by his grandson William J. Johnson, as "Lauretz Johnson."

Mark Johnson (May 2012) has a good amount of information about the family of a Lauritz and Caroline Johnson, who lived in Gibson City, Illinois after immigrating to the United States in 1880. It is likely that those persons are this same family. That family was from Schleswig-Holstein, which makes sense, as there is some confusion about Denmark vs. Germany, and the town of Bov (Bau) in which John J. Johnson was born is in Schleswig, which changed hands over the years. The 1910 U.S. census shows J. J. Johnson immigrating in 1881.

U.S. Census records indicate that Lauritz and Caroline had 12 children.
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Parents of a Lauritz Jorgensen baptized on 26 Jun 1831 in Svenstrup were Jorgen Christensen and Helene Nissen.

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Denmark Burials, 1640-1917 (FamilySearch.org) yields another, yet less likely, possibility:
Lauritz Johann Johannsen
b.
d. 7 Jan 1870 in Ketting, Sonderborg, Denmark
Buried 13 Jan 1870
Father Gustav Johann Johannsen
Mother Anne Larsdatter/Larsdotter

  Noted events in his life were:

• Emigrated: from Denmark to the United States, 1881, <Illinois>, United States. According to the obituary of John Jacob Johnson, the family came to the United States in 1881, as does the 1910 U.S. Census. Other sources say it was 1880. (e.g., the 1900 census). The obituary says they "settled near Gilmore City, Illinois." Gilmore City is in Iowa.

However, a Lauritz Johnson and wife Caroline Casper settled in Gibson City, Illinois, having emigrated in 1880. It is possible that the obituary got the story slightly wrong. Descendants of that family believe that the family was originally from the Schleswig-Holstein region, which adjoins Denmark on the south. This event was shared with Anna Dorothea Caroline Caspersen.

Lauritz married Anna Dorothea Caroline Caspersen, daughter of Johann Jacob Caspersen and Carolina Wilhelmine Beck, on 28 May 1854 in Bov, Åbenrå, Sønderjylland, Denmark.¹ (Anna Dorothea Caroline Caspersen was born <Jul 1835> in <Holstein>, Germany <Denmark>, christened on 9 Aug 1835 in Bov (Bau), Schlesvig, Denmark ⁵ and died aft <1910> in <Humboldt, Iowa>, United States.)

  Marriage Notes:

Mark Johnson has found evidence that Anna Dorothea Caroline Caspersen, born July 1835, christened 9 Aug 1835 in Bov, Flensborg, Schlesvig, Denmark, married Lauritz Jorgensen, b. 1831, on 28 May 1854 in Bov, Schlesvig, Denmark. We are making the assumption that this is the same couple.