Born on 10 June 1833 at Meilgård farm to Holger Magarus la Cour (no. 51) and Edele Charlotte la Cour, Jørgen was enrolled in the Aarhus cathedral school in 1844 and graduated from there at the upper secondary level in 1853. After receiving a master’s degree in theology in 1860, he worked as a private tutor: in 1860 in the household of Herlufsholm’s estate bailiff, a man named Kjær; in 1861 in the Petersen household at Ødemark farm; from 1862 to 1866 in the Neergård household at Førslev manor; and from 1866 to 1868 in the household of Count Moltke at Nørager manor. Jørgen was appointed curate* in Helsinge and nearby Valby in northern Zealand in 1869 and then pastor for Torup, Kvols and Borris in 1873.
Jørgen married Adelaide Charlotte Franzisca Giovannia la Cour (née Huth) on 6 May 1874 in Copenhagen. Adelaide was born on 12 November 1844 in Copenhagen, and her parents were Captain Frederik Johannes Hermann Huth and Adolphine Eleonora Emilie Møller. At nine years of age, she moved with her family to Rendsburg in Germany and then to Odense, Denmark. After six years in Odense, Adelaide and her family moved to Copenhagen and then Helsingør. In 1869, she became part of the household of her uncle Carl G. la Cour (no. 54) in Helsinge, with whom she travelled in 1872 to Italy, where her father had been born. She died on 25 February 1886 in Copenhagen. Jørgen, who had been made pastor for Fjellerup and Glæsborg in 1878, while Adelaide was still alive, received after her death what turned out to be his last appointment, as pastor for Hårslev and Tingjellinge, in 1889. He himself died in Hårslev on 25 February 1901 of a highly aggressive liver cancer. The Randers county newspaper wrote on 27 February 1901: “Until a few months ago, the deceased was hale and hearty for his age and managed his office with undiminished vitality until he was quite suddenly stricken by the incurable disease that has now put an end to his life.” At Jørgen’s funeral, the Reverend Scharling said, among other things, that in Jørgen people encountered “the bright, happy, cheerful disposition and the honesty and sincerity that forms the base of our national character”. The Reverend Smith said that Jørgen’s preaching was characterised by his kind and gentle disposition, and that was why he was a happy man, especially in his ministry. (No children.)
