Biographies from Historical and Biographical Annals by Morton Montgomery

TALLEY,
JAMES F.

p. 1327

Surnames: TALLEY, FREY, LINK, HAAS, MILLER, LOOSE, SHOCK

James F. Talley, president of the First National Bank of Bernville,
Pa., and one of the ablest young business men of Penn township,
whose rise to the front rank in commercial and financial circles
has been little short of phenomenal, was born Aug. 8, 1870, in Pike
township, Berks county, Pa., son. of Jacob H. and Caroline (Frey)
Talley.

The great-grandfather of James F. Talley came
from England to the United States and first settled in Maryland,
whence he went to Oley township, Berks county, and spent the
remainder of his life in farming. His son, Wister, the grandfather
of James F., was but a lad when brought to Oley township, and he
was reared to the life of a farmer, an occupation which he followed
all of his life, owning an eighty-acre tract near the Oley Furnace.
He died at the home of his only daughter, Mrs. Simon Link, in
Ruscombmanor township. Wister Talley married a Miss Haas, a member
of an old and honored family of Oley township, and they had two
children: Mary, who married Simon Link; and Jacob H.

Jacob H. Talley was born in Oley township, and
for many years was a well-known educator, teaching seventeen terms
in Oley, Pike and Rockland townships, and being for fifteen years a
justice of the peace in Pike township. He is now engaged in
agricultural pursuits in Ruscombmanor township. Jacob H. Talley
married Caroline Frey, daughter of David Frey, and to them there
were born three children: Amon, at home; Levi, of Honeybrook,
Chester county; and James F.

James F. Talley attended the public schools of
his native township, the old historical Oley Academy, the Keystone
State Normal school at Kutztown, and Muhlenberg College. Then he
taught school for three terms in Pike township, after which he took
a course in the American Business College at Allentown, Pa., and
then located in Bernville, entering the employ of A. F. Shock, for
whom he clerked for four years. He next became a clerk for J. B.
Miller, at Bernville, with whom he remained one year, and from
there went to New Berlinville, Colebrookdale township, where he
successfully conducted a store and hotel for five years. In 1903 he
bought the store of J. B. Miller at Bernville, an old established
business in this part of the county, the building being situated on
Main street, nearly opposite the bank, a structure 100 x 36 feet.
Mr. Talley was active in the organization of the bank, and his
ability was recognized by his election to the office of president,
which he ably fills, being the youngest bank president in the
county if not in the state. The bank, which is on a sound financial
basis, was organized July 10, 1907, chartered two days later and
opened for business Oct. 15, 1907. Mr. Talley is a Democrat in
politics, and for three years served as school director of
Bernville.

In 1897, Mr. Talley was married to Miss Ella
Loose, the estimable daughter of Jonathan and Mary (Shock) Loose.

TAYLOR, SAMUEL BANKS (M.
D.)

p. 1307

Surnames: TAYLOR, KURTZ, ADAMS, FICKES, NIEDHAUK

Samuel Banks Taylor, M. D., a prominent physician and leading
citizen of Reading, Pa., who has been identified with the interests
of the city since 1895, was born in 1868 in Tuscarora township,
near Millerstown, Perry county, Pa., son of George D. and Frances
(Kurtz) Taylor.

George D. Taylor, who was for many years engaged
as a farmer and lumberman in Perry county, is now devoting his time
to fruit culture. His first wife, Frances Kurtz, died March 4,
1880, aged thirty-seven years, the mother of six children, three of
whom are now living: Elizabeth G., m. to John F. Adams, principal
of the Millersburg, Dauphin county, schools; Louisa, m. to J. Frank
Fickes; and S. Banks. W. Sherman, a son of the first marriage, died
May 16, 1907. Mr. Taylor m. (second) Mary E. Kurtz, sister of his
first wife, who died March 29, 1890, without issue.

S. Banks Taylor received his preliminary
education in the common schools of Perry county, also attending the
Lock Haven State Normal school. He read medicine with his uncle,
Dr. Samuel L. Kurtz, and entered Jefferson Medical College in 1892,
graduating therefrom in 1895. He immediately settled in the
practice of his profession in Reading, where he has won public
confidence and esteem and built up a large practice. The Doctor is
a member of the city, county, State and American Medical
associations, and keeps himself well posted in the new discoveries
and inventions in the profession by subscription to numerous
medical periodicals.

In 1902 Dr. Taylor married Edith E. Niedhauk, a
native of Lancaster county, and three children have been born to
this union: Ethel N., George D., Jr., and Samuel B., Jr. In
political matters Dr. Taylor is a Republican.

TEEL, WARREN
F. (REV.)

p. 383

Surnames: TEEL, McFALL, WETZEL, LICK, BOWMAN, BREYFOGEL, McHOSE,
HATZ, YOUNG, DUBS, MALLORY

Rev. Warren F. Teel, Ph. M., principal of the Schuylkill Seminary,
Reading, has acquired a high reputation by his efficient services
at the head of that institution. His executive ability has been
called into constant use as well as his qualities as an educator,
for he has developed the Seminary up to its present condition from
a most unpromising state, a work requiring a combination of
business faculty and educative talents somewhat rare among
professional men.

Mr. Teel was born April 11, 1868, at Martin’s
Creek, in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, and comes of German and
Scotch-Irish ancestry, being a son of Amos and Anna (McFall) Teel,
the latter now deceased. The father was formerly a farmer, and is
now living at Easton, Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Teel had the following
family: Warren F.; Forrest, who is a produce merchant of Easton,
Pa.; Harry C., who is with the Midvale Steel Company, of
Philadelphia; Frank, a machinist, engaged in the Bethlehem Steel
Works; and Marion, likewise a machinist at the same works.

Warren F. Teel is practically a self-made and
self-educated man. He learned the miller’s trade with Enos Wetzel
and then formed a partnership with his maternal uncle, Thomas J.
McFall, at Flicksville, Pa., and milled successfully for nine
years. But he was ambitious to enter the ministry, and with that
end in view lost no opportunity for improving his literary
acquirements. He pursued his collegiate course at the North Western
College, Naperville, Ill., and also took a course at the Columbia
School of Oratory, Chicago. Subsequently he did special work at
Cornell and Harvard. Meantime he had done considerable practical
work, especially in the temperance cause, in which he has been
interested from early manhood. While a student at North Western he
gave notable service on the lecture platform in the interest of the
Young People’s Christian Temperance Union, meeting with unusual
success, and receiving favorable comments from the public and the
press as a forceful and pleasing speaker. He has never lost his
interest in this line of Christian work and for four years was
president of the Young People’s Alliance of the East Pennsylvania
Conference Branch. After completing his college course Mr. Teel was
located at Pen Argyl, Pa., where he had charge of the Bethany
Evangelical Church for eight months, until called to his present
work. At the annual meeting of the East Pennsylvania Conference of
the Evangelical Association, held at Norristown, Pa., in February
1901, be was elected by the board of trustees of Schuylkill
Seminary, which is under the patronage of the Conference, to the
principalship of the institution, then located at Fredericksburg,
Pa. He accepted with the courage of a devoted Christian worker
having faith in his ability to cope successfully with decidedly
unfavorable prospects. The Seminary had been founded in Reading in
1881, and in the year 1886, under the influence of Col. John H.
Lick, was removed to Fredericksburg. When Mr. Teel took charge the
attendance had fallen to seven students. Its growth since then has
been due directly to his efforts, and the skilful manner in which
he has handled its affairs has won him commendation from all
quarters. Within a year and a half the attendance had increased to
sixty, and the year after he became the head of the Seminary it was
deemed advisable to seek new accommodations, to meet the demands of
increased patronage and steady development. In the spring of 1902,
Mr. Teel and Prof. Bowman came to Reading, and with two others made
a visit to Selwyn Hall, to ascertain its desirability as a new
location for the Seminary. A favorable report was made, and
consequently a meeting of ministers of the East Pennsylvania
Conference was called by Bishop S. C. Breyfogel, to convene at the
Hall grounds, for action upon the removal of the Seminary to
Reading. It was decided to acquire the property for the permanent
quarters of the school, and the purchase was made in July 1902.
Work was at once begun, repairing and remodeling, and Mr. Teel
succeeded in securing $10,000 from the business men of Reading to
encourage the work. The Seminary was opened in Reading Sept. 15,
1902, and has been in a prosperous condition ever since. During
1906-07 the students numbered 120, the class of 1907 consisting of
twenty graduates. The equipment and accommodations have been added
to until they compare favorably with those of any similar
institution in Pennsylvania. The location, at the corner of
Thirteenth and Exeter streets, in the northeastern part of Reading,
is particularly beautiful, the grounds lying on the western slope
of Mount Penn, commanding a fine view of the city and surrounding
landscape. In the original building, formerly known as Selwyn Hall,
a spacious structure of massive Colonial architecture, surrounded
by stately trees, are the office, library, class-rooms, dining-hall
and dormitory for ladies. The other two buildings are an imposing
chapel, with dormitories for the men, and a fine modern gymnasium,
which was enlarged in 1907, an additional story having been
erected. The dormitories are spacious and comfortable, well
ventilated, lighted with electricity and heated with steam, and all
the buildings have been made attractive within and without, repairs
and additions being attended to promptly under the efficient system
which now prevails. An endowment of $50,000, gathered during the
years 1906 and 1907, has been convincing proof of the confidence
placed in Mr. Teel by the friends of the Seminary, and has enabled
him to carry out some of his most cherished plans for the continued
welfare of the school. Its affairs at present are established upon
a liberal and substantial basis.

The special advantages afforded by the
Schuylkill Seminary as a college preparatory school are worthy of
note. The courses in Latin and Greek, as well as in other branches,
fit students for not only the freshman but also the advanced
classes of the best colleges in the country. The courses in history
and literature are comprehensive and thorough, the laboratory is
well equipped, and all the work done is of the most practical
character, either as a preparation for higher studies or as an
accession to general knowledge. The faculty is composed of eleven
instructors, men and women of character and purpose, who are not
only fitted to teach the branches of which they have made special
study but also to direct the work and ambitions of their pupils
into the most useful channels. The vicepresident, Rev. Edwin D.
McHose, Ph. M., is instructor in science and the higher
mathematics; he makes a specialty of botany and has written
articles on this subject. Rev. Charles B. Bowman, A. M., B. D.,
previously mentioned, has been associated with Mr. Teel from the
beginning of his labors in the Seminary; he is a graduate of Drew
Seminary and is serving as principal of the theological department
and professor of Greek and theology. The department of English is
in charge of Ida L. Hatz, Ph. M., and the department of music is
presided over by Amy M. Young, a graduate of the Philadelphia
Academy of Music.

Mr. Teel was ordained a regular minister of the
Evangelical Church in 1902, and he is as successful in religious
work as in educational circles. He has frequent pulpit calls, from
his own and other denominations, and is also in demand as a speaker
at Y. M. C. A. gatherings. His constant association and contact
with young people gives him steady inspiration for such work, in
which he is particularly strong, and in which his personal
character has proved to be a factor of inestimable value for good.
His influence is counted upon as much as the actual work which he
accomplishes. He has traveled extensively in this country, having
visited thirty States of the Union, and thus has widened his
knowledge of the conditions affecting his work, acquiring material
for new thought as well as broad-ening the early foundations of his
labors. During the six years of his connection with the Schuylkill
Seminary he has won notable honors in every department of his work,
as an able manager, an efficient instructor and a devoted Christian
laborer. His practical ideas have won the con-fidence and support
of the best element in the community, while his earnest labors to
bring the Seminary up to the highest standards as an educational
and Christian institu-tion have met with the universal approval of
patrons and the denomination under whose auspices it is conducted.
Mr. Teel is an active force in the Evangelical Association- and he
has been elected delegate to the General Conference this year
(1907).

On Aug. 15, 1906, Rev. Mr. Teel was married to
Miss Bessie J. Dubs, of Rebersburg, Pa., a former instructor of
music in the Schuylkill Seminary, located at Fredericksburg, Pa.
Mrs. Teel was born at Freeport, Ill., daughter of Charles and Helen
(Mallory) Dubs.

TEMPLIN,
JAMES

p. 1562

Surnames: TEMPLIN, YODER, ROGERS, GILMER, SENDERLING

James Templin, a cabinet maker of Reading, who for some years prior
to his death, lived retired at No. 351 South Fifth street, was born
in Robeson township, Berks county, Jan. 5, 1834, son of Isaac and
Mary (Yoder) Templin. He learned the cabinet making trade in 1871,
and was employed at the Philadelphia & Reading railroad shops
as carpenter and cabinet -maker until 1898, when he retired. He
made his home with his sister and brother, William. Mr. Templin was
loyal to the principles of the Republican party. His religious
faith was that of the Baptist Church, and he was fraternally
connected with Birdsboro Lodge, No. 479, F. & A. M.

Levi Templin, grandfather of James, was an early
settler of Caernarvon township, where he operated a farm and where
he died in 1813, in the prime of life, from the effects of an
injury received in a runaway. His wife died in 1840, aged
seventy-two years. They were the parents of two children, namely:
Isaac; and Charlotte, who died in young womanhood. Politically Levi
Templin was a Whig.

Isaac Templin was born in Caernarvon township,
where he received his literary education and learned the
shoemaker’s trade. He later turned his attention to farming,
carrying on that occupation in Robeson township until within four
years of his death, when he removed to Reading, and died in 1871.
Isaac Templin married Mary Yoder, daughter of Daniel Yoder, and
seven children were born to this union, as follows: Caroline, who
died in 1900; Julia, m. to Joseph Rogers; Eveline, m. to Robert A.
Gilmer; James; Anna, deceased; William; and Mary E., m. to William
H. Send-erling. Mr. Templin was a consistent member of St. Mary’s
Episcopal Church, in the faith of which Mrs. Templin died in 1869,
aged about sixty-eight years.

William Templin, son of Isaac and Mary, was
employed as a conductor in the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad
from 1863 until 1885, since which latter date he has been engaged
very successfully in contracting and building. Mr. William Templin
is very highly esteemed in his community, as a good, useful
citizen. He is a member of Reading Lodge No. 62, F. & A. M.,
Reading; Royal Arch Chapter, No. 152, Reading; Reading Commandery,
No. 42, K. T.; and Rajah Temple. A. A. O. N. M. S. He belongs to
Christ Episcopal Church, and in politics is a stanch Republican.

THIRY, ODEN
F.

p. 1224

Surnames: THIRY, TOMLINSON, YEAGER, CRESSMAN

Oden F. Thiry, whose dyeing and cleaning establishment is situated
at No. 43 North Ninth street, Reading, Pa., was born May 28, 1880,
at Philadelphia, Pa., son of Francis X. and Victorine (Tomlinson)
Thiry,

Francis X. Thiry was born in April 1851, at
Lorraine, France, and when eighteen years of age came to America,
locating at Philadelphia, where he remained until 1884, and in this
year came to Reading, and engaged in the dyeing and cleaning
business until his retirement from active life in 1899. He now
lives at Stony Creek, Berks county. He is a member of St. Paul’s
Catholic Church, of Reading. Mr. Thiry was married at Philadelphia,
to Victorine Tomlinson, born in Lorraine, France. Two children were
born of this union: Oden F., and Albert M., also of Reading.

Oden F. Thiry was four years of age when he came
to Reading with his parents, and his education was secured in the
public schools and Prof. D. B. Brunner’s Business Academy, from
which he was graduated. On June 28, 1898, he enlisted in Company G,
Ninth Regiment, for service in the Spanish-American war, was made
company clerk, and was mustered out of service, in 1898. In 1899 he
started in the cleaning and dyeing of clothing at his present
stand, and here he has continued to the present time, his
gratifying success testifying to his business ability. He is a
member of St. Paul’s Catholic Church, and fraternally he is
connected with the Knights of Columbus, and Aerie No. 66, F. O. E.
In politics he is an active Democrat, being a candidate for common
councilman of the Eighth ward of the city. Tall and of athletic
build, Mr. Thiry has a commanding presence, while in his manner he
is affable and courteous, and probably there is no more popular
young man in that section of the city.

On Jan. 29, 1903, Mr. Thiry was married to
Hattie, daughter of James and Laura (Yeager) Cressman, of Reading.
Mr. and Mrs. Thiry have had one son: Richard Francis.

THOMPSON, JOHN S.

p. 370

Surnames: THOMPSON, INGHAM, GOODMAN, RADER

John S. Thompson is recognized as one of the most progressive
business men and public-spirited citizens of Reading, to whose
material and civic advancement he has contributed through his
business associations and service in official capacity, and he
enjoys the most unequivocal popularity in the city which has been
his home from boyhood days. He is a scion of one of the well-known
families of the State, and has held positions of distinctive public
trust in Reading, including those of postmaster and member of the
city council and school board.

Mr. Thompson was born in Jonestown, Lebanon
county, Pa., Feb. 15, 1857, and is a son of Nicholas and Harriet
(Ingham) Thompson, the former of whom was born in Ireland, and the
latter in Pennsylvania, being the daughter of the late Samuel
Ingham, who was a representative business man and influential
citizen of Myerstown, Lebanon county, where he was a successful
contractor and builder, and where he was also engaged in the
undertaking business. Nicholas Thompson came to this country with
his parents when an infant. For a number of years he held the
position of superintendent of the Union Canal. Later he became
superintendent of the sheet-iron mill in this city, having been an
ironmaster by trade. He was a man of much ability and was a citizen
who ever commanded the high regard of his fellowmen. Both he and
his wife continued to reside in Reading until their deaths, and
John S. Thompson was their only child.

John S. Thompson secured his early educational
discipline in the public schools of Lebanon and Berks counties, and
supplemented this by a special course in Brunner & Farr’s
Business College, in Reading. He initiated his business career by
taking a position in the offices of the Union Canal Company, of
which his father was then superintendent, and he was thus engaged
for a period of three years. He then entered upon an apprenticeship
at the trade of paper making, to which he continued to devote his
attention for five years, after which he was engaged for a time in
the butchering business in company with his father-in-law. In 1888
Mr. Thompson was appointed assistant postmaster of Reading under
Calvin Goodman, and he retained this incumbency until 1891. At the
conclusion of this service he became a special agent for the
Reading Fire Insurance Company, with whom he was identified for
four years, at the expiration of which time, in 1895, President
Cleveland conferred upon him the appointment of postmaster at
Reading, an office for which he was specially well equipped, by
reason of his marked executive ability and his former service in
the postoffice. He gave a most excellent administration and gained
the unqualified commendation of the postal department and of the
local public. He retired from office in 1899 and resumed his
connection with the Reading Fire Insurance Company. One year later,
however, there came a demand for his services in the office which
he now holds, that of secretary and treasurer of the Colonial Trust
Company, of Reading. The company was organized in 1900 and he has
held his present office from the initiation of its business, which
has grown to be one of wide scope and importance. The company has
erected a magnificent nine-story office building, the finest
business block in the city, and in the same are located its finely
appointed counting room and offices. The administrative ability and
personal popularity of Mr. Thompson have been recognized factors in
promoting the up-building of the business of the company, which is
incorporated with a capital stock of $250,000.

In politics Mr. Thompson is a stalwart supporter
of the cause of the Democratic party, and for four years he
represented the Sixth ward in the city council, simultaneously
serving as a member of the board of education. He is affiliated
with the Masonic fraternity, in which he has attained to the Knight
Templar degree, holding membership in the local lodge, chapter and
commandery. He is also identified with the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, and he and his wife hold membership in the First Baptist
Church.

On March 9,1878, Mr. Thompson married Miss Sarah
A. Rader, daughter of the late George Rader, a representative
business man of Reading, and to this union have been born two sons:
George N., who is teller in the offices of the Colonial Trust
Company, of Reading; and John P., who is an expert chemist, being
employed as such in the Laboratories of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company, Altoona, Pennsylvania.

THOMPSON, WILLIAM D.

p.
1213

Surnames: THOMPSON, DOUGLASS, RAUCH

William D. Thompson was born in the city of Reading, Pa., Sept. 28,
1863, at No. 39 Hamilton street, that city, and has resided on the
same premises all his life with the exception of one and one-half
years. He is the son of William and Barbara (Douglass) Thompson,
both of New York City.

The parents moved to Reading in 1861, and the
father served in the Civil war.

William D. Thompson received his early training
in the public schools of his native city, later attending school at
a local business college. He was apprenticed at the Scott Works,
Reading Iron Company, and learned the trade of a machinery moulder.
After working at this trade for several years he entered the
grocery business, and followed that for fourteen years. In politics
he is a Democrat and has served in his district as ward chairman.
For the past seven years he has been employed as Chief clerk to the
Board of City Assessors and Building Inspector. He has been a
volunteer fireman since his maturity, having served as president of
the Keystone Hook and Ladder Company, No. 1, for a number of years,
and the Firemen’s Union for two terms.

On April 25, 1886, he married, at Lebanon, Pa.,
Kathryn, S. Rauch, of that city. Mr. Thompson is well and favorably
known throughout the city and county.

THORNBURG, WILLIAM C.

p.
1515

Surnames: THORNBURG, SCHOENER, ALLISON, WELSH, MASON, FLYNN, SANDT

William C. Thornburg, of Reading, at present serving in the common
council as alderman from the Eighth ward, is a son of Thomas L.
Thornburg. He is a descendant in the fifth generation from:

(I) George Thornburg, a native of Dauphin county, Pa., who was a
farmer by occupation. He died at Hagerstown, Md., where he is
buried. His children were: Solomon, George, Thomas, Joseph.

(II) Solomon Thornburg, son of George, born Aug. 2, 1796, died Aug.
7, 1874, and is buried at Pottsville, Pa. He was a patternmaker by
trade. He married Matilda Schoener, daughter of Jacob Schoener, of
Womelsdorf, and they had children as follows: Thomas O. is
mentioned below; Catharine married Robert Allison; Sarah (deceased)
married Richard Welsh; Robert, who is engaged as a machinist at the
Philadelphia & Reading railway shops in Reading, married
Charity Welsh.

(III) Thomas O. Thornburg was a blacksmith by trade and well known
in that capacity, having for many years followed his trade at
Mechanicsburg and Lisburn, in Cumberland county, Pa. Finally
selling out that business, he took up farming. He died in Reading
in 1888, at the age of sixty-six years. He is buried in the Charles
Evans cemetery. His wife, Elizabeth Mason, was of Welsh descent.
She now resides at Philadelphia with her son Frank. To Thomas O.
and Elizabeth (Mason) Thornburg were born children as follows:
Thomas L.; Daniel C.; Martha; George; Mary; Katie; Carrie; Frank;
and three who are deceased.

(IV) Thomas L. Thornburg, born Jan. 12, 1853, at Mauch Chunk,
Carbon Co., Pa., attended school in Cumberland county, and learned
cigar-making at Mechanicsburg. He then went to Port Carbon,
Schuylkill county for a time, was later at Easton for a brief
period, and then returned to Port Carbon, where he engaged in
business, continuing same for three years. He then went to Easton
again, then back again to Port Carbon, was later at Shenandoah and
then moved to Womelsdorf, Berks county. In 1885 he settled in
Reading, where he is still engaged at his trade. He is a member of
the Reformed Church and a Republi-can in politics.

On Dec. 25, 1873, while at Easton, Pa., Mr.
Thornburg married Ella Flynn, daughter of Bertolette Flynn, and
they have had the following named children: William C.; Harry O.,
chief clerk to the Berks county commissioners; Edward G., a
cigar-maker; Robert D.; Thomas L., Jr.; Mamie, and Ethel–all
living; Lizzie, Maude and Beulah are deceased.

(V) William C. Thornburg was born in October 1874, in Port Carbon,
Schuylkill county, Pa., and was eleven years old when his parents
came to Reading. Here he completed his education in the public
schools, and he has followed his father’s trade, being a
cigar-maker by calling.

In the fall of 1908 Mr. Thornburg became
alderman of the Eighth ward, to fill the unexpired term of Eugene
I. Sandt, whose office on North Seventh street he has since
occupied. He has lived in the ward for sixteen years, and in the
Second precinct for a dozen years, and he was the unopposed
Republican candidate at the spring election for the full five-year
term, which commenced May 1, 1909. It is worthy of note that he is
the youngest member of the common council, and though this is the
first time he has aspired to office he has long been one of the
most active local workers in the Republican party, with which he
has been identified since attaining his majority. He was a delegate
to city and county conventions under the old system.

THUN,
FERDINAND

p. 432

Surnames: THUN, JANSSEN, GREBE, WESTKOTT

Ferdinand Thun, manufacturer of textile machinery and president of
the borough council in Wyomissing, was born in Barmen, Germany,
Feb. 14, 1866. He was educated in the schools of that place and
graduated from the technical high school in 1883. He then entered
the office of a large establishment which manufactured braids,
laces and dress trimmings; this constituting one of the principal
industries of Barmen, for many years a famous manufacturing center
of Germany and continued there three years, when he determined to
visit America. He proceeded to Stony Creek Mills, Berks county,
Pa., reaching the place in September 1886, and secured employment
as bookkeeper in the office of Louis Kraemer & Co., the senior
proprietor being an old friend of his father. While so employed he
devoted his spare time to the study of the English language. After
remaining there until the spring of 1888, and having successfully
acquired the English tongue, he returned to Barmen, but was at home
only a short time when he decided to locate permanently in the
United States, and there to engage in the manufacturing business.
He directed his special attention to the manufacture of braids,
ribbons, etc., until the following February, by which time he had
familiarized himself with the practical side of this business. He
then went to New York and was employed in a leading braid factory
for three years, serving for a considerable part of the time as
superintendent of the works. While there be met a young man, also
from Barmen, Henry K. Janssen, an expert machinist in the
manufacture of textile machinery, and they agreed to form a
partnership in that branch of business and locate at Reading, Pa.,
where they had friends, and where the prospects of success appeared
to them very encouraging. They accordingly went to Reading in 1892,
and in a modest way started the new enterprise at Nos. 220-222
Cedar street, employing only a few hands. In four years they had
become so successful that they required a larger place with greater
facilities for increasing development. They selected a tract of
several acres of land at Wyomissing, along the Lebanon Valley
railroad, where they erected a factory capable of accommodating 100
hands, and theirs was the first industrial establishment in that
place. In 1900 they organized and incorporated the company under
the name of the Textile Machine Company, with Mr. Janssen as
president, and Mr. Thun as secretary and treasurer, which positions
they have held until now. In December 1906, this company employed
300 hands, a remarkable increase in ten years, showing the skill,
energy and success of its projectors. Mr. Thun was instrumental in
establishing at the same place the Berkshire Knitting Mills and the
Narrow Fabric Company, two new industries which employ nearly 500
hands.

In 1902 Mr. Thun started the Wyomissing Suburban
Building and Loan Association, and in 1906 the Wyomissing Building
and Savings Association, and he has served as treasurer of both
organizations until the present time. With these large and
promising enterprises at Wyomissing he naturally became very active
in the movement for establishing a borough, and upon its
incorporation in 1906 he was elected one of the first councilmen,
and in the organization of the council was chosen president.

In 1896 Mr. Thun married Anna M. Grebe, daughter
of Louis Grebe, of Stony Creek Mills, by whom he has six children:
Anna, Margaret, Wilma, Hildegard, Ferdinand and Louis.

Ferdinand Thun, father of Mr. Thun, is a native
of Barmen, born in 1830. He learned the foundry business there,
which he followed successfully for forty years, and he has been
living in retirement since 1890. He married Julia Westkott, of
Barmen, who died there in 1881, aged forty-two years. They had four
children: Ferdinand; Emil, who succeeded his father in the foundry
business; Mary; and Emilie. The last three are living at home in
Barmen.