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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.