East Baton Rouge Parish
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Roy A. Thorgeson is recognized as one of the progressive young business men of
Baton Rouge, and as executive head of the Baton Rouge Welding and Boiler Works
he has developed one of the important industrial concerns of the capital city.
Mr. Thorgeson was born at Berwick, St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, March 27,
1892, and is a grandson of Gunder Thorgeson, who is now living retired at that
place. He was born and reared in Norway, the year of his birth having been 1842,
and he was in the prime of life when he came to the United States and
established his residence at Berwick, Louisiana, where he long owned and
operated a Shipyard and where he has lived virtually retired since the year
1919. Theodore Thorgeson, father of him whose name introduces this sketch, was
born in Norway, October 28, 1864, and died at Berwick, Louisiana December 8,
1908. He received his early education and business training in the land of his
birth and was a young man when he came to the United States and established his
residence at Galveston, Texas. He there became a successful poultry and in this
connection operated a boat between that city and Morgan City, Louisiana. After
establishing his home at Berwick, Louisiana, he became actively identified with
lumbering operations. He not only owned and operated saw mills but also live
dredges, and he built up a large and prosperous business, besides having secure
status as one of the honored and sterling Citizens of St. Mary Parish. He
espoused the cause of the democratic party upon becoming an American citizen,
was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and his religious
faith was that of the Lutheran Church. His wife, whose maiden name was Arvilla
Byrom, was born at Columbus, Texas, in October, 1870, and her death occurred at
Berwick, Louisiana, July 8, 1908, her husband having passed away on the 8th of
the following December. Torwald G., eldest of the children, is a civil engineer
and now resides in the State of Florida; Roy A., of this review, was the next in
order of birth ; Rudolph C., who is now an assistant foreman for the Standard
Oil Company of Louisiana at Baton Rouge, was a student at the University of
Louisiana when the nation entered the World war, and he there served as a member
of the Students' Army Training Corps; Huldah is the wife of Frederick Wehner, a
railroad roundhouse foreman at Del Rio, Texas; Thelma is the wife of Herman
Wehner, a brother of Frederick, and they likewise reside at Del Rio, her husband
being a locomotive fireman; and George H. is (1924) a student in the University
of Louisiana.
The public schools of Berwick afforded Roy A. Thorgeson his
preliminary education, and in 1911 he was graduated from the high school at
Morgan City, in his native parish. In the same year he entered the University of
Louisiana, and in this institution he was graduated as a member of the class of
1915 and with the degree of Bachelor of Science. Thereafter he held for five
years the position of foreman of the boiler shops of the Standard Oil Company of
Louisiana at Baton Rouge, and he then became associated with his present
partner, J. F. Yaun, in establishing the Baton Rouge Welding and Boiler Works,
the well-equipped plant of which is situated at 133 North Street. Here are the
best of modern facilities for the handling of all kinds of welding work and
general boiler repairing, and the progressive policies of the two principals
have given to the enterprise a substantial success.
Mr. Thorgeson pins
his political faith to the democratic party. He holds membership in the
Methodist Episcopal Church. South, while his wife is a member of the Catholic
Church. He is an active member of the Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce, and is
affiliated with Baton Rouge Lodge No. 372, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons,
besides being a member of the local Adib Ahmar Grotto of the Veiled Prophets.
August 2_, 1915, recorded the marriage of Mr. Thorgeson and Miss Edith
Comeaux, daughter of Lennes Comeaux, who is a carpenter by vocation, he and his
wife being now residents of the City of New Orleans. Mr. and Mrs. Thorgeson have
four children: Roy A., Jr., born in the year 1917; Patricia and Peggy, twins,
born November 29, 1930; and Catherine, born March 22, 1922.
Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from A History of Louisiana, by Henry E. Chambers, published in 1925, volume 2, page 95.
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