1925 Biography - Roy A. Thorgeson

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.