St Mary-East Baton Rouge County Louisiana Archives Biographies.....Thorgeson, Roy March
27, 1892 -
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Author: Henry E Chambers
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.
Additional Comments:
A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 95, by Henry E. Chambers. Published by
The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.
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