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BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
A Standard History of
THE HANGING ROCK IRON REGION OF
OHIO
An Authentic Narrative of the Past, with the Extended
Survey of the Industrial and Commercial Development
Vol. II
ILLUSTRATED
Publishers - The Lewis Publishing Company
1916
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ALLEN L. THUMA.
Developing his powers through practical experience, Mr. Thuma
has forged his way forward until he has achieved large and
worthy success in his chosen field of endeavor, and he is
recognized as one of the representative business men of the
younger generation in the City of Ironton, the thriving
metropolis and judicial center of Lawrence County. Through
his own ability he has advanced to his present important
position as one of the valued executive officers of the Ohio
Valley Electric Railway Company, of which he is superintendent,
and to the affairs of which he acords the most scrupulous
attention.
Allen Lee Thuma was born at
Milton, Cabell County, West Virginia, on the 20th of July, 1878,
and is a son of Chapman J. and Adelia (Oaks) Thuma, the
former of whom was born at Bridgewater, Virginia, in 1837, and
the latter of whom was born at Collins, near Charleston, West
Virginia, in 1855. The father was a carpenter by trade and
became a successful contractor and builder, the family removal
to Ironton, Ohio, having occurred when Allen L., of this
review, as a child. Chapman J. Thuma died in the
year 1886, and his widow long survived him, the closing yeas of
her life having been passed in Ironton, where she died in 1904.
Of the three children the eldest is he whose name introduces
this article; John Clifton is barn
superintendent for the Ohio Valley Electric Railway Company; and
Bonnie likewise resides at Ironton.
The public schools of Ironton afforded to Allen L.
Thuma his early educational advantages, and in the same he
continued his studies until he had attained to the age of
fifteen years. He then obtained a position in the
Ironton offices of the Fort Wayne Electric Light Company,
identified during his entire business career. From the
position of office boy he made his way forward to positions of
constantly increasing responsibility, and in the meanwhile he
gained a thorough knowledge of all details of the line of
enterprise along which he has effectively directed his energies.
Since the year 1900 he has held his present important executive
office, that of superintendent of the Ohio Valley Electric
Railway Company, a corporation whose progressive policies and
liberal enterprise have done much to further the civic and
material prosperity of the Hanging Rock Iron Region of the fine
old Buckeye State. Mr. Thuma is a director
of the Ironton Electric Company, is a practical electrician of
distinctive ability, and as a citizen he is essentially loyal
and public spirited. He is the owner of his attractive
residence property at Ironton and has identified himself fully
with the interests of the city that has represented his home
from his childhood days. In politics he is found aligned
as a stanch supporter of the cause of the republican party, and
he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias. At the time
of the Spanish-American war Mr. Thuma served as a member
of Company I. Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and he is now
identified with the veteran association maintained by those who
participated in that memorable conflict. Mr.
Thuma is well known in Ironton and vicinity and has a wide
circle of friends in both business and social circles.
Mr. Thuma married Miss Nora Janae George,
daughter of William E. George, who has been chief of the
Ironton Fire Department since 1872. Mr. and Mrs. Thuma
have an adopted daughter, Alma.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of
Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing
Company, 1916 - Page 702 |
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JOHN C. THUMA.
In the city that has been his home from boyhood Mr.
Thuma has found ample opportunity for productive effort
along normal lines of enterprise, and he is now the efficient
and popular incumbent of the position of superintendent of the
car barns of the Ohio Valley Electric Railway Company, at
Ironton, Lawrence County, his elder brother, Allen L.,
being the company's general superintendent and being
individually mentioned on other pages of this publication.
John Clifton Thuma is the second in order of birth of the
three children of Chapman J. and Adelia (Oakes) Thuma,
and his parents were residents of Ironton, Ohio, at the time of
their death, the father, who was a carpenter and contractor,
having died in 1886 and the mother in 1904. Chairman J.
Thuma was a native of Bridgewater, Virginia, where he was
born in 1837, a scion of a sterling old family of that historic
commonwealth, and his wife was born near Charleston, West
Virginia, in 1855. He whose name introduces this article
attended the excellent public schools of Ironton until he was
fifteen years of age, and he thereafter gave his attention to
zealous work in saw mills and in connection with other lines of
industry for six years. At the expiration of this period
he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was employed in lumber
yards for the ensuing six months. He then returned to
Ironton and obtained employment as a general laborer for the
Ohio Valley Electric Railway Company. For the first six
months his work was principally in the digging of holes for the
poles used for the electric lines, and for two years thereafter
he was a practical lineman, his ability and faithful service
bringing to him advancement to the position of line foreman, an
incumbency which he retained about three years. Since 1906
Mr. Thuma has been the superintendent of the
company's well equipped car barns at Ironton, and his effective
service as well as his genial personality have made him popular
alike with the officers of the company, the employes and the
general public.
Mr. Thuma is a member of the Ironton Chamber of
Commerce and is essentially loyal and progressive in his civic
attitude. His political allegiance is given to the
republican party, and he is affiliated with the Knights of
Pythias and the Improved Order of Red Men.
On the 22d of February, 1914, Mr. Thuma
made consistent observance of the birthday of Gen. George
Washington, in that the day marked the solemnization of his
marriage to Miss Ora Alice Riter, daughter of Philip
Riter, a well known citizen and furnace-man of Ironton.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of
Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing
Company, 1916 - Page 703 |
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JOHN W. TRUBY.
In his native City of Ironton, the progressive and flourishing
metropolis and judicial center of Lawrence County, Mr.
Truby has found opportunity for the winning of success and
popularity as a representative of business activities and as a
loyal and appreciative citizen. He is proprietor of the
Truby Bottling Works, which represents one of the prosperous
business enterprises of Ironton, with the best of facilities in
all departments.
Mr. Truby was born at Ironton on the 14th of
September, 1870, and is a son of William W. and Henrietta
(Taylor) Truby, both natives of Pennsylvania, where the
former was born in 1835 and the latter in 1845, her birth having
occurred in the City of Pittsburgh. William W. Truby
became a resident of Ironton in 1868 and was long employed as a
skilled artisan in the manufacturing of nails, in one of the
leading mills of Lawrence County. He passed the psalmist's
span of three score years and ten and was a well known pioneer
citizen of Ironton at the time of his death, in 1907, his wife
surviving him by about six years and being summoned to eternal
rest in 1913. They became the parents of five children,
all of whom are living, namely: William W., Jr.,
Florence, Carrie, Henry and John W.
John W. Truby attended the Ironton public
schools until he had attained to the age of eighteen years and
after completing his studies in the high school he was employed
in a local nail mill for ten years, within which he became an
expert workman and efficient mechanic. At the expiration
of this decade, in 1900, he purchased the bottling works
conducted by Charles Myers, and since that time he
has greatly expanded the scope and importance of the enterprise,
which is conducted under the title of the Truby Bottling
Works, his energy and enterprise having brought to him
unequivocal success in his independent business operations.
Mr. Truby is a stockholder in the Home Telephone
Company of Ironton, and further evidences of his temporal
prosperity are shown in his ownership of three business blocks
in Ironton - one on Center Street, between Third and Fourth
streets; another on North Third Street; and the third on South
Third Street. He is a democrat in his political allegiance
and he is an attendant and supporter of the Christian Church, of
which his wife was a devoted member.
On the 27th of November, 1899, Mr. Truby wedded
Miss Lucy Heider, daughter of august and Barbara
Heider, of Ironton, and she entered into eternal rest in
1907, the two surviving children being Louise and
Pauline.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of
Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing
Company, 1916 - Page 690 |
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JOHN W. TULGA.
One of the successful business enterprises of Ironton, Ohio, is
that established at Ninth and Park Avenues in 1897 by John W.
Tulga. The founder, a man in but moderate
circumstances at the time, was the best possible candidate for a
successful wagon manufacturer and blacksmith. He worked
harder than would one of independent means, and he was less easy
to discourage. His field of operation was an advantageous
one, both from the town and country standpoint, and from the
start he pursued honorable methods and made his word respected
and his workmanship admired. The result is a business
which is not only financially remunerative, but adds to the
prestige of the community as a center of business activity.
Mr. Tulga is a product of Lawrence County,
having been born at Etna Furnace, Dec. 22, 1871, a son of
John H. and Annie (Speckman) Tulga. The father was
born at Pine Grove, Lawrence County, a member of an old and
honored family of the Hanging Rock Region, in 1848, and of an
old and honored family of the Hanging Rock Region, in 1848, and
has passed his life in the peaceful pursuit of tilling the soil,
in which he has earned a competence that now allows him to live
in comfortable retirement at his home at Sedgwick. He
married Mrs. Annie (Speckman) Saunders, a widow, who was
born in 1842, at Metropolis, Illinois, and had one child by her
former marriage: Henry E., Johnh H. and Annie
Tulga because the parents of five children, namely:
John H., Jr., John W., Amelia, Mary and Anne.
John W. Tulga was a student at the public schools
of Ironton until reaching the age of fourteen years, at which
time he took his place among the world's workers as an employe
of the nail mill. He was industrious and enterprising, but
found that his wages were but small, and in order to better his
condition learned the trade of blacksmith, at which he worked at
the old Olive Street wagon works for a period of nine years.
It had been always his ambition to be the proprietor of a
business of his own, and this ambition he gratified in 1897,
when he started in a small way to manufacture wagons at Ninth
and Park Avenues. To his original plant he has constantly
added as the steady increase of patronage has demanded, and he
now has one of the most modern plants in this section, fully
equipped with the most highly improved machinery known to the
business. He is the owner of both plant and property,
which with stock and equipment are valued between $20,000 and
$25,000. Mr. Tulga is well known to the dealers in
his line of business and is a valued member of the Tri-State
Retail Carriage Dealers Association. He belongs to the
Chamber of Commerce, and has a well-established reputation
generally in commercial circles. Mr. Tulga is well
known as a driver and as an excellent judge of horse-flesh.
He is a republican in his political views, but has not let
political affairs interfere with his business. With
his family, he attends the Emanuel Church, and resides in his
own pleasant residence at No. 212 Park Avenue.
Mr. Tulga was married Apr. 26, 1899, at
the home of the bride at Ironton, to Miss Elizabeth
Zimmermann, daughter of Valentine and Sophia
Zimmermann, of this city, retired farming people of Lawrence
County. Mr. and Mrs. Tulga have one child :
Raymond H., who is attending school.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of
Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing
Company, 1916 - Page 729 |
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