BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, BELMONT COUNTY, OHIO

"History of the Upper Ohio Valley" Vol. II, 1890.

Presented by Linda Fluharty from hard copies provided
by Mary Staley & Phyllis Slater.


Pages 531-532

THOMAS L. GLESSNER, president of the Laughlin Nail company, is a native of
Zanesville, Ohio, ahd a son of Jacob Glessner, one of the pioneer
publishers of eastern Ohio. Jacob Glessner was born in Somerset county,
Penn., where he learned the printer's trade. In 1834 he removed to St.
ClairsviJle, Ohio, and, in company with his brother, purchased the St.
Clairsville Gazette, which they published about five years. He then went
to Zanesville, and published the Aurora, the leading democratic organ,
for six years, after which he established a family Journal, known as the
Zanesville City Times, which he conducted for over twenty years. In 1867
he sold the paper and purchased the Zanesville paper mill, which he managed
until 1886, since when he has been retired from business. While at St. Clairs-
ville he was married to Miss Laughlin, of Wheeling, and five children have
been born to them, of whom one is deceased. Thomas L. Glessner, after
receiving his education at Zanesville, entered the Benwood Iron works,
and there remained six years, having charge of the Benwood office. In 1878,
in company with his uncle, Alexander Laughlin, he purchased the Ohio City
Iron and Nail works, at Martin's Ferry, and organized the Laughlin Nail
company, of which he acted as secretary until the death of Mr. Laughlin
in 1885, when he assumed his present position. The works were partially
destroyed by fire in 1882 and again in 1886, but each time were rebuilt
and enlarged, and they are now the second largest nail works in the world.
Mr. Glessner is also president of the Laughlin and Junction Steel company,
which built and operates the Bessemer Steel works at Mingo Junction. He has
been a resident of Wheeling since 1872, and is regarded as one of its
foremost citizens. He and wife are members of the Presbyterian church, and
he is in political matters a republican. He was married in 1879, to a
daughter of George R. Taylor, elsewhere mentioned, and one child, Mary,
has been born to this union.