BIO: Thomas B. BUDINGER, Centre County, PA

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Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania: Including 
the Counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion: Containing 
Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, Etc. 
Chicago: J. H. Beers, 1898.
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  THOMAS BOWMAN BUDINGER.  The industrial and commercial history of 
Centre county would be very incomplete and unsatisfactory without a 
personal and somewhat extended mention of those whose lives are 
interwoven so closely with the business development of the State. Mr. 
Budinger has been prominently identified with various enterprises of 
Centre county, and his business record is one that any man might be 
proud to possess.  Beginning at the very bottom round of the ladder, he 
has advanced steadily step by step until he now occupies a position of 
prominence.
 Mr. Budinger was born in Lycoming county, Penn., December 13, 1852, 
and is a son of William and Lucretia (Hoffman) Budinger, natives of 
Luzerne county, Penn.  Emigrating to Lycoming county, they located near 
Williamsport, where the father engaged in the lumber business and 
farming.  His wife died there in 1894, but he is still residing on the 
old homestead.  Their children are:  Sarah E. is the deceased wife of 
D. B. Plummer, who is engaged in the mail service in Williamsport, 
Penn.; Johanna L. is the wife of James O'Brien, proprietor of the 
"Elkins Hotel," at Elkins, W. Va.; Thomas B. comes next in the order of 
birth; Philip is now engaged in the fruit growing in Los Angeles, Cal.; 
and William is engaged in the livery business in that city. 

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.  233

  Mr. Budinger is one of Centre county's self-made men, one of her most 
prominent citizens, and his business interests are to-day extensive.  
From the time he was thirteen years old until he was twenty-one, he 
worked in his father's sawmill in the summer time and attended public 
school in the winter.  At the age of twenty-one he hired out to his 
father at $20.00 per month; but after working for one year he concluded 
to start in business for himself, so he obtained $10.00 from his father 
and went upon the road securing orders for enlarging pictures. He 
traveled through Cameron and McKean counties, and during the first trip 
of three months he cleared $375.00; he then remained at home for a 
short time, after which he went on the road and traveled through Elk 
and Jefferson counties, and during this second trip cleared about 
$400.00 in cash.  He then went to Salladasburg, and while visiting his 
father met with a severe accident, by having his ankle broken, which 
caused him to put all business aside for one year; when he had 
recovered, however, he endeavored to travel and sell pictures again, 
but the injury he had received from his broken leg made it impossible 
to continue in that business.  He then obtained employment in a sawmill 
at Williamsport, where he was employed taking charge of a lath mill for 
about three years.  He then purchased from his father nine acres of 
land and a small home, upon which he lived for about four years, and 
during that time he received employment from the Tide Water Pipe Co., 
first as a day laborer for a few months, and he then secured the 
contract from the Tide Water Pipe Co., to bury their pipe three feet 
under ground.  During the first three months he cleared $700.00 and 
lived in tents and boarded his own men.
  Mr. Budinger then contracted to lay the pipe between Williamsport and 
Muncy, and during the six weeks thus engaged he cleared $750.00.  The 
oil was running through the pipes at the time, and it was a very 
difficult matter to bury the pipe underground without breaking it, but 
he was so successful in burying over fifty miles of pipe for the Tide 
Water Pipe Co., without an accident or loss of a single barrel of oil, 
whilst other parties who were employed at the same business, broke the 
pipe and lost several thousand barrels of oil at one time.  He was then 
employed by the Standard Oil Co., to bury pipe through a section of 
Clinton county, at a salary of $100.00 per month. After finishing this 
work, he was out of employment, and meeting a gentleman in Jersey 
Shore, he was induced to come to Snow Shoe, Centre county, Penn., with 
a promise of a position on the Beech Creek railroad, but after 
remaining in Snow Shoe for several days, he learned that the party had 
no authority to hire him, and that the salary offered by the 
contractors was not sufficient to induce him to engage in that 
business.
  A successful business man is he who is quick to recognize and take 
advantage of opportunities, and this element Mr. Budinger possesses in 
a high degree, and it has been one of the most important factors in his 
prosperity.  While in Snow Shoe he noticed that potatoes were being 
sold at $1.00 per bushel, so he went to Watsontown, Penn., and 
purchased a carload of that vegetable, then shipped them to Snow Shoe 
and sold them at a good profit.  He also noticed that large quantities 
of bread was being shipped to Snow Shoe and believing that he could 
make that article of food cheaper than it could be sent there, he 
rented an old oven, and in an old shed, the best accommodation that  
could be secured, he embarked in the bakery business, and his 
expenditures for rent and improvements for the first year amounted to 
over $475.00; but by hard work and strict attention to business, he 
made a clear profit of $2,000.00 the first year.  He continued until in 
that line of business until 1886, when, the railroad being completed, 
he abandoned the bakery business and established a general mercantile 
store, which he successfully operated until the first of May, 1887; and 
as the property he then occupied was wanted by its owner for other 
purposes, he purchased a lot and put up the buildings he now occupies, 
and his trade has steadily increased until the volume of his sales are 
very large.  He carries on two stores - one at Clarence, Penn., and the 
other at Snow Shoe, Penn., with a stock of fully twenty-five thousand 
dollars (the store at Clarence, Penn., he purchased of W. B. Masters on 
January 1, 1892).
  In 1891 Mr. Budinger began operating in the coal business in a small 
way on the land owned by Potter & Co., hauling the coal on wagons that 
had to be shoveled into the railroad cars, and he contrived an 
ingenious invention to dump a three-ton load of coal from an ordinary 
road wagon into the cars, which operated very successfully; but in 1895 
the price of soft coal became so low that it became unprofitable to 
load coal in that way, and on September 1, 1895, in connection with 
Kelley Brothers, he purchased the property of the Snow Shoe Mining Co., 
and he is now treasurer of the company.  Under the capable management 
of the present officers, the output of the mines have been largely 
increased.
  In July, 1874, at the home of the bride, at Mt. Eagle, Centre county, 
Mr. Budinger was 

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.  234

married to Miss Alice Leathers, and they had twelve children:  Della 
and Emma Blanche are graduates of the Birmingham Seminary, of Blair 
Co., Penn.; Samuel and Arthur are students in the Dickinson Seminary at 
Williamsport; Effie is at home; Alice is deceased; Edith, Maud, Thomas 
J., Philip, Robert and Sarah are all still under the parental roof.
  In his social relations, Mr. Budinger is an Odd Fellow, and in 
politics is a Republican.  He holds membership with no religious 
denomination, but his wife and family are members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church.  He is a man of great energy, one who carries forward 
to successful completion whatever he undertakes.  Through his entire 
business career he has been looked upon as a model of integrity and 
honor, and his life to-day is an example of what can be accomplished by 
a man of natural ability and strength of character.  He is respected by 
the community at large, and honored by his business associates.