Mingo County, West Virginia Biography of CHARLES TARNAY This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: ********************************************** ***The submitter does not have a connection*** ********to the subject of this sketch.******** ********************************************** This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 626-627 Mingo CHARLES TARNAY, president of the Tarnay Collieries Com- pany, the mines of which are situated on Sulphur Creek, near Matewan, Mingo County, maintains his residence and executive headquarters in the City of Matewan. Mr. Tarnay was born in Hungary, on the 15th of March, 1878, and is a son of Charles and Helen Tarnay, his father having been a man of wealth and influence in his native land, which is now suffering direly from the effects of the great World War. The subject of this review was for two years a student in the University of Buda- pest, and thereafter continued his studies for a similar period in the University of Berlin, where he studied law. At the age of seventeen years he came to the United States, and from New York City he came forthwith to the West Virginia coal fields. He found employment in the coal mines on Cabin Creek, and took pride in thus numbering himself among the world's productive workers. He has been employed in various capacities and at many different places in connection with the coal mining industry in West Virginia, and also in mines in Pike County, Kentucky. His ambition caused him to continue his reading and study, and in 1912-13 he attended George Washington University, Washington, D. C., where he specialized in chemistry and engineering. In 1914 he was employed as chemist in the Cabin Creek coal district, and he next be- came superintendent for the Bessemer Coal & Coke Com- pany at Bessemer, Pennsylvania, where he remained four years. He then became an independent operator in the Pennsylvania coal fields, and the negative success of his enterprise was so pronounced that he lost all of the money which he had previously accumulated. Under these depress- ing conditions he bravely faced the problems that confronted him, and took the position of track man in the Pond Creek District of Kentucky. In February, 1920, Mr. Tarnay started a wagon mine at Naugatuck, Mingo County, West Virginia, notwithstand- ing the fact that he was in debt to the amount of $400 and had in his possession only thirty-five cents. His energy and ability have since combined to gain for him increas- ing success, and he is now a substantial figure in connection with coal production. He organized the Shumate Coal Company at Naugatuck, and is president of the same, and in April, 1921, he organized the Tarnay Collieries Com- pany, of which he is president and general manager, this company having 600 acres of extremely valuable coal land. The sterling character and recognized ability of Mr. Tarnay have gained to him the co-operation of some of the best known, and most influential coal men of this field, and both of the mining companies of which he is president are, in 1922, working their mines six days a week, while many other mines of the district are closed down. Mr. Tarnay is a loyal and appreciative American citizen, and in the land of his adoption has won substantial and worthy suc- cess. He is a man of superior intellectuality, and as a linguist speaks, reads and writes the Hungarian, German, French and English languages with almost equal facility. In the World war period he was instant in patriotic serv- ice, especially in connection with the work of the Bed Cross, from the general headquarters of which he received a letter highly commending him for the efficient service which he rendered during American participation in the war. In politics he is a staunch republican, and both he and his wife are earnest communicants of the Catholic Church. In linguistic attainments Mrs. Tarnay excells her husband, as she speaks eleven different languages, she having formerly been a successful and popular teacher and having been during one year employed by the Government as an interpreter in the City of Washington. In 1906 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Tarnay and Miss Mary Kovalik, who likewise is a native of Hungary, and they have three children: Isabel, Helen and Charles, Jr.