Wilhelm August Thams
Quick Facts
Biography
Wilhelm August Thams (June 22, 1812 – July 4, 1884) was a Norwegian merchant, land owner and lumber mill owner.
Biography
Wilhelm Thams was the son of Jacob Thullin Thams (1770–1826), who was a bailiff in Ringerike. He was married to Ida Olava Mandskow (1812-1889) and was the father of Marentius Thams (1836-1907) and grandfather of Christian Thams (1867-1948).
In 1859, he relocated from Fredrikstadin Østfold where he had sawmill operations and settled in Trondheim. In 1867, Wilhelm Thams built a sawmill and established a small port which became known as Thamshavn on a side inlet of Trondheimsfjord. Thams built a large company andbought forested propertieswithinthe valley ofOrkdalen in Sør-Trøndelag. He established a timber trading company, Strandheim Brug,which his son Marentius would developto become the largest such company in Norway. In 1868, in cooperation with ship owner Christian Salvesen, he established the Ørkedals Mining Company to develop mining interest in the areaaround Løkken in Meldal.
Other sources
- Støren, R. (1954) Løkken Verk 1654–1904(Orkla Grube-Aktiebolag. pp. 131–132)