TRACT #14 (NORTHERN 1/2) - ERNEST B. & ORTA M. THOMING

Ernest B. Thoming and Orta M. Thoming were the third and fourth signers of the petition to incorporate Federal Heights.  The couple was eligible to sign the petition as landowners.  They had purchased the north one-half of Tract 14 from Pearl I. Foley on November 4, 1936.

Ernest William Thoming was born on September 16, 1896 in Hatfield, Missouri to German immigrants, Theis and Maria (Carstens) Thoming.  He was the sixth of the couple’s 14 children.  Throughout his life, he was referred to as Ernest, William, Bill and Wilhelm.  In the 1910 census, 13 year-old Wilhelm was working on the family farm in Missouri.

Ernest registered for the World War I draft on June 15, 1918, and four days later, the 21-year-old was serving as a private in the Marine Corps.  On August 3, 1919, he was transported home from France, arriving in New Jersey on the SS George Washington, and was discharged ten days later on August 13, 1919. 

Ernest married Cora A. Roussin in Missouri on August 5, 1922.  They had two children, Enid and Ellis.  By 1930, the marriage had ended.  Cora and her children were living in Missouri and Ernest had moved to Colorado.

On June 16, 1932, Ernest married Orta Emery in Denver.

Orta Mary Emery was born in Kansas on January 11, 1914 to James Franklin and Barbara Anne (Minick) Emery.  Orta, who grew up on the family farm, was the sixth of eight children.

A few years after Ernest and Orta married, they purchased the half tract on North Federal.  They had two sons, Earl and Leroy. 

The 1940 U.S. Census lists Ernest as a senior clerk for the WPA, living on North Federal, making $600/month.   His nextdoor neighbor is his brother, Ed Thoming.

On August 31, 1940, the Thomings sold their Federal Heights property to Frank Wrather and moved to Denver where Ernest was employed by Gates Rubber Company and their sons attended high school. 

Ernest died on June 25, 1983 and is buried at Ft. Logan National Cemetery in Denver.  Orta remarried and passed away on New Year’s Eve 1997 in Fresno, California.