Thomas Yenser

Early printing career (1886–1904)

Yenser entered the professional printing trades as a youth in his hometown of Lehighton, Pennsylvania, receiving instruction in typography within the offices of the local Carbon Advocate before relocating to New York City in September 1886. He worked in typography for various metropolitan newspapers across the New York area, including the New-York Tribune, City Record, and Evening Telegram. He continued in the commercial printing and newspaper trades until late 1904, when he shifted his focus to real estate development on Long Island.

Long Island real estate and civic career (1904–1914)

In 1904, Yenser relocated from Queens to Copiague in the Town of Babylon, Suffolk County, New York, where he was initially associated with the Long Island Rail Road and operated a poultry farm. By the late 1900s, he had shifted his focus to real estate development and land subdivision in the growing South Shore communities.

Yenser established a real estate office in Copiague and developed residential properties. He filed subdivision maps for residential development and promoted home construction and local investment opportunities. Property originating from one of his subdivision maps continues to be identified in Suffolk County land records as part of the Thomas Yenser subdivision.

In addition to his business activities, Yenser participated in local civic affairs and politics. He served as a trustee of Babylon School District No. 5, was active in the Independence League, chaired local party meetings, and was nominated in 1909 as a fusion candidate for Town Assessor. During this period, he also advocated for local infrastructure improvements, including transportation access, public lighting, road improvements, and waterfront development projects in the Copiague area. In September 1913, Yenser was credited in local newspaper accounts with rescuing a New York City school teacher from drowning in a creek near Copiague.

Financial difficulties eventually affected portions of Yenser's Long Island real estate holdings, resulting in foreclosure proceedings. He returned to Brooklyn by 1915, concluding a decade of business and civic involvement in Suffolk County.

Automotive executive career (1918–1922)

By 1918, Yenser had entered the automotive industry as a corporate executive. He served as President of the American Motor Truck and Tractor Company, an enterprise incorporated with an authorized capital stock of $1,000,000. Yenser operated the company alongside Vice President Emil M. Snyder and Secretary John V. Gormley. While the corporate headquarters were located at 110 West 40th Street in New York City, the manufacturing plant was a 40,000-square-foot facility on Freestone Avenue in Portland, Connecticut.

In late 1919 and early 1920, Yenser managed a regional stock promotion and marketing campaign across New England. The company advertised 2-ton and 4-ton commercial trucks built under the brand name "American." The vehicles were exhibited at the Hartford Automobile Show and the New Haven Truck Show to establish a regional dealer network.

Yenser placed financial advertisements in newspapers like the New Britain Herald and Lowell Sun to sell shares. The company sold 7% Cumulative Preferred stock for $12 per share, offering one share of Common Stock with each purchase. Marketing materials projected a production goal of 300 trucks for the year 1920. In September 1921, Yenser and company leadership expanded into commercial lending by co-founding a dedicated subsidiary, the American Motor Truck Finance Corporation, based in Newark, New Jersey.

The company continued operating during the post-war period, with New England business directories recording its presence in Portland through 1922. By 1930, Yenser had transitioned into biographical publishing with the launch of Who's Who in Colored America, a project that would become the final phase of his career.

Who's Who in Colored America (1930-1949)

Yenser took over the Who's Who in Colored America series from founder Joseph J. Boris in 1930 and managed operations from 2317 Newkirk Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. He began work on the series' fifth edition by 1938 to update existing profiles and compile biographical sketches.

To compile biographical data, Yenser and his son traveled more than 30,000 miles across the United States. The directory documented civic, professional, and religious achievements of notable African Americans. By the 1941–1944 edition, the publication had grown into a 700-page volume containing over 3,500 biographical sketches and more than 500 photographic engravings. The directory was widely distributed to public libraries, state networks, and academic institutions, with copies ordered by Harvard, Yale, Duke University, Notre Dame, and the University of Minnesota. The State of Louisiana also purchased 75 copies of the directory for statewide distribution. Yenser also expanded the directory's coverage during World War II to document African Americans serving in the United States Armed Forces.

During his regional travel, Yenser actively campaigned for public cooperation to ensure the directory's biographical listings remained comprehensive. By the 1940s, syndicated columns cited the directories as a source of Black professional achievement

Family and residence

Thomas Yenser was born in Pennsylvania circa 1866 to Charles Yenser, a native Pennsylvanian, and Mary E. Yenser. He spent his childhood in Lehighton, Carbon County, where he attended school in his youth. In his youth, he entered the professional printing trades as an apprentice in his hometown of Lehighton, Pennsylvania, receiving instructions in typography within the offices of the local Carbon Advocate before relocating to New York City in September 1886.

Following his relocation to the New York metropolitan area, Yenser established his family with Agnes Connelly (born c. 1875), a native of New York. Their daughter Mary was born in Manhattan on June 12, 1895. Yenser and Connelly were legally married on September 2, 1896, in Hoboken, New Jersey. By 1900, the family resided in Ward 26 of Brooklyn, New York, where their household included their daughters Mary and Edna (born February 24, 1897), as well as Yenser's sister-in-law, Theresa Connelly. Their daughter Edna later married John V. Gormley, who served closely alongside Yenser as corporate secretary during his tenure as an automotive executive. On July 22, 1901, their son, Thomas Yenser Jr., was born in Brooklyn. The family subsequently lived in St. Albans, Queens, where their daughter Theresa was born on March 24, 1904, before they relocated east to Copiague in October 1904. While residing in Babylon, the couple had a second son, John, born circa 1908, with the complete household of five children recorded together in the 1910 Federal Census.

Following the foreclosure of his Long Island real estate holdings in early 1914, Yenser returned westward to New York City, establishing his household back in Brooklyn by 1915. He remained a resident of Brooklyn for the rest of his life, managing the operations of his biographical directories out of his family home at 2317 Newkirk Avenue until his death in 1949. Following his death, Yenser was cremated at the Fresh Pond Crematory and Columbarium in Middle Village, Queens, on September 13, 1949.