Henry G. Tweeton, born in 1873 in Iowa County, Wisconsin, was a prominent citizen of Barnesville, Clay County, Minnesota. His parents, Gunnulf L. and Mary (Lofthus) Tweeton, Norwegian immigrants, moved to Tansem, Minnesota, in 1878. Henry grew up on the family farm, attended local schools, and later worked in the lumber business, eventually owning his own yard. He served as Barnesville’s mayor from 1901 to 1905 and again in 1907, overseeing significant civic improvements. A director of the First National Bank of Barnesville, Tweeton was active in several fraternal organizations. He married the widow of his brother John, and they had five children: John, Mary, Sidney, Roy, and Ruth.
Henry G. Tweeton, an influential citizen of Barnesville, Clay county, Minnesota, is a native of Iowa county, Wisconsin, born in 1873 and is a son of Gunnulf L. and Mary (Lofthus) Tweeton, both natives of Norway, where the father was born in 1822. The family immigrated to the United States about 1871 and settled in Wisconsin, from where, in the spring of 1878, they made the trip in several covered wagons across the country to Tansem, Clay county, Minnesota, and settled on a tract of wild land which the father pre-empted and afterwards homesteaded. Here, the father died in 1905. The mother still (1909) lives on the homestead.
Henry G., who was the first of the children born in this country, was five years old when the family settled at Tansem. He grew up on the home farm, acquiring his education in the district schools and in the school at Barnesville.
When thirteen years old, he began working for his elder brother, John G. Tweeton, and continued for about four years. Afterward, he was employed in the lumber business of Mr. Dennis P. McGrath, which he finally purchased. During the years of 1897-99, he was a junior member of the lumber firm of Norby & Tweeton at Wolcott, N. D.
In 1901, he sold his lumber yard at Barnesville to the Trimble Lumber Company of Minneapolis, for which he became manager and also engaged in the implement business, handling a full line of farm implements and machinery, besides carriages, buggies, and wagons. Thrifty and prosperous, he accumulated considerable property and owns a quarter section east of Barnesville, another farm of half a section west of the town, all fine productive farming land worth forty dollars per acre. Mr. Tweeton is an active man of affairs and has always taken a commendable interest in civic matters.
From 1901 to 1905, he served as alderman from the second ward. He was then elected mayor of the city and re-elected in 1907. During his administration, a system of water works was installed, 1,800 feet of sewers were built, and other public improvements, comprising sidewalks, paving, etc., were made.
Mr. Tweeton is an active member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, and Knights of Maccabees. He is a director of the First National Bank of Barnesville and a director of the Record Review Publishing Company and is recognized as one of the public-spirited men of the town.
He married Mrs. John G. Tweeton, widow of his deceased brother. Of six children born to them, five, viz.: John, Mary, Sidney, Roy, and Ruth, are living. Ralph, the fifth child, is deceased. Their beautiful home is one of the handsomest in the city.
Source
C.F. Cooper & Company, History of the Red River Valley, Past And Present: Including an Account of the Counties, Cities, Towns And Villages of the Valley From the Time of Their First Settlement And Formation, volumes 1-2; Grand Forks: Herald printing company, 1909.