Nels O. Tvedt

Nels O. Tvedt, president of the A.B. Leaf Tobacco Co. of Barron, was born in Stavanger, Norway, March 15, 1861, son of Ole O. and Kari (Nettland) Tvedt. He had three brothers, Gunder, Ole O. & Cornelius O. Tvedt. All three brothers left Norway and made their way to Dane County in the United States, with Nels paying the transportation for Ole O. & Cornelius O. Tvedt.

Nels came to the United States in 1880 and found his way to Dane County, Wis., where for five years he was engaged in the packing and sizing of tobacco. He then went to the Pacific coast, where after pressing hay for the first summer, entered the employ of the Blakely Mill Co., where he worked for a year and a half in their sawmills and logging camp between Tacoma and Seattle. In the fall of 1887 he returned to Wisconsin and worked in the factory of the Fuller & Johnson Co., at Madison. Subsequently he again entered the tobacco business, growing tobacco in the summer, and working as a sizer and packer in warehouses in the fall and winter. In the spring of 1895 he came to Barron County to occupy a piece of wild land which he had purchased the previous year in section 17, Barron Township. He housed his family in an old lumber camp, while he erected a house, a structure of hewed logs, 14 x 24 feet, sided and plastered, with a frame addition 12 x 14 feet for a kitchen. By hard work and close application he developed this farm, erected better buildings, and purchased stock and equipment. To the original tract he added by purchase, until the place consists of 245 acres, of which 165 are under the plow and the balance in cleared, pasture land. Mr. Tvedt retired from farm work in 1920, and took up his residence in Barron, where he owns a comfortable home.

The firm of the A.B. Leaf Tobacco Co., is owned by him and the Anderson Brothers of Menomonie, Wis. The company has a large warehouse here and does a good business.

Mr. Tvedt served the town of Barron in various capacities, including that of supervisor, and has always stood for everything thing that is just and right. He is a member of the Barron Congregation of the Norwegian Lutheran Church and has occupied a number of official positions therein.

Mr. Tvedt was married Nov. 29, 1887, to Rachel Stensland, daughter of Thor and Julia Stensland, of Madison, who brought her from Norway to the United States when she was one year of age and settled on a farm in Dane County, Wis. They are the parents of ten children as follows: Clara, the wife of Earl Butler, who is manager of a lumber company in North Dakota; Theodore is on the home farm; Helen is the wife of L.R. Smith, who is in the garage business in Chetek; Henry is on the home farm; Ruth is the wife of Elmer Tuft, who is in the garage business at Chetek, with his brother-in-law, L.R. Smith; Gertrude, Esther and Norma are at home; and Dorothy is deceased.

Nels' brother, Ole O. Tvedt, is also buried in the First Lutheran Cemetery. [Abstracted from the History of Barron County, Wisconsin, page 108, published in 1922 by H.C. Cooper, Jr. & Co., Minneapolis, Minnesota.]