Tweedy, Joseph

Pioneer sheep rancher Joseph Tweedy (1849-1928) was born in New York City in 1849. Tweedy helped run the family business, the clothing manufacturing firm Schepflin, Baldwin, and Tweedy, until 1876 when he, Joel Barlow Reynolds, and Morgan and Lawrence Grinnell sailed from New York City to Galveston. They purchased several herds of sheep and settled near Fort Concho in what became Tom Green County in 1877, eventually turning the area into an international wool production center. Tweedy’s ranch, The Knickerbocker Ranch on Dove Creek, eventually became the town of Knickerbocker. Tweedy founded the Wool Grower’s Association at San Angelo in 1881 and became its first president. In 1885, Tweedy started the San Jose Irrigation Company, one of the earliest irrigation enterprises in Texas. Additionally, Tweedy served as Tom Green County commissioner, a bank director, and a civic leader in San Angelo, Texas.

Source: Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. “Tweedy, Joseph,” http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/TT/ftw1.html (accessed August 3, 2010).

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