{{Short description|American politician (1881–1941)}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Henry Teigan | honorific_suffix = | image = File:Rep. Henry T. Teigan 1938 Edit.jpg | caption = Teigan in 1938 | state1 = Minnesota | district1 = 3rd | term_start1 = January 3, 1937 | term_end1 = January 3, 1939 | preceded1 = Ernest Lundeen | succeeded1 = John G. Alexander | state_senate2 = Minnesota | district2 = 29th | term_start2 = January 3, 1933 | term_end2 = January 6, 1935 | preceded2 = Lewis Duemke | succeeded2 = Burton L. Kingsley | office3 = National Secretary of the<br />Nonpartisan League | term_start3 = 1916 | term_end3 = 1923 | office4 = State Secretary of the<br />Socialist Party of North Dakota | term_start4 = 1913 | term_end4 = 1916 | birth_date = {{birth date|1881|8|7}} | birth_place = Forest City, Iowa, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1941|3|12|1881|8|7}} | death_place = Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. | spouse = | party = Socialist {{small|(1913–1916)}}<br />Nonpartisan League {{small|(1916–1923)}}<br />Farmer-Labor {{small|(after 1923)}} | relations = | children = | alma_mater = Valparaiso University | occupation = Teacher, editor }}

'''Henry George Teigan''' (August 7, 1881 – March 12, 1941) was an American teacher and editor who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota.<ref name=leg>[http://www.leg.state.mn.us/legdb/fulldetail.asp?ID=15059 ''Teigan, Henry George'' (Minnesota Legislators Past and Present)]</ref>

== Background == [[File:Henry G. Teigan 1909.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|Teigan's Valparaiso University yearbook photo, 1909]] Henry Teigan was born in Forest City, Winnebago County, Iowa. He attended Luther Academy in Albert Lea, Minnesota and Central College in Pella, Iowa, later graduating from Valparaiso University in 1908. He gave his commencement speech, published in the university's 1909 yearbook, on the merits of socialism.<ref>{{cite book |title=Classic Professional Annual, 1909 |date=1909 |publisher=Valparaiso University |location=Valparaiso |pages=61–63 |url=https://collections.valpo.edu/digital/collection/yearbooks/id/32923 |access-date=21 July 2025}}</ref> From 1900 to 1913 he was a teacher in various communities. (Iowa rural schools: 1900 – 1904, Des Lacs, North Dakota: 1909 – 1910, and Logan, North Dakota: 1912 – 1913).<ref name="bduscTeigan">{{cite web|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=T000112| work=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|title=''Teigan, Henry George''|access-date=2010-12-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.fchm.us/images/legends/legend102.pdf |title= Luther Academy 1888-1928 |publisher= Norwegian Lutheran Synod |author= Valborg Berg |access-date= January 10, 2016 |archive-date= March 4, 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160304100859/http://www.fchm.us/images/legends/legend102.pdf |url-status= dead }}</ref>

== Career == He became involved in politics when he was elected state secretary of the Socialist Party of North Dakota in 1913, serving until 1916. In this position, he hired flax farmer Arthur C. Townley as a party organizer, whose efforts in the rural western part of the state laid the foundation of the Nonpartisan League.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Robinson |first1=Elwyn B. |authorlink=Elwyn B. Robinson |title=History of North Dakota |date=1966 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |location=Lincoln |isbn=0-911042-43-1 |pages=329–330, 334 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofnorthda0000robi/page/329/mode/1up |access-date=14 September 2025}}</ref> Teigan became secretary of the National Nonpartisan League in 1916 and moved to Minneapolis in 1917, serving in that position until 1923.<ref name=leg/> From 1923 to 1925, he was secretary to Senator Magnus Johnson.<ref name="bduscTeigan"/> At that time, he also began working as an editor and newspaper writer. In 1930 he was the Minnesota Farmer Labor Party nominee for state auditor, coming in second with 35.96% of the vote.<ref name=ourcampaigns>{{cite web |title=Teigan, Henry G. |url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/CandidateDetail.html?CandidateID=43655 |website=ourcampaigns.com |access-date=21 July 2025}}</ref> He continued in newspaper work until 1932, when he was elected to the Minnesota Senate where he served one term.<ref name=leg/>

[[File:I Support Bernard's Bill 1937.jpg|thumb|left|"I Support Bernard's Bill," an article by Teigan for the ''Champion of Youth'', published Summer 1937]]

In 1936, he was elected as a candidate of the Minnesota Farmer Labor Party to the 75th congress. After one term, he failed to win reelection, and was also defeated in a 1940 bid to regain his seat.<ref name=ourcampaigns/> After leaving congress, he resumed newspaper and editorial work in Minneapolis, until his death on March 12, 1941.<ref name="bduscTeigan"/> He is interred in Hillside Cemetery in Minneapolis.<ref name=leg/> The papers of Henry George Teigan are maintained by the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul, Minnesota.

== References == {{reflist}}

== External links == * [https://archive.org/details/guidetopersonalp02minn/page/151/mode/1up Guide to Research Collections. Teigan, Henry George, 1881-1941] * {{CongBio |T000112 |findagrave=6922568 }} * [https://www-jstor-org.hacc.idm.oclc.org/stable/20176512?seq=1 The Farmer-Labor Association: Minnesota's Party within a Party.] ''Minnesota History'', Vol. 38, No. 7 (Sep., 1963), pp.&nbsp;301–309. * [https://libguides.mnhs.org/nonpartisan Nonpartisan League] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110609024458/http://www.smig.net/fchm/legend102.pdf Luther Academy 1888-1928]

{{s-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=S. O. Tjosvold}} {{s-ttl|title=Farmer–Labor nominee for Minnesota State Auditor|years=1930}} {{s-aft|after=John T. Lyons}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box | state= Minnesota | district= 3 | before= Ernest Lundeen | after= John G. Alexander | years= 1937–1939}} {{s-end}}

{{MNRepresentatives}} {{USCongRep-start|congresses= 75th United States Congresses |state=Minnesota}} {{USCongRep/MN/75}} {{USCongRep-end}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Teigan, Henry}} Category:1881 births Category:1941 deaths Category:United States representatives from Minnesota Category:Minnesota state senators Category:Valparaiso University alumni Category:Central College (Iowa) alumni Category:Lutherans from Minnesota Category:American people of Norwegian descent Category:Socialist Party of America politicians from North Dakota Category:Nonpartisan League politicians Category:Minnesota Farmer–Laborites Category:Farmer–Labor Party United States representatives Category:People from Forest City, Iowa Category:20th-century Lutherans Category:20th-century United States representatives Category:20th-century members of the Minnesota Legislature