Victor A. Thoureen was born August 28, 1877, in Hössna, Älvsborg (now Västra Götaland), Västergötland, Sweden. His parents were Gustavous and Louise Strang Thoureen (Thurin). In addition to Victor, their children were Edward, William, Claus and Alma. The family came to Galesburg in 1888. They may have resided in another part of the United States before arriving in Galesburg. All of the men in the family eventually worked for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Company.

 

Victor completed only the sixth grade of school which was not unusual in that time. He worked as a laborer, a butcher and a delivery man before becoming a fireman in the T rail shop of the railroad. He was also a switchman for the Q. He spent the majority of his working years at the railroad as an engineer on the steam derrick.

 

A rail-mounted crane, known as a wrecking derrick, was used mainly to move derailed rolling stock. The derrick was mounted on a reinforced flat car. In 1883 the Q acquired its first steam derrick. It had a lifting capacity of twenty tons. In those days, derricks were stationed every seventy-five to one hundred miles in order to reach wreck sites quickly.

 

In the early 1900s a sixty ton derrick was acquired. It was scrapped in 1978 and replaced by a one hundred ton derrick. The Q purchased a 250 ton steam derrick in 1942. It was converted to diesel power in the 1960s.

 

The crew usually consisted of the lead man, the crane operator (engineer) and four ground men. For larger wrecks requiring more manpower, facilities in rail cars for eating and sleeping were brought to the wreck site.

 

The task of clearing a wreck site and lifting the cars back onto the tracks was very hard work. Many of the men held regular jobs at the rail yard, but were called to assist in clearing the rails when accidents occurred. Today this kind of work in contracted to specialized companies.

 

Victor was married to Olive Eaton on October 10, 1901. They had six children: Harold, Helen, Carl, Ralph, Louise and Wanda. Harold joined the Navy. After returning home he was in an automobile accident and received a broken back injury. Two years later he died of tuberculosis of the spine. Wanda died at the age of seven. The other children survived to adulthood.

 

Victor had few interests outside his family and his work. He was a member of the Independent Order of Swithiod. The organizations was founded in Chicago in 1880. The purpose was to promote Scandinavian heritage. It also served as a fraternal society. There may have been a chapter in Galesburg at one time.

 

For more than twenty years the family resided at 831 East Knox Street. In the 1930 Federal Census, the structure was valued at $5,000 and the family had a radio. They had surely reached the middle class. In the 1940 census, the Thoureen house was valued at $3000. The Great Depression had caused the value of all real property to decrease. Victor's income for the year was $1920 (more than $51,000  in today's money).

 

Victor died December 28, 1942, and was buried in Linwood Cemetery. His wife died in 1956 and is buried in the same lot with her husband and two children.

 

Carl Sandburg makes no mention of Thoureen in his autobiography, Always the Young Strangers, but Victor is standing next to him in the photograph of the Dirty Dozen.