
April 4, 2016

The "Dirty Dozen" with Carl Sandburg (Row
2, far right)
Seated from the left: Charles Blomgren, Robert G. Samuelson, Lyle Tapp, George W. Erickson. Standing: Charles
Juneau, Fred Cook, Martin Sandburg, Willis Calkins, Oscar
Larson,
Lawrence Futhey, Victor Thurine, Carl Sandburg.
[The boys are identified on p. 31 of George Swank's CARL SANDBURG:
GALESBURG AND BEYOND, c1983.]
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Victor A. Thoureen
by Barbara Schock
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.
 |
Date |
Title |
April 4, 2016 |
Victor A. Thoureen |
March 28, 2016 |
Nicknames |
March 21, 2016 |
Corporal Edward P.
Peckenpaugh
|
March 14, 2016 |
Hold Still! |
March 7, 2016 |
Capt. T. L. McGirr |
February 29, 2016 |
Sparrow Season |
February 22, 2016 |
George W. Erickson |
February 15, 2016 |
George Helgeson Fitch |
February 8, 2016 |
Anna Charlotte Goldquist |
February 1, 2016 |
"Little Boy Blue" |
January 25, 2016 |
Always the Young
Strangers |
January 18, 2016 |
George R. Longbrake |
January 11, 2016 |
Fred Cook |
January 4, 2016 |
Domestic Help |
December 14, 2015 |
Justice of the Peace B.F. Holcomb |
November 30, 2015 |
Standardized Time |
November 23, 2015 |
Joseph H. Knutson |
November 16, 2015 |
Wells and Cisterns |
November 2, 2015 |
Willis E. Calkins |
October 26, 2015 |
Galesburg Pottery |
October 19, 2015 |
Private Lewis H. Kay |
October 12, 2015 |
The Klondike Gold Rush |
September 28, 2015 |
Charles L. Bloomgren |
September 21, 2015 |
The Gilded Age |
September 14, 2015 |
Oliver Optic |
August 31, 2015 |
The "Spanish" Cannon |
August 24, 2015 |
The Company C Men |
August 17, 2015 |
Jacob A. Riis |
August 10, 2015 |
Mason Jars |
August 3, 2015 |
October 7, 1896 |
July 27, 2015 |
The Soldier's Monument |
July 20, 2015 |
Ice |
July 13, 2015 |
Moses O. Williamson |
July 6, 2015 |
Sweet Little Alix |
June 29, 2015 |
Sharlie's Shickens |
June 22, 2015 |
Anna Held & John Drew |
June 15, 2015 |
Hartel & Secker Meat Market |
June 8, 2015 |
Girls |
June 1, 2015 |
Old First Church - Part II |
May 25, 2015 |
Old First Church - Part I |
May 18, 2015 |
Marbles |
May 11, 2015 |
Pawnee County, Kansas |
May 4, 2015 |
Detective Stories and the
Real Thing |
April 27, 2015 |
Professor Isaac A. Parker |
April 20, 2015 |
Celluloid Collars |
April 13, 2015 |
Asparagus |
April 6, 2015 |
Mayor John C. Stewart |
March 30, 2015 |
Basket Ball |
March 23, 2015 |
The Courthouse of Knox
County, IL |
March 16, 2015 |
“Trifles make
perfection...”
|
March 9, 2015 |
Uncle Tom's Cabin |
March 2, 2015 |
Martha Sandburg Goldstone |
February 23, 2015 |
Devotion |
February 16,
2015 |
Gumbiner's
Pawn Shop |
February 9, 2015 |
White Bread |
February 2, 2015 |
The
Monarch Club |
January 26, 2015 |
The Silver Dollar |
January 19, 2015 |
The Fulton County Narrow Gauge Railway |
January 12, 2015 |
The
Four Corners |
December 22, 2014 |
Swedish
Christmas |
December 8, 2014 |
Christmas 1878 |
December 1, 2014 |
Bunker
Boots & Shoes |
November 24, 2014 |
Galesburg,
Illinois |
November 17, 2014 |
It was Buffalo Bill's Day |
November 10, 2014 |
The Election of 1896 (A follow-up story) |
November 3, 2014 |
The Election
of 1896 (continued) |
October 27, 2014 |
The Election
of 1896 |
October 24,
2014 |
The
Rissywarn |
October 20, 2014 |
The Parlor Stove |
October 13, 2014 |
Ashes to Ashes |
October 6, 2014 |
Jesse James |
Sept. 29, 2014 |
Lester T. Stone, Public Servant |
Sept. 22, 2014 |
It's Who You Know |
Sept 15, 2014 |
Mother of the Illinois Flag |
Sept 8, 2014 |
The Scissors
Grinder |
Sept 1, 2014 |
Baseball |
August 25, 2014 |
Howard K.
Knowles, Capitalist |
August 18,
2014 |
Alcoholic Beverages |
August 11, 2014 |
Soda
Water |
August 4, 2014 |
Sweet Corn |
July 28, 2014 |
Marching Through Georgia |
July 21, 2014 |
The Knox
County Fair |
July 14, 2014 |
The Panic of 1893 |
July 7, 2014 |
The Rev. T. N.
Hasselquist |
June 30, 2014 |
The Knox
County Courthouse |
June 23, 2014 |
The Family
Photograph Album |
June 16, 2014 |
Parades |
June 9, 2014 |
Lingonberries |
June 2, 2014 |
Where We Live |
May 26, 2014 |
Old Main |
May 19, 2014 |
Rhythms
of the Railroad |
May 12, 2014 |
Spring
Tonic |
May 5, 2014 |
The Milkmen |
April 28, 2014 |
Gray's
"Elegy..." |
April 21, 2014 |
Off to War |
April 14, 2014 |
Swedish Easter |
April 7, 2014 |
A Father's Face |
March 31, 2014 |
Secret Societies |
March 24, 2014 |
George A. Murdock, Merchant |
March 10, 2014 |
Trade
Cards |
March 3, 2014 |
The Demorest
Medal |
February 24, 2014 |
Rip
Van Winkle |
February 17, 2014 |
Cabbage
Soup |
February 10, 2014 |
Lincoln's Birthday |
February 3,
2014 4 |
The
Colonel |
January 27, 2014 |
The
Lincoln Penny - A Little History |
January 20, 2014 |
Walking to Work |
January 13,
2014 |
A Small Abode |
January 6, 2014 |
Birth of a Poet |
December 30, 2013 |
Christmas 1880 |
December 23, 2013 |
Swedish Christmas |
December 16, 2013 |
The Reporter
Sees Santa |
December 9, 2013 |
The Coming
of Christmas |
December 2, 2013 |
The Fire Boys Talk |
November 25, 2013 |
Galesburg Will Feast on Turkeys and Cranberries -
Thanksgiving 1893 |
November 18, 2013 |
Mary
Sandburg Johnson |
November 11, 2013 |
Carl
Sandburg's Bicycle |
November 4, 2013 |
Lace Curtains |
October 28, 2013 |
The
Front Room |
October 21, 2013 |
A Warm Breakfast |
October 14, 2013 |
Marion D.
Shutter |
October 7, 2013 |
Cigars and Consumption |
September 30, 2013 |
Forrest F. Cooke & August Sandburg |
September 16, 2013 |
Forrest F.
Cooke, Mayor |
September 9, 2013 |
Dusty
Streets |
September 2, 2013 |
Typhoid
Fever |
August 26, 2013 |
Coffee and Water |
August 19, 2013 |
A
Horse! A Horse! |
August 12, 2013 |
Gaddial Scott |
August 5, 2013 |
The
Racetrack |
July 29, 2013 |
John Peter
Algeld - Part II |
July 22, 2013 |
John Peter
Altgeld - Part I |
July
15, 2013 |
Tramps, Tramps, Tramps |
July 8, 2013 |
Lady
Liberty |
July 1, 2013 |
Galesburg's
Fourth |
June 24, 2013 |
John
H. Finley |
June 17, 2013 |
The
World's Columbian Exhibition |
June
10, 2013 |
Fruit
Short-Cake |
June 3, 2013 |
Horatio Alger,
Author |
May 27, 2013 |
Memorial Day,
1887 |
May 20, 2013 |
Professor
Jon W. Grubb |
May 13, 2013 |
Beginnings of Lombard University |
May 6, 2013 |
Young
Sandburg’s View of Lombard College |
April
29, 2013 |
Thinking |
April
22, 2013 |
Robert
Colville, Master Mechanic |
April 15,
2013 |
The Galesburg Opera House |
April 8, 2013 |
Grocery
Stores and Sample Rooms |
April 1, 2013 |
A
Hearty Breakfast |
March
25, 2013 |
The Lost
Wallpaper Legend |
March 18, 2013 |
Martin G. Sandburg |
March 4, 2013 |
The
Edison Talking Machine |
February 25, 2013 |
Joe Elser, Civil War
Veteran |
February 18, 2013 |
Remember
the Maine... |
February 11, 2013 |
Lincoln's
Birthday |
February 4, 2013 |
Curiosity |
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