January 6th

By Barbara Schock

This week we will observe the 144th anniversary of Carl Sandburg’s birth. He was helped into the world by a midwife in a small three-room house on East Third Street in Galesburg. There were no modern conveniences like plumbing or central heating. The dwelling stood but a block from the Chicago, Burllington and Quincy Railroad yard.
 
Carl’s older sister, Mary, was plucked out of the wooden cradle crafted by August Sandburg in order to place the new baby in it. The parents were very proud to have a boy and named him Carl August. Several days later, Clara Sandburg was performing her usual household duties and caring for the two children. It would be a year and a half before another boy joined the family.
 
The city of Galesburg didn’t have so many conveniences in those days either. The streets were dirt: dusty in summer, frozen into ruts in winter and muddy after every rain. The sidewalks were wooden planks and almost every house had a fence around it. Homeowners kept chickens, planted gardens every spring, lifted water from a well in the backyard and ran a tab at the grocery store, which was paid at the end of the week.
 
Galesburg was a “railroad town.”  The Q employed a great many of the workers. It brought travelers, business and entertainment into the city. The railroads also provided a means to send out the many items manufactured in the city, from corn planters to brooms. The “Q” whistle regulated the rhythm of the resident’s lives. The work day was ten hours long.
 
There were many churches in Galesburg. The founders had brought Presbyterianism and Congregationalism with them. They built churches to accommodate the services. Other denominations arrived and erected more churches. By the end of the century, Galesburg churches had some of the most beautiful stained glass windows in the state.
 
When Carl Sandburg was born, there were still many pioneers living in Galesburg and Knox County. As he grew up, he became acquainted with many of them. He learned there were men who had known Abraham Lincoln. He knew that his father’s cousin, Magnus Holmes, and his wife, had attended the Lincoln-Douglas Debate in 1857.
 
Carl performed household tasks for his mother as he grew older. He carried coal up the steps into the house to keep the iron cook stove going. He carried out the ashes from burning the coal. He carried buckets of water from the backyard well into the house for cooking and cleaning as well as bathing.
 
By the time Carl was ten years old, he had a job cleaning an office on Main Street. He delivered milk by horse and wagon and cleaned the milk cans for the next day’s use. He worked at a pottery factory, he shined shoes at the Union Hotel barbershop. He moved scenery at the Auditorium and carried water for a construction gang.
 
Young Carl also attended school through the eighth grade. His older sister was selected to go to high school because she was the better student. He knew that he had to help his family in a financial way by finding whatever jobs were available.
 
All the while, he was storing up memories and thoughts in his mind. In later years, Carl Sandburg became an expert on the life of Abraham Lincoln and wrote respected books about him. He created funny and imaginative stories for his three daughters. He wrote more than a thousand poems in his lifetime. His writings usually expressed compassion for workers. He spoke before Congress. He performed on college campuses for decades.
 
We should honor the day Carl Sandburg came into a family of Swedish immigrants and later shared his genius with the world.