Carl Sandburg's father, August, was a helper at the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad's blacksmith shop. He walked to work from his home in the southeast quadrant of Galesburg at 6:45 am.  At noon he walked home for dinner and returned to work at one o'clock. His work day ended at 6:00 pm.

 

August was helper to “Jack” Fowler. He was born in August, 1837, in Launcestor (Lancaster), Cornwall, in the southeast of Britain. He came to Galesburg in 1858 and was naturalized November 1, 1864. He married Margaret Symore in 1860. She was a native of the same town. They had three children, one dying in infancy.

 

Fowler was a large man, about six feet tall. He had a round, cherubic face and was good humored. The older Sandburg called him “my partner.” Carl noted in his autobiography, Always the Young Strangers, that his father pronounced the technical words used in blacksmithing work in proper, English form. Otherwise, August never lost his Swedish accent.

 

The earliest trains didn't have springs so the ride was very bumpy for people and freight. Making springs sufficiently strong for a locomotive or railroad car was a necessary job for the railroad. As equipment became larger and heavier, springs were used to prevent damage.

 

Each set of two axles and four wheels, called a truck, on a railroad car or locomotive has large compression springs. Pressure from the load presses the round coils closer together. The springs must be strong enough to return to the original shape without breaking.

 

Coiled springs were developed in the early fifteenth century. By the late 18^th century a spring winding machine had been designed. It was based on the idea of the lathe. A reel of wire was attached to the lathe in place of the cutting head and wound around a rod set in the lathe. The speed of the lathe determines the spacing of the coils in the spring. The coil was then heated to strengthen the metal. Today miniature coil springs are manufactured in the millions to be fitted under the key pads of cell phones.

 

Jack and Margaret Fowler lived for many years at 697 South West Street. Mrs. Fowler died June 24, 1912, and was buried in Hope Cemetery. He spent the last several years of his life in a hospital in Watertown, Wisconsin. On April 18, 1913, he died and the remains were returned to Galesburg for burial next to his wife.

 

John Kenneth Fowler had worked for the C.B. & Q. for 45 years.