Robert J. Samuelson was a member of the Dirty Dozen, the self-named group of teenage boys who had their photograph taken on a Sunday afternoon in the mid-1890s.

He was born August 29, 1879, in Galesburg. His parents were Charles and Christin Samuelson, Swedish immigrants. He was baptized as John Robert on October 15, 1879, in the First Swedish Lutheran Church. Where Charles Samuelson was employed is difficult to ascertain. There were several men by the name of Charles Samuelson listed in the Galesburg City Directory at the time. Both of his parents died before Robert reached adulthood.

Like Carl Sandburg, Samuelson completed eighth grade and then went to work. He spent his entire working life with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. He began as a call man. It was his responsibility to go to the homes of railroad engineers to inform them when their next train would go out on the road.

Samuelson was a corporal in Company C of the Sixth Illinois National Guard. Sandburg joined the company in April, 1898, after the United States declared war on Spain. Both men suffered the heat, mosquitoes, lice and spoiled rations while in the infantry unit.

After returning to Galesburg, Samuelson worked for the railroad as a car clerk in the freight office. He then became a switchman and later, a brakeman.

In 1903, Samuelson married Jeanette R. Watkins. She had been born September 5, 1881, and was a graduate of Galesburg High School. They had a daughter, Mary Louise, who died as an infant. They purchased a home at 449 West Tompkins Street and resided there for many years.

Mrs. Samuelson died July 23, 1951, of a cerebral hemorrhage. She was a member of Grace Episcopal Church where the funeral service was held. The remains were taken to Davenport for cremation. The ashes were placed next to their daughter in Hope Cemetery.

Robert “ Bob” Samuelson retired from the railroad in August, 1945. He was given a fifty year pin and a lifetime pass for his years of service to the railroad. After the death of his wife, Samuelson lived at the Galesburg Club until his death July 5, 1955. He had been a member of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, the Elks Lodge and a number of Masonic orders. His only survivors were a niece and a nephew of Mrs. Samuelson. He was also interred in Hope Cemetery.

Like many other men of Galesburg in that time, Robert Samuelson worked for the CB&Q Railroad all of his life. He married, had a child, bought a house and acted as a good citizen—another son of Swedish immigrants. It might be said he was like one of those mentioned in Thomas Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard: “Along the cool sequestered vale of life/They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.”