Carl Sandburg walked to the Seventh Ward School on South Broad Street with Ed Rosenberg and several other Swedish Lutheran boys. Everyone had a nickname: “Husky” and “Al” Larson, “Fritz” and “Bullhead” Johnson. Sandburg was called “Cully.”

Rosenberg's original nickname was “Muff” because he had missed an easy fly ball while playing baseball. On another occasion he was running on a cinder path and fell. He got up and called himself “Muffa de Grit.” When he hit the winning run in one of the many baseball games the boys played, he added a little more to his nickname, “Muffa De Grit Eddie Ampa.” Nobody could figure out where the “Ampa” part of the name came from. It just fitted in.

“Muffa” was one of the boys who went swimming in the Old Brick pond on that famous Sunday afternoon. When he saw the police wagon coming, he grabbed his shirt and pants and ran for the Narrow Gauge Railroad tracks. He was almost out of sight by the time the policemen arrived at the pond. Later, he returned to get his shoes, socks and hat after his friends had been taken away. He was half afraid the police would come to his house and take him to jail.

Sandburg wrote in his autobiography, Always the Young Strangers, that Rosenberg should have been a member of the Dirty Dozen. He was often with the group and participated in many of their activities. He remembered that Eddie had a quick wit and a sense of humor. He was also fast on his feet when the occasion required.

Edward William Rosenberg was born May 28, 1878, just a few months after Sandburg had been born. His parents were John J. and Carrie Olson Rosenberg, both Swedish immigrants. There were two older children in the family, Emma and Hilmar.

Just like Sandburg, Eddie didn't finish high school. He worked in a cigar store in Galesburg and later was employed at the John Deere plow works in Moline. In 1920 he moved to Chicago where he worked as a newspaper pressman. He never married. At least part of that time his sister lived with him and was employed as a proofreader. Hilmar worked for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad his entire adult life.

Rosenberg lived at 1099 West Chicago Avenue in Chicago at the time of his death. He had been ill for several years before he died in Cook County Hospital on March 18, 1945. The funeral was held in the Kimber and West Chapel in Galesburg. He was buried in Linwood Cemetery in the same plot as his mother. His sister was buried there in 1955 and his brother in 1958. Neither of them had married during their lifetimes.

He was another of Carl Sandburg's childhood friends who had lived responsibly, paid his bills and used his sense of humor to get through life. He probably enjoyed good relationships with those whom he knew because of the positive outlook on life that he had had since childhood.