Written by Bryan Engelbrecht, IDNR Site Services Specialist II

Born May 1, 1883, in Hancock Michigan, to immigrant parents, Lilian Steichen Sandburg graduated in 1903 from the University of Chicago with a Bachelor of Philosophy. While enrolled there, she became active in the Socialist Party. Her work in the Socialist Movement led her to meet Carl Sandburg, who worked as an organizer for the party in 1907. They began exchanging letters and poetry, which she encouraged Carl to continue writing. On June 21, 1908, they married. 

After successfully helping her husband launch his writing career and raising three daughters, Sandburg began to focus on her pursuits. In 1935, she established the Chikaming Goat Farm at her residence in Harbert, Michigan. She began breeding and dairying Toggenburg, Saanen, and Nubian goats. As her dairy operation expanded, she became a national expert on the subject. While her husband traveled the country performing poetry and songs, she traveled separately speaking to farmers and others about her work. Descendants of the original herd reside today at the Carl Sandburg National Historic Site in Flat Rock, North Carolina. Sandburg died on February 18, 1977. Her ashes rest next to her husband’s underneath Remembrance Rock at the Carl Sandburg State Historic Site in Galesburg, Illinois.