What Ever Became of Evelyn?

Joe Manning (see this post) is now looking for info on Evelyn Casey, a mill worker photographed by Lewis Wickes Hine on June 17, 1916. The Fall River (Mass.) Historical Society thinks it's found the right family.

There were nine people in the Casey household, including parents Michael, 39, and Johanna, 38. Michael Casey was a janitor at the Coughlin School.

Siblings included Francis, Margaret, Edward, Angela, Joseph and Mary.

Evelyn Casey continued to be listed in city directories as a weaver living with her parents until 1922, when she may have married and taken her husband’s last name.

Are the Evelyn Casey in the photo and the Evelyn Casey in the records the same woman?

It’s a good bet, but there’s probably someone out there who knows for sure. If Evelyn Casey was born in 1902 and died at 70, then some daughter or grandson remembers her dying in 1972. [Link]

No Child Laborer Left Behind

I've written before about Lewis Hine's photographs of child laborers. Joe Manning has embarked upon a Lewis Hine Project.

Manning has made it his mission to find out what happened to the children in the photos, and to interview their descendants. He plans to eventually write a book and possibly make the photos and research into a traveling exhibit. [Link]

It all began with his collaboration with Elizabeth Winthrop to track down Addie Card, "the poster child of child labor"—a search that made the pages of Smithsonian last year.

Manning's website features some Mystery Photos of children still waiting to be identified. For instance, these children.

A family working in the Tifton (Ga.) Cotton Mill. Mrs. A.J. Young works in mill and at home. Nell (oldest girl) alternates in mill with mother. Mammy (next girl) runs 2 sides. Mary (next) runs 1 1/2 sides. Elic (oldest boy) works regularly. Eddie (next girl) helps in mill, sticks on bobbins. Four smallest children not working yet. The mother said she earns $4.50 a week and all the children earn $4.50 a week. Husband died and left her with 11 children. 2 of them went off and got married. The family left the farm 2 years ago to work in the mill. January 22, 1909. Location: Tifton, Georgia.

Mrs. A J. Young was probably the same living in Tifton in 1920, aged 53 years, with Ben L. and Tiffie Lanier (Tiffie, 33, presumably being one of the children who "went off and got married").

Anyone want to take a crack at finding the family in earlier censuses?

Update: Mr. Manning has contacted me, and tells me that it probably was Ben, not Tiffie, who was Mrs. Young's child (the census calls them just "Son" and "Daughter"). He has found that Tiffie's maiden name was "Oliver."

Minor Infractions

A century ago, Lewis Hine documented with his camera violations of child labor laws at textile mills in Gastonia, North Carolina. Robert Allen is trying to find descendants of the kids depicted in Hine's photographs in hopes of organizing a reunion in November 2008.

J.M. Merrill of Goldsboro had never seen the photo of his father, Rush Merrill, before.

Merrill said his father talked about working in the mill when he was so young he stood on a box to reach the machine.

"It's unreal that picture is in the Library of Congress," he said. "An old cotton mill man who only went to the third grade." [Link]