"Spoiled possibly, but more likely, she was not thrilled with the work she had to do. The ladies in Daddy's family, as I was told, were all very strong-willed and stubborn." -Nanette Lowe, niece of Anna J. Gallant (her father was Anna's brother)

This Gothic scene may be the strangest photograph in Lewis Hine's vast catalogue. It looks like an illustration for a Brontë novel. What are we to think when we look at it and read Hine's caption? His surprising remark, that Anna is "already a spoiled child," seems to come out of nowhere. What would have provoked it? Her seemingly defiant look is unsettling, but did Hine work to capture that pose, or was it just the way she reacted? If so, was she scared, suspicious, or just plain tired? Parents know that children this age can be pretty cranky when they are exhausted.

The little girl sitting behind Anna, who also has a ribbon in her hair, might have been her sister, Margaret, who was listed as five years old in the 1910 census. She appears to be staring at the people walking between the shacks that housed itinerant summer cannery workers, among them apparently Anna and her family. Hine captured a haunting little slice of American life, and it begs the questions, "What was Anna really like?" and "Whatever happened to her?"

The answers didn't come easy, though my research got off to a good start. I saw the photo back in August 2006, almost four years before I finally was able to write this story in April 2010. Right away, I found Anna's parents, Charles and Jessie De Gallant, in the 1900 census, living in Eastport on Accommodation St., which is now called Chapel St. They were married in 1891, and had five children. Charles, whose occupation was listed as tinsmith, entered the US from Quebec in 1889. Jessie was born in Maine.

By the 1910 census, the family had dropped the "De" from their name, and father Charles had died (I found out later that he was killed on the job earlier that year). Jessie was left with nine children, including 8-year-old Anna. They were living in Lubec, Maine, a short distance down the coast from Eastport. The two oldest children were supporting the family by working in a sardine cannery. The family was also in the 1920 census, living at 23 Key Street, in Eastport. Jessie, still a widow, was listed as a private duty nurse. Anna was one of four children still in the home. Only the oldest child, Marie, was working, in a sardine cannery.

In 1930, I found Anna J. Sears in Eastport, who was about the same age as Anna Gallant. She was married to Carrel Sears and had one child, a boy listed as "Harald," born about 1920. Anna was working at the cannery, and her husband was a carpenter. According to the Maine State Archives, Anna and Carroll (correct spelling) married on August 26, 1922, about two years after Harald was born. Their marriage certificate confirmed that Anna was indeed Anna J. Gallant.

At that point, everything stopped. I could find nothing further on Anna, Carroll, or Harald (I tried the usual spelling, Harold). For the next several years, I made numerous attempts, each time coming up empty and disappointed. At one point, I found the Maine death record for a Harold Sears, born in 1920, but his obituary confirmed he was not the same Harold who was the son of Anna.