MORNINGS ON MAPLE STREET VOLUME TWO
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Girls in Lincolnton, North Carolina, Page One

LincolntonGirl1.jpg
Unidentified mill worker, Lincolnton, North Carolina, November 1908. Photo by Lewis Hine.

Rhodes Mfg. Co., Lincolnton, N.C. Spinner. A moments glimpse of the outer world Said she was 10 years old. Been working over a year. Location: Lincolnton, North Carolina, November 1908, Lewis Hine.

LincolntonGirl2.jpg
Unidentified mill workers, Lincolnton, North Carolina, November 1908. Photo by Lewis Hine.

Rhodes Mfg. Co., Lincolnton, N.C. National Child Labor Committee. No. 282. Girl on left said she was 10 years old and been in mill a long time more than a year. Spinner girl on right said she was 12 years. Location: Lincolnton, North Carolina, November 1908, Lewis Hine.

I believe that the top photo is one of Lewis Hine's greatest photographs. But after 100 years, the girl is still unknown. After carefully studying both photos, it is obvious to me that the girl on the left in the second photo is the same girl, and that the other two persons are her mother and her sister. At my request, the Lincolnton Times-News published the photos and a short article about my search. The article appeared Friday, July 17, 2009. Unfortunately, no one identified the family.

I looked at the 1910 census and found 12 families in Lincolnton, which had two sisters who would have been about 10 and 12 in 1908; and which had at least one family member listed as a cotton mill worker. One of those families may very well be the right one. If so, the 10-year-old girl's name would have been one of the following (spelling may vary): Hulda Aker, Lala Blanton, Ida Bost, Bessie Heavnerl, Lyla Hovis, Minnie Loftus, Ira Manney, Zone Manney, Ethel Michael, Fanny Mosteller, Nannie Ramsey and Jessie Smith. But the mystery remains.

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