Edited interview with Violet Harrell (VH), daughter of Nannie Coleson. Conducted by Joe Manning (JM), on July 22, 2008. Transcribed by Jessica Sleevi and edited by Manning.

JM: How did you react to the photo?

VH: I thought it was wonderful.

JM: Were you surprised that she was photographed working in a mill at such a young age?

VH: I was, but I knew her sisters worked there. Did you get any names of older sisters that were there?

JM: No, there were some other photos that Lewis Hine took in that mill, but none mentioned any other children named Coleson.

VH: I was surprised that she talked to him and told him how old she was and all. She was such a quiet person.

JM: Mr. Hine encountered a lot of children who lied about their age. A lot of times the mill owners would tell them to lie about their age because they were under the legal limit. Did she ever tell you about having to work as a child?

VH: No.

JM: When were you born?

VH: I was born in 1929. I was number three. My older sister was Nannie Geraldine, my brother was Leonidas Polk Felton Jr., and my younger sister was Barbara Anne. I'm the only one left.

JM: At the time you were born, where were you living?

VH: I lived where I am now, in Colerain, North Carolina, in Bertie County.

JM: How far is that from Scotland Neck, where your mother was photographed?

VH: Probably 50 miles.

JM: Did you know that your mother lived in Scotland Neck?

VH: Yes. She had lived in Hertford County, where she was born, and she lived around Connaritsa and Hexlena, in Bertie County. And then they moved to Scotland Neck. That's when my mother met my dad, Polk Felton, probably in 1920 or 1921, because they got married in 1922. She went to visit her sister in Hertford County. They went to a church/social event at Christian Harbor, where she met my dad.

JM: It's a good thing I found you. It's disappointing when I find a picture like this and there's no one left to remember the person.

VH: How did you find me?

JM: I found you in the North Carolina birth index. It listed you as Violet Hope Felton, born in 1929, and it listed your parents as Leonidas Polk Felton and Nannie Coleson. I had already found your mother's death certificate, and it lists a daughter, Mrs. Willie P. Harrell. So I guessed that you might be her, and then I found you in the Internet phone directories.

VH: That's scary. We don't have any secrets anymore.

JM: When Mr. Hine took this picture, he was trying to tell people that there shouldn't be child labor, and your mother shouldn't be working at that age. How do you feel about that?

VH: Well, I knew she grew up very poor. She was very sensitive about that. But they owned a farm. There was an old wooden school house near there, and that's where she probably went to school. I remember her saying that they would rake up the pine needles and make a wood fire in the heater at the school.

JM: Did your mother work while you were growing up?

VH: No.

JM: What did your father do for a living?

VH: When they were married, he was farming. She had a sister who lived in Rocky Mount. Her husband was working for the railroad. So my dad moved there and worked as a mechanic. Then they came back to the farm around 1933 and bought a farm with a brother-in-law. They probably divided it up. We still have our part, and the other part has been sold to someone outside of the family.

JM: Your mother lived a fairly long time.

VH: She was born in 1902, and died in February of 1973. She would have been 71 in September. My father had died suddenly of a heart attack at 65. I had never known him to go to the doctor or be sick a day in his life. A year before that, my brother drowned in a boating accident. So when my father died, she just sort of went into a shell. Then she went to a nursing home, and she just set there. She was sort of an introvert, you know. She told me that her mother always sat by the fire and never said very much.

JM: What was your mother like?

VH: She was very pretty. She was a very fastidious housekeeper. Everything had to be just right. She was an excellent cook. We always helped by gathering the vegetables and peeling the potatoes.

JM: I assume that you basically subsisted off the farm.

VH: Quite a bit.

JM: Did you inherit the farm from your mother?

VH: We bought the shares out. My father didn't leave a will. Then we had some tenant farmers, but we didn't do much farming ourselves. I rent the farm out now. I'm a widow.

JM: When did you stop farming the land?

VH: Well, when he was older, my husband became a cabinet maker and a rural letter carrier. Then he had a heart attack in 1988 and had to retire.

JM: When you grew up, did you move away for awhile and come back, or were you always on this property?

VH: After my husband and I were married three years, we moved to Rocky Hock, a community in Chowan County, where my husband was from.

JM: How far away was that from your mother?

VH: If we could go across the Chowan River, it would be three miles, but the way we drive it, it's about 40. There's no bridge.

JM: Did you see your mother frequently?

VH: Oh, yes. We visited back and forth probably every week or two. My husband and I eventually moved back to live with her, and I still live in that house in Bertie County.

JM: In the picture of your mother, she looks very involved with her work.

VH: That's the way she always was, very particular.

JM: Did she have any special talents or interests in her life outside of being a homemaker and a parent?

VH: Not a lot, but she could play the piano by ear.

JM: Did you know your mother's parents?

VH: I don't remember her dad, and her mother passed away when I was in the second grade. I know that her dad was sick a long time at home, and people had to wait on him.

JM: Do you know where they lived in Scotland Neck?

VH: I have seen the house, but I have no idea if it's still there. I haven't been in Scotland Neck in probably 20 years. I remember that she always talked about the green rosebush that was in the yard. It was a two story house. I am going to go back soon and look around.

JM: Did your mother finish school? It says in the caption she'd been through the fifth grade so far.

VH: I don't know, but she had beautiful handwriting, very particular.

JM: What did you do in your life? Did you have a career?

VH: Well, I just got married at 18 and had children. I had four wonderful girls. I had one in the first 12 years, and then three in 17 months. Two were twins, so that's how I got three in 17 months. They'll be 45 soon.

JM: Did you graduate from high school?

VH: Yes, and then I got married right away.

JM: Did you work at all as a child?

VH: No, I never worked. My older sister went to East Carolina Teachers College, and my younger sister went to Chowan College. She married an Air Force man, and at 41, she died of cancer, just about the time he retired from the service.

JM: It's interesting to find out about children who worked in mills, and learn that their own children went to college. I found one who was photographed in 1908, and she sent all six of her children to college.

VH: Well, sometimes those that have the hardest time in life turn out to be the best ones.