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| Byron Hamilton, 7 yrs old, Eastport, Maine, August 1911. Photo by Lewis Hine |
"I cut my finger nearly off, cutting sardines the other day."
Seven year old Byron. Location: Eastport, Maine, August 1911, Lewis Hine.
"He was extremely brilliant. If he had had money, he certainly
would have gone to college. He liked to quote poetry and the classics." -George Hamilton, nephew of Byron Hamilton "He was always a nice boy, easy to get along with. He and his family
moved away to Massachusetts when he finished high school, and then we used to see him a little bit in the summertime. His
brothers and sisters never moved back, but his parents, William and Susan, moved back." -Elaine Lodge, Byron's
first cousin
*************************** According to the 1910 census, there were six persons with the first name of Byron
living in Eastport, Maine, among a population of about 5,000. Five of the six were born between 1901 and 1905, including Byron
Hamilton. At least some members of almost every family in Eastport worked in the seafood industry, on lobster and fishing
boats, and at the canneries, where boys and girls as young as five cut fish and packed cans of sardines. In 12 of the 53 Eastport
photos, Hine mentions cut fingers in the caption. At least
one member of the Hamilton family appears in seven of the photos. There is a photo of Byron that is virtually identical to
the one above, but in the caption, Byron says to Hine, "I cut my finger off," instead of "I almost
cut my finger off." Obviously, he did not lose his finger. According
to the census, Social Security death records and family testimony, Byron Andrew Hamilton was born in Eastport on February
28, 1904, the youngest of four children of William James Hamilton and Susan (Farris) Hamilton, who married about 1893. As
early as 1900, the Hamiltons owned their home at 22 Franklin Street, just south of the center of town. William worked in the
cannery.
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| Hamilton family, Eastport, Maine, August 1911. Photo by Lewis Hine. |
Hamilton Family, sardine works, Eastport. Father earns $15 to $25
a week irregularly during the work season for three months. Said that 20 years ago he made $5 a day as a boy, cutting. The
mother is a packer makes $10 a week and upward, during the active season. Another boy, not in the photo, works also. In the
front row are George Hamilton, 11 years old, who cuts regularly--made a dollar in three hours the day before; Byron, with
a badly cut finger, earns 25 cents a day; little Erna 8 years old works at cartoning. The father is dissatisfied with the
irregular income, but cannot see the connection between his early boyhood work and his present stagnation. He is putting his
little ones through the same process. Location: Eastport, Maine, August 1911, Lewis Hine.
Pictured above: Children (L-R): Byron, George, and Irma Hamilton. Seated
above them (L-R): Apparently Susan Hamilton (mother of Byron's father) and Byron's parents, Susan Hamilton and William
James Hamilton.
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