Mildred Greenwood, Page One

Comparison of Ages: Left end, Marion Deschere, just passed 13 years. Helps sister in mill "some." Next is Mildred Greenwood, "going on 14." Goes to school. Next is Mamie La Barge, 13 years, but said 14 years. Right end is Rosina Goyette, said 14, probably 12 or 13. Mamie and Rosina have steady jobs. Location: Winchendon, Massachusetts, September 1911, Lewis Hine.

"She was just like a mother. She was very nurturing. She made you feel good when you felt bad. She seemed to be happy all the time. She was really never blue. She was always smiling." -Steven Courtemanche, grandson of Mildred Greenwood

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Of the 40 photographs that Lewis Hine took in Winchendon in the first week of September, about 15 were taken on Sunday, September 3. All the children in these photos were dressed in their Sunday best. Most would have attended Mass that morning at Immaculate Heart of Mary, which had opened two years earlier. The Catholic parish recently celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the church building.

At the time of the photograph, Mildred and her family were living at 230 Maple Street. The street is the main thoroughfare that connects downtown Winchendon to the mill village of Winchendon Springs. Many of the houses on that street were built by the White Bros., owners of the Springs Mill and the Glenallan Mill, the subjects of Hine's investigation. The other three girls in the picture were correctly named Marion Deschenes (worked at Glenallan Mill), Mamie LeBarge (Springs Mill) and Rosina Goyette (Springs Mill).

Mildred Estella Greenwood was born in Winchendon on November 28, 1897. According to the 1861 Canada census, her father, Alfred Boisvert, was born about 1858 in Quebec. About 1879, he came to Rollinsford, New Hampshire, with his parents, Eusebe and Marie Boisvert, who gave their last name as Greenwood (Boisvert literally translates to "green wood."). According to the 1880 census, Alfred (now just Fred), his father, and five of his nine siblings worked at a cotton mill, likely the Salmon Falls Manufacturing Company.