This photo of Minnie and Mattie was the first one I chose to work on after I completed the search for Addie Card. As you can see, only Minnie was identified by Hine. As I state on the “About Lewis Hine Project” page:

After a month of painstaking research, I obtained a copy of Minnie's obituary. She died more than 30 years ago, single, with no children. A nephew, of Gastonia, was listed as one of the survivors. In the Internet white pages, I found a man with the same name living in Gastonia. I called him, and he was the right person. He expressed great surprise about the photograph, and was very pleased when I told him I would send him a copy. I thanked him, dropped the photo in the mail, and called him three weeks later. He said excitedly: “I was hoping you would call me sooner. I've got some incredible news for you. The other girl in the photo is my mother."

I guess I should have guessed that the two girls were sisters. But I was just starting to learn how to do this type of research (reverse genealogy), and it was a nice surprise. Mr. McDaniel was elated to receive the photo of his mother, and I realized that possibility of repeating this story with other families, that is, sending them photos of their ancestors that they had never seen before, was reason enough to proceed with the project.

I started my research on this photo by looking up Minnie Carpenter in the 1910 census. I found her right away, and it was a strange feeling to see her listed, along with her parents and siblings, as if this confirmed to me that she was a real person. I followed her through the 1930 census, which is the last one currently available to the public. And then I got very lucky. Because Minnie never married, I found her, still Minnie Carpenter, in the Social Security Death Index. She died in 1973. So I contacted the library in Gastonia, and they sent me a copy of her obituary from their newspaper archives. And that’s how I learned about her nephew, Cramer McDaniel. He was listed as a survivor, living in Gastonia, and I found his phone number.

Minnie Carpenter was born in Lincolnton, North Carolina, in 1896, and Mattie was born two years later. They were the daughters of Henry and Mary Carpenter. In the 1900 census, they are living in Gastonia. The two oldest children are working in a textile mill. In the 1910 census, three children are at home, including Minnie and Mattie. In 1920, Minnie is the only child listed at home. The census was recorded on January 17, and six months later, Henry passed away.

In 1930, Mattie, now married to Thomas McDaniel, is living on South King Street, in Gastonia, with six children. Also in the home are Mattie’s mother Mary, and sister Minnie. Mattie’s husband and her oldest son Albert, 15 years old, are working at the cotton mill, as is Minnie.

Mattie died in 1983, at the age of 83, a year after her husband Thomas died. Minnie died in 1973 at the age of 76, the obituary stating that she was a retiree from Firestone Textiles, which bought the Loray Cotton Mill in the 1930s.

See the next page for my interview Cramer McDaniel, Mattie’s son (and Minnie’s nephew).