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Nellie was obviously working for one of several button mills that were in the Williamsburg area at the time. Nellie's
granddaughter, Bernice Lyman, of Florence, told me that her father, Charles Weeks, often mentioned that he used to go down
in the cellar and play with the buttons. She had some colorful stories about Nellie. "The whole family would go over to her house every Sunday, when she was living in Chester (Mass). She lived
near a couple of her sons who worked in the lumber camps. They used to call her "nurse," at all these camps, because
she took care of them. Even today, when I'm not feeling well, I'll use the medical things she used when she went around
to these camps. I had a boy that had pneumonia when he was two months old. The doctor gave up on him. Grandma Weeks had skunk's
oil, so I gave it to him. The doctor said, 'What did you do to this baby? He's out of danger now.' I told him,
and he said, 'Well, it's an old fashioned remedy.'" Nellie Weeks died in 1953, at the age of 87, leaving nine children, 46 grandchildren, 76 great-grandchildren and
nine great-great grandchildren. She is buried at Village Hill Cemetery in Williamsburg, right next to the remodeled house
where she might have been photographed by Lewis Hine almost a century ago.
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| Nellie Weeks, granddaughter Barbara (Viola's daughter) & friend, circa 1950. Provided by family. |
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