Lonaconing Silk Mill: The People Through The Lens of Time

Captured with a Lensbaby Composer fitted with the 4+ Diopter and Processed in Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 and further processed with Vintage Scene desktop app for Mac

The last group of images I made at the silk mill a week ago was of two typewritten papers that were still in place just as they were in 1957 when the mill closed for operation and nailed to a support column in the mill. The names of the employees in this section of the mill remained in tact on the typed papers and it made me wonder what ever became of them. This document reminded me also of my mother as she was a secretary in 1957 and also typed on a typewriter with the same key font. (she never abandoned her typewriter even as computers and keyboards were invented and used it until her passing)

In order to make this post, I made a few Internet searches and found information on the names that appeared on the typewritten lists.
Evelyn Steele:
Evelyn worked in the 5 b’s (or 5 bobbins area where they ran bobbins of thread on to other bobbins) it was a section for that specific manufacturing  process in the mill.
From the seniority list paper on the mill wall, she started worked there on February 27, 1942, and through the WWII years until 1957 when the mill shut down overnight. She was a part of "The Greatest Generation." During the early WWII years the silk thread from the mill went into the sewing of parachutes for the war effort, until raw silk from Japan became unavailable. 
From her obituary in the Cumberland News dated January 3, 1968: Evelyn Steele  died January 1, 1968 it appears she never married as there was no mention of children or any mention of a husband, but she came from a large family of brothers and sisters. She worked out her years in a retirement home. She died at age 60 Wednesday, January 1, 1968.

Russell Nine, I could find no information, other than that on the paper in the mill......
Russell Nine  was employed at the mill beginning May 25, 1942 through closing in June 1957.

Margaret Yantz worked in the mill from April 10, 1946 until it closed in 1957.
From her mothers obituary dated January 11, 1943 Cumberland Times her Mother died at age 79 and she Margaret was at home with her sister Bessie at the time of her mothers passing.
They were from a a family of seven, five sisters and two brothers.

Genevieve Green* was born on July 14, 1914 Died August 1992, She was
married to Wilbur Green and had two children Alvin born 1931 and Roger born 1932
(source roots web)* She was also part of "The Greatest Generation."
Elizabeth Leatherman~ was married to John Leatherman.. John came home to Lonaconing on Dec 20, 1942 from Augusta Military Academy, a brief note from a local paper reported.

Captured with a Lensbaby Composer fitted with the 4+ Diopter and Processed in Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 and further processed with Vintage Scene desktop app for Mac

Eva (Nightengale)Watkinson~ Married John Watkinson and had 5 brothers and two sisters. (from her sisters obituary Florence Duckworth, dated Feb 19, 2010 Medville Tribune.) It also appears from her sister's obituary that she too worked at the mill at one point in her life.
During the great depression the Mill reorganized and changed the name from the Klotz Throwing Company to the General Textile Mills. An Oral History Doc on the mill can be download from the Internet at this site. Silk Mill and Oral History. The Lonaconing Silk Mill 1907-1957 was written and published to preserve the memories and experiences of the people who lived and worked in the mill. This was the first of many books to be produced by the Allegheny High School Social Studies Department.

Captured with a Nikon 200mm lens and Processed in Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 and further processed with Vintage Scene desktop app for Mac

A calendar from the year the mil closed still hangs on the wall.
Captured with a Lensbaby Composer fitted with the 4+ Diopter and Processed in Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 and further processed with Vintage Scene desktop app for Mac

Captured with a Lensbaby Composer fitted with the 4+ Diopter and Processed in Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 and further processed with Vintage Scene desktop app for Mac

Virgil Alexander, I found a record of a Virgil Alexander as Mayor of Lonaconing from 1950-1956 and from 1960 -1962. I am going to assume that this may have been the father of the bobbin boy Virgil Alexander or it could have been one in the same, in small towns Mayors came from all walks of life. In a Cumberland Times newspaper article from April 1961, it stated he was a furniture salesman in Cumberland.