Betsy Price was born and raised in Marlinton. She was the oldest of five children born to Calvin Wells Price and Mabel (Milligan) Price. Her father was the longtime owner and editor of the Pocahontas Times newspaper in Marlinton. Betsy Price attended the Marlinton High School and graduated in 1924. She then went on to attend the West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon, where she graduated with a degree in education in 1928.
After graduating from college, Betsy Price taught school in Marlinton for several years. She then married John C. "Jack" Price in 1932. They had one child, a daughter named Mary. Betsy Price retired from teaching in 1967.
Betsy Price was a lifelong resident of Marlinton. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church and the Order of the Eastern Star. She was also a volunteer at the Pocahontas County Hospital.
Betsy Price was a well-known and respected member of the Marlinton community. She was known for her kindness, her sense of humor, and her love of life. She was a true inspiration to everyone who knew her.
Lewis Hine caption: Betsey Price, First year
high school at her Club sewing. 4 H Club work, Marlinton, W. Va.
Location: [Pocahontas County]–Marlinton, West Virginia / Photo Lewis W.
Hine, October 7, 1921.
“I don’t know if that was why her picture was taken, but my mother
was really pretty. My dad told me that when he saw her for the first
time, she was so beautiful, that he fell in love with her right away.” -Elizabeth Blake, daughter of Betsy Price
People familiar with Lewis Hine’s child labor investigations might
wonder why he took this photograph for the National Child Labor
Committee. Betsy is well dressed, even fashionable, and quite grownup
looking for 13. And she is sewing for the 4-H Club in her high school,
not for some rich textile mill owner in his lint-filled brick building
by the river. It was taken in 1921, not in the years between 1908 and
1917, when Hine took nearly all of his classic child labor pictures. To
learn more, I contacted Tom Beck, chief curator of the Special
Collections Department of University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The
collection includes nearly all of Hine’s child labor photographs, and
Beck is regarded as an expert on Hine’s work.
He told me that West Virginia established a Child Welfare Commission
in 1921. At that time, the state had stiffened its laws requiring school
attendance for children between 14 and 16. “Like other locations where
Hine was sent to photograph,” he explained, “the state was in the midst
of changing their laws regarding child labor. The National Child Labor
Committee would have wanted Hine to highlight the state’s efforts.”
Shortly after, I found the following, which I have excerpted from
Rural Child Welfare, An Inquiry by the National Child Labor Committee
(1922), based upon conditions in West Virginia, under the direction of
Edward N. Clopper. Photographic illustrations were by Lewis W. Hine.
“In the beginning of our agricultural development it was necessary
that every member of the family be a producer to his greatest capacity.
Families lived far apart, seasonal help was scarce, and the labor of the
whole family was necessary to save the crop. The family that did not
produce to its utmost was looked upon as a drag on the community. A
child who spent his time in play was not only of no benefit but was
thought to be on his way to ruin. Work kept adults out of mischief, so
why was it not good for the child? Rural folk are slow to change from
old to new ideas. Many children are still compelled by their parents to
work, not from necessity, but because they honestly believe that work is
the only thing worthwhile for them. They are prejudiced against play,
recreation, and social life, and cannot see the value of an education if
it interferes with their immediate needs, so they often require
children to work to keep them out of devilment. On the other hand, there
is still severe economic pressure on many rural homes which, without
relief from other sources, demands the undivided attention of every
member of the family.”
“The parent’s conception of his relation to his child is another
factor influencing the kind and amount of work the child does. The
popular conception in the rural mind is that the child is indebted to
the parent for bringing him into this world, that it is the child’s duty
to make every sacrifice for the parent, that where the interests of the
child and the parent conflict, those of the former should always be
sacrificed.”
“The work done by children on the farm presents no difficulties to
the mind of the rural parent. In conversation with a man who was a
leading farmer and an active church and Sunday School worker in his
community, one who had more than an average education and appreciation
of present-day problems, in fact a man who was the leader of his
prosperous community, this question was asked: ‘Do you think the
children in this community are in any way injured by the work they do on
the farm?’ Answer: ‘No, indeed, more work would be better for them and
the community would be more prosperous.'”
“The state, on the other hand, has taken a somewhat different
attitude. It regards its children as future citizens, who must be given
the chance of normal development so that they can take their proper
places later on. The state believes that all is not well now with the
rural child and is taking steps to relieve him of the burden it thinks
he is bearing. Knowing the individualism of the rural father and how he
insists on being lord of his household, it is not taking measures of
compulsion, but is trying to displace child labor with something better –
it is substituting children’s work for child labor, but it is often
hard to distinguish between them. Child labor interferes with health,
education, and recreation; children’s work not only does not interfere
with these but aids in securing them to the child.”
“West Virginia, through its Division of Extension, is offering
children’s work in the form of boys’ and girls’ Four-H Clubs. These
clubs have been in successful operation for about ten years. Their
emblem is a four-leaf clover, each leaf representing one essential part
of a child’s life. It means luck, and luck comes to the boy or girl who
has his Four H’s, namely, ‘Head,’ ‘Hand,’ ‘Heart,’ and ‘Health,'” all
well developed. Clubs are organized in counties which employ
agricultural, home demonstration, or club agents. They center around the
local schools, and often the children from two or three schools will be
organized in one. Any rural child between the ages of 10 and 18 years
may become a member, if he will meet certain requirements.”
Hine took 110 photos in West Virginia in October of 1921. About 40
were of children participating in 4-H Clubs around the state. Others
showed children attending rural schools, and a few showed rundown shacks
and cabins inhabited by poor farm families or coal miners. He took two
photographs of Betsy.
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