This will be a short one. So far, Seacoast history buffs have come up with no more information on this photo than was printed on the back. Issued July 24, 1924, by Fotograms of New York, here’s what the caption reads: 11-Year-Old Girl Runs 25-Acre Farm Doing All the Work Herself.
“11 year old Vivian Brown has very little spare time, since she undertook to run a 25-acre farm at Rye Beach, New Hampshire, all by herself. Taking in the hay, milking six cows, doing all the planting and harvesting, are all in the day’s work for her, and she is proving herself to be a most capable farmer, and is making the farm pay. During the winter and early spring she attends school in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where she is in the 8th grade.”
That’s all we’ve got. A second wire photo shows Vivian in pants and suspenders sitting on a stool and milking her cow into a metal bucket. The gigantic cow stands contentedly in front of what appears to be a tall clapboard barn with a high stone foundation. And yes, that could be just about anywhere. The second photo, unfortunately, offers the identical caption.
So those are your clues. We can assume Vivian was entering eighth grade in the fall of 1924 in Portsmouth. Did she graduate from Portsmouth High in 1929? We know her farm was 25 acres near the beach, but why was she working alone? Was it a publicity stunt? Where was her family? Inquiring minds want to know.
Copyright J. Dennis Robinson, all rights reserved
Peace and Thanksgiving, then Flames in 1963