But in the year prior, Mollie’s jaw had been removed after it began to break apart, she developed anemia, and her mouth would not stop bleeding. When Mollie died in 1922, at just 24 years old, several causes of death were blamed, including ulcerative stomachitis and syphilis. As one of more than a hundred-mostly women-workers at the factory, Mollie was encouraged to shape her fine brushes into a point with her mouth after dipping them into the luminous paint, to better render the fine details on the watch faces.ġ921 magazine advertisement for Undark.| Photo: Wikimedia Commons The paints, sold under the brand name Undark, were used for numbers on the dials of military watches. Radium Corporation extracted and purified radium, a chemical element found in the alkaline earth metals section of the periodic table, and used the resulting product to manufacture phosphorescent paints. Radium Corporation factory, located at the intersection of High and Alden Streets in Orange, New Jersey. Four of the seven sisters worked at the U.S. “Are they popular here?”Īmelia “Mollie” Maggia was born on December 21, 1897, smack dab in the middle of the Maggia sisters: Louise, Clara, and Albina were older Quinta, Irma, and Josephine were younger. “What are their names?”Īs I spell out the names of three sisters, the woman looks up from her desk, squints her eyes, and says, “Now, why do those names sound so familiar?” “Sure,” one of the women replies, grabbing a pen and a scrap of paper. “I’m looking for three specific graves, and I was hoping that you could help me find them?” I ask. I’m greeted immediately by two very friendly women, and their welcoming faces set me at ease. There’s snow on the ground, but inside the tiny office it feels tropical. I feel a little bit nervous walking into the office at Rosedale Cemetery on a Friday afternoon in March.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |