Grace+Elliot

**Send Grace A Message Poke Grace! Add Grace As A Friend**
 * [[image:graceresized.jpg width="255" height="318"]]

Grace's Friends
Lowell Mfg. (46) Lowell, MA (50) Concord, MA (14) Boston, MA (24)

Grace's Groups
Lowell Women For Better Working Conditions, I Miss My Home!, The Women Working at Lowell, You Know You Grew Up On A Farm If...

media type="googlemap" key="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=lowell,+ma+to+east+derry,+ma&sll=42.842241,-71.332855&sspn=0.180745,0.30899&ie=UTF8&ll=42.75599,-71.26543&spn=0.27662,0.14788&output=embed&s=AARTsJp54LLx7d7d3sUMa5MmKrI2Xyqwjg" width="256" height="350" You can see from here that I live about 30 miles away from my hometown of East Derry, New Hampshire. Because I don't get paid that much and my family doesn't have many resources, I am not able to go home at all. This map shows the easiest route to get from my house to the textile mill.

My Claim to Fame
Well, the //Lowell Offering// is my only claim to fame around here. I recently had an article about free and slave labor published. I made sure my viewpoint about slavery known; slavery is oppressive and wrong **Slave Labor vs. Free Labor (Excerpt)** //"In regard to labor, two systems obtain: one that of slave labor, the other that of free labor. Of the two, the first is, in our judgment, except so far as the feelings are concerned, decidedly the least oppressive. If the slave has never been a free man, we think, as a general rule, his sufferings are less than those of the free laborer at wages. As to actual freedom, one has just about as much as the other. The laborer at wages has all the disadvantages of freedom and none of its blessings, while the slave, if denied the blessings, is freed from the disadvantages."// [|Complete Article] || **Grace Elliot** is headed towards another 14 hour work day... //(updated 10 hours ago)//

__ Account Info __
**Name:** Grace Elliot **Member Since:** January 3, 1832 **Last Update:** November 1, 1836  **Age:** 23

__ Basic Info __
**School:** East Derry Elementary **Status:** Single **Sex:** Female **Residence:** Lowell, MA **Birthday:** September 12, 1813 **Home Town:** East Derry, NH

__Personal Info__
**Interested In:** Men **Looking For:** Friendship, Relationship **Relationship Status:** Single **Political Views:** Democrat **Interests:** Sewing, Cooking, Cleaning, Taking Care of Children **About Me:** Well, I'm a simple woman of simple stock. I was originally from a little farm outside of Lowell, Massachusetts. I was forced to leave my family's farm there because our land stopped providing for us. Because our land was becoming less fertile, our family farm kept getting slower and slower and my mom and dad were forced to send me to Lowell so I could provide for myself before finding a husband. So, after all of that, I'm here in Lowell, working just until I can become someone's wife and mother.

__Professional Info__
**Job Type:** Factory Worker **Company:** Lowell Manufacturing **Job Description:** I work at least 10 hours a day, these days more like 12 or 14, doing the same task over and over again. The work is very tedious and monotonous, and I often work from sunrise to sunset doing my daily task. The job encompasses my entire workday and I have very little time to relax before and after work.
 * Work History: ** January 1832-Present

**__Pictures__**
//Family// This is the only family picture my family has of all of us. I'm the oldest of four (I'm on the far left) and I couldn't have been more than four years old when this was taken. My deceased sister, Elsa is the youngest of us. She was two in this picture and she passed away suddenly when she was just three and a half. Peter and James, my brothers, are still alive, but they are not old enough to leave home yet. This was one of the few times anyone would see us where we weren't working outside on Mom and Dad's farm. Dad has always had his farm outside of East Derry; it was handed down to him by his father. When I was younger, I'd always help out by collecting chicken eggs for Dad or cleaning the kitchen table for Mom. Sadly, after I turned 18, there was not enough work to do on the farm so Mom and Dad had to send me 30 miles away from home to Lowell, Massachusetts to work in the textile mill there.

//Home Sweet Home// This is the small farmhouse I grew up in, just like my father did before my generation. My father never missed an opportunity to tell all of us at the dinner table that our old farmhouse was built by our grandfather by hand. He always had pride about our small, picturesque 50 acre farmland. The farm is still there, but the land is not as fertile as it once was, and competition from farms in the West have lessened our market around here (because of the canals and railroads) because of the lower shipping costs.

__My FBlog__
Well, it's inevitable. For the few moments I have to myself each night I have been keeping up on the presidential election. Even though I can't vote, I, along with some of my other friends here, are supporting Marin Van Buren for president. I find myself aligned with the Democrats because I agree with their ideals of equality and opportunity for all. As a woman I hope to think that everyone in this great Union has the same opportunity, and I think the Democrats are trying to create a Union like that. I also think Van Buren is a shoe-in for the president because their opponents, the Whigs, aren't very organized. They haven't even rallied behind a single candidate. From what I've read, they have three sepearate ones! Maybe they're thinking they can get enough electoral votes from all three candidates to overtake Van Buren?
 * Hello, President Martin Van Buren (Almost)** -- November 1

I just had my 23rd birthday, and it was just like any other day. I woke up at 5:30 in my dorm to wash up and get ready for the day. By 6:30 I was at the factory, and it was another longer day. I didn't get out until 8:00, and by then my eyes hurt from focusing on my task for the day too much. I was cheered up a little bit by a few of my friends saying happy birthday, but it really brought me to tears when I got home a few minutes ago. Where am I going with my life? Another year has come and gone. I need to get on with my life. I need to reach my true hopes and dreams; I need to start a family. I need to find a husband that I love so I can become a mother. I want to raise a family... it's all I have been thinking about for the last year. At the very least I want to live near to my family... 30 miles is an eternity. I don't make enough money to travel all that distance to see my family, and my parents don't make enough money to come pick me up, and I wouldn't be able to take off time from work anyway. The factory recently cut our wages, extended our hours, and is now charging us to stay in our dorms. Things are starting to look bad, and in times like these, the only way I can stay sane is if I look forward to my future. ||
 * Another Birthday Here, Another Day Away From Family** -- September 12

