Digest>Archives> March 2002

Women of the Lights

By Timothy Harrison

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Mrs. Elizabeth Whitney Williams of the Little ...

It’s hard for us to imagine that in this year of 2002 and in this month of March, which is Women’s History Month, that at one time in this country women were not allowed to vote. When we think back on the recent presidential election, which was closer than anyone could have possibly imagined, most people don’t know that when women won the right to vote, they won that right by only one vote. Yes, one vote.

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Little Traverse Lighthouse, Harbor Point, ...

When Congress passed the 19th Amendment it could not become law until 36 of the 48 states ratified the amendment. Wisconsin became the first state to ratify the amendment on June 10, 1919. However, when Delaware voted against the amendment, the state of Tennessee became the last state that could possibly ratify the amendment and make it law.

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Since Connie’s uncle was the head keeper while ...

Although the actual final vote, cast on August 18, 1920 in favor of passage, was cast in the Tennessee legislature by Banks Turner, the deciding vote was cast by Harry Burn who had, up until a few minutes before the vote, panned to vote against it, which would have caused a tie vote and in essence the matter would have been defeated. A note from his mother, received on the Legislative floor, convinced him to change his mind at the last moment.

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Mrs. Mary E. Bethel of the Key West Lighthouse in ...

By the time the right for women to vote had become law it had been 72 years since the first women’s rights convention had been held in New York in 1848. However, women had already excelled in one major area of the workplace, that of the respected position of lighthouse keeper.

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Julia Williams, keeper of the Santa Barbara ...

When the 19th Amendment was passed Miranda Younghans had just taken over the position of lighthouse keeper at Mississippi’s Biloxi Lighthouse, a position that had been held by her mother for an amazing 52 years. And at Port Pontchartrain Lighthouse in Louisiana Margaret Norvel had been keeper since 1896. Interestingly, these women performed tasks that few of us can imagine today and yet they were not allowed to vote until 1920.

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Catherine “Kate” Walker was appointed keeper of ...

However, what is more amazing is that women had been in charge of lighthouses as far back as the beginning of the Revolution in 1776 when Hannah Thomas took care of the twin lights of Gurnet in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Her husband, the official keeper had left to join the battle for American independence against England.

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Julia Tobey Brawn Way was the most famous keeper ...

However, in most cases women did not go out and apply for the job of lighthouse keeper. They usually began by giving assistance to their father or husband and were familiar with the duties. After all lighthouse keeping was a family affair in those days. When death claimed the man, the women many times applied for the job and were granted the position. This was done in many cases, not just because they knew the job, but because officials wanted to compensate them since there was no other way the women could support themselves and their families.

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Ida Lewis, lighthouse heroine. After her father, ...

Throughout United States history there were many women who tended the lighthouses, some officially and others unofficially. In most cases very few of their acts of bravery, heroism and hardship were rarely written about unless the media happened to attach itself to the story. Such was the case with such famous lighthouse women as Abbie Burgess at Matinicus Rock Light in Maine; Ida Lewis at Lime Rock Light in Rhode Island; Kate Walker at Robbins Reef Light in New York; and Fannie Salter at Turkey Point Light in Maryland.

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Abbie Burgess is probably one of the most famous ...

Women keepers also lost their lives tending their duties. This was the case with Rebecca Flaherty in 1846 when she and her five children perished after the Sand Key Lighthouse in Florida was swept away during a hurricane. In 1876, another woman at the Key West Lighthouse was much luckier. Mary Bethel was the assistant keeper when a storm carried off the quarters, which she lived in. Barely escaping drowning she took refuge in the woods.

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Michigan’s Gull Rock Light lighthouse sits as a ...

One women lighthouse keeper, Elizabeth Whitney Williams, recorded her memories in a book called A Child of the Sea; and Life Among the Mormons. Born on Beaver Island off the northwestern shores of Michigan, her book tells of how her two brothers, three nephews and her husband all died from drowning. Her husband had been keeper of the light on Beaver Island and was later transferred to Little Traverse Light. In her book she tells the story . . .

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Fanny Salter was the last civilian woman to keep ...

“One dark and stormy night we heard the flapping of sails and saw lights flashing in the darkness. A ship was in distress. After a hard struggle and was leaking so badly she sank. My husband in his efforts to assist those in trouble lost his life. He was drowned with a companion, the first mate of the schooner, Thomas Howland. The bodies were never recovered, and only those who have passed through the same experience know what a sorrow it is to lose your loved ones by drowning and not be able to recover the remains. It is a sorrow that never ends through life.

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Many women served as assistant keepers at ...

“Life to me then seemed darker than the midnight storm that raged for three days upon the deep dark waters. I was weak from sorrow, but realized that though the life that was dearest to me had gone, yet there were others out on the dark and treacherous waters who needed to catch this shining light from my tower. Nothing roused me but that thought. I gave all my life and energy to the work, which seemed given me to do. The lighthouse was the only home I had and I was glad and willing to do my best in the service.”

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Julia Nichols was married to the District ...

Then there’s the case of Julia Williams who traveled from Maine to California to be with her husband Captain Albert Williams. Capt. Williams took over duties at the Santa Barbara Lighthouse in 1856. They remained at the lighthouse for four years and then took up farming. In 1865 he was again offered the job of keeper but turned it down, but Julia wanted the job and got it, becoming the second women lighthouse keeper in California’s history following Charlotte Layton of Point Pinos Light. When Julia’s husband died in 1882, she continued to keep her job as keeper and remained in that position until she was 80 years old, retiring after 40 years of service of service seven days a week. While she was keeper, women across the nation were campaigning for the right to vote. Most would never live to see that day happen. An earthquake later destroyed the Santa Barbara lighthouse.

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When William Atwood died on June 14, 1876 the ...

Probably the woman to live at one lighthouse the longest time was Georgiana Brumfield who lived at Turkey Point Lighthouse for an amazing 54 years.

The Civil Service Commission had in the 1920s said that women could no longer be lighthouse keepers. The Coast Guard was moving women out of keeper positions but as late as 1948, they were still keeping some positions open for women, as was reported by the Coast Guard in a 1948 report, which stated:

“It was the development of steam signals and their coal-driven boilers, and later the introduction of heavy duty internal combustion engines, which first placed the duties of keepers at lighthouses beyond the capacity of most women. Their gradual retirement from this field of employment was further hastened when intricate electrical equipment was placed at many stations and when the duties of lighthouse keepers gradually came to require special training and when many of the stations were built offshore on submarine foundations. As these changes took place, those women who remained in the lighthouse service were transferred to or were retained at stations where the equipment was of a more simple type.”

When Keeper Clarence Salter died in 1925, his widow Fanny could not become keeper due to the regulation of that time. She appealed to her U.S. Senator O. E. Weller who convinced President Coolidge to personally intervene and appoint her as keeper at Maryland’s Turkey Point Lighthouse.

It seems that the women lighthouse keepers took a step backward from their counterparts in other areas of employment as was shown by the World War II years. But at the end of the war many women returned to the life of homemaking and raising families, a situation that has again changed as history continues to change.

However, the stations of the “simple type” as the Coast Guard stated in that 1948 report, were in for a change also, as automation forced the closure of those stations and an end to lighthouse keeping by both women and men.

No story about lighthouse women would be complete without mentioning Connie Small, author of the best selling book, “The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife who, at over 100 years old, has spent the better part of her life lecturing to preserve the memories of what life was like at lighthouses and why it is vital to preserve those memories. She has given over 550 lectures on the topic, the most recent just a few months ago. If you haven’t read her book I would highly recommend it. In lighthouse circles she is referred to as “The First Lady of Light,” a term first given to her by noted lighthouse author William O. Thomson.

And then there’s Jenny Purinton Cirone. Although she never served as a keeper, she assisted her father in many duties at Maine’s Nash Island Lighthouse for 19 years. Her story is well documented in a video available from the group that now takes care of what is left of the island light station. Stories similar to hers could fill volumes of books.

Today, women have taken on a different role, but yet similar, that of the lighthouse preservationist and lighthouse caretaker. In fact, from my vast dealings with today’s “lighthouse community” I would dare to state, probably with a lot of accuracy, that there are just as many women as men, if not more, working now to save, preserve and maintain our historic lighthouses.

This story appeared in the March 2002 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

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