Digest>Archives> Nov/Dec 2012

Everett Clemmons, New York’s Youngest Lighthouse Keeper

7/10/1903 – 10/22/1903

By David E. Cook

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Fort Niagara Lighthouse as it appeared in 1903. ...

E.J. Clemons, or “Clemens” or “Clements,” or any one of several more spellings that appeared both in newspaper accounts and official records over the years, first appeared in lighthouse lore as the Acting Lighthouse Keeper at Fort Niagara Lighthouse in the fall of 1903. The newspapers also liked to call him “Edward,” in spite of the fact his name was “Everett.” He was only fifteen years old.

How did that happen?

Clemons was the fourth generation of a legendary family from the Marblehead/Sandusky, Ohio area on Lake Erie. Three of his great uncles, Lucien, Albert and Hibbard, were the first to ever win the government’s Gold Life-Saving Medal on the Great Lakes – and they weren’t even members of the Life-Saving Service (LSS) yet! There were cousins who won medals at Chicago, another at Station Louisville (KY) on the Ohio River, and of course, his brother Gilbert and his father Myron.

His father Myron, in fact, was the keeper at the Light Station Niagara from 1900 to 1908, having replaced James Price when Price’s appendix burst. Myron had come east from Marblehead in 1894, bringing E.J. (six years old), a younger sister and E.J.’s older brother Gilbert, who would join the Life Saving Service in Marblehead, Ohio and would die in the line of duty in 1912.

Myron would precede him in 1908, having taken ill in the fall of ’07. Myron’s wife died in 1916. It is just speculation, but losing all of them within a few years may have been when E.J. began to develop the drinking problem that would haunt him and severely damage his career and reputation in later life.

When a lighthouse keeper quit, became incapacitated or died unexpectedly in office, it was the responsibility of the District Inspector to temporarily assign a replacement until Washington could review applicants for the full-time position. Whether Myron Clemons contacted Inspector Garst at Buffalo, or vice-versa, they talked and agreed that young E.J. Clemons knew everything that was required and was certainly physically capable of handling the light. If there was a problem, his father and the entire Life Saving Station crew were only a couple of hundred yards away. So E.J. replaced John Taylor when he died on the job, making the teenager one of, if not the, youngest official light-keeper ever hired.

Almost comically, a series of letters between the Lighthouse Board and Inspector Garst over the next three months, show that Washington was always a month behind ever learning about Clemons’ initial appointment and two subsequent extensions. One letter shows Washington had already hired someone, only to learn – a month after the fact – that Clemons was still on duty, necessitating submission of a letter retracting the job offer. Eventually, Garst and Washington got in synch as James Matchett took over.

Clemons went back to school, but as soon as he could, signed up for the Life-Saving Service. He would go on to serve until July 1, 1941, most of that time as an OIC, at Big Sandy on the eastern end of Lake Ontario, at multiple Ontario and Lake Erie stations, Pointe Aux Barques on Lake Huron and finally, Holland, Michigan.

According to an obituary in the Oswego Palladium-Times of November 21, 1951, E.J. died of pneumonia on November 17, 1951 at the Marine Hospital in Chicago. He was buried in Holland, Michigan where he had lived since his retirement. That obit said E.J. was survived by his brother, Gil, but according to an article in the April 17, 1912 Niagara Falls Gazette, a Lawrence Clapsaddle was filling in for E.J. at Station Niagara because E.J. was at his brother’s funeral in Marblehead.

When he completed his six month probationary period at Station Big Sandy in September of 1916, Clemons was 28 years old and became the youngest Life Saving Service keeper on Lake Ontario when assigned as keeper at Oswego. He served four years at both Oswego and Charlotte.

In 1922, at Rochester, he seriously injured a young boy in a drunken hit and run accident. In 1923, he killed a friend in another DUI accident. The following year, he requested, and was granted, a transfer back to his home waters on Lake Erie. He never served in New York again.

[This is a copyrighted excerpt from Fort Niagara Lighthouse, by David E. Cook, published by Dreamchase Features and is used by permission.]

Author’s Note: Research shows that the Everett Clemens (“ens”) spelling was a mistake made by some government clerk while he was either at Oswego or Charlotte (LSS) and he just never fought it very hard. His early records, his father’s and all of his uncles (who won the Gold medals) in Ohio and at Niagara, show the spelling as Clemons (Ons). Only his records later in life and modern day writers use the “ens.”

This story appeared in the Nov/Dec 2012 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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