New England Lighthouse history tells about brave and heroic women who risked their own lives to save others under dangerous conditions.
Many of these women were substituting for the male members of their family. At the Matinicus Rock Light off the coast of Maine, the keeper was a political supporter of President Zachery Taylor. When he died, his job was given to his beloved wife Abbie Burgess. She had already gotten her trial as a keeper when trapped for a month while her husband was ashore to get provisions.
Similarly, there were no less than 138 women keepers between the years 1828 and 1847, who got their jobs from husbands and fathers who died filling their hazardous assignment.
Ida Lewis took over as lighthouse keeper in Newport, Rhode Island, when her father became ill. My illustration of her was partly drawn by my own daughter Elizabeth when she became enamored by my article about women who rose to the inherited challenge.
Lewis took on the responsibility of moving her younger siblings back and forth to the mainland every day of the week. She was so heroic in this task that she was awarded a presidential citation and a personal visit to Newport from Ulysses S. Grant, making her the most famous keeper in American history. Her challenges had just begun for which she became even busier. In the next decade, passenger ferries, commercial and military movement from and to Fort Adams necessitated additional lighthouse support.
A small stone tower was erected about 900 feet on the south side of the inner harbor, and Lewis had to row daily from shore to tend the light, until a one-room shanty was provided near the tower in case of a bad storm.
Hundreds of visitors became aware of Lewis’ dedication, including Susan B. Anthony, who praised her in her national journal. And then in November of 1877, Ida saved three soldiers whose catboat rubbed into the rocks just to the west of her lighthouse; this episode resulted in her catching pneumonia that lasted on and off for the rest of her life.
After her death, Newport Lighthouse crewmembers decorated her gravestone with the following inscription: “Here Lies the Grace Darling of Lime Rock Lighthouse Keeper Erected by Her Many Friends.”
Today her Lighthouse has also been honored as the Newport Yacht Club. This choice of its nautical title is perhaps also a tribute to all the other women who similarly rose to the destiny of heroic challenge to become famous lighthouse keepers.
By George B. Emmons
