Ironically, while women were shut out of most professions in the 19th century, there was one at which they were permitted to work, and at which they excelled: Lighthouse keeper.
Whether they became keepers by accident or design, female lighthouse keepers performed the grueling, life-saving tasks of their job with a diligence that put to shame those who said women could not withstand the rigors of the workplace. Lighthouse keepers had to climb up and down steps all day, carry heavy buckets of oil, row their boats through pounding surf, and perform hundreds of other tasks that required strength and endurance.
The first female lighthouse keeper, usually considered to be Hannah Thomas, who kept the light with her husband John on Gurnet Point in Plymouth Bay in Massachusetts. When John went off to fight in the Revolutionary War in 1776, Hannah was left to tend the twin tower lighthouse herself. Since lighthouse record-keeping was so haphazard in those days, we know few details of Hannah’s life, if her husband ever came home from the war, and how long she tended the light.
The most famous female light keeper was Ida Lewis. She kept the light near Newport, Rhode Island, where her father initially kept the light, but he fell ill soon after taking the job. Her mother tried to do the job alone, but caring for an invalid husband and ill daughter proved too much for her. In desperation, the family turned the keeper’s job over to 16-year-old Ida. Thus began a remarkable career in which Ida rescued so many people from drowning that she became a national celebrity. Presidents and political leaders visited her and appeared on the front page of newspapers. “The light is my child,” she said, “and I know it needs me.”
Another renowned female light keeper was Kate Walker. Born in Germany and initially unable to speak any English, she was married to John Walker, who kept the light at Robbins Reef Lighthouse off Staten Island in New York Harbor. However, in April 1886, Walker contracted pneumonia. “Mind the light Katie,” he whispered to her as he was taken to the hospital, where he soon died. Katie followed his wishes to the letter, and then some; she saved at least 50 people over her career of 30 plus years.
These are just a few of the lady lighthouse keepers. There were over 200 others. Their lives are a testament of courage, and a rejoinder to those who thought women could not work.
Comments
Women in History
This is a very extraordinary and interesting piece of history. For women to hold such a job title in those days was unnoticed and often troubled a lot of minds among the community. Women are capable are holding jobs that the society place specifically on men. In the nineteenth century the lighthouse keepers were generally sailors who hired male assistants to aid with help. Even though the duties of a lighthouse keeper were rigors these daring women were able to handle these commands. Sixteen-year Ida Lewis determination and heroism to save people from drowning; even males, only proved to the world that a woman deserve respect and are also a valuable part in history. For that, she was awarded Gold Lifesaving Medal from the United States government for her daring rescue on February 4, 1881 of two soldiers from Fort Adams who had fallen through the ice while attempting to return to the fort.