Date of Service: 1870-1873 1870-1873: Henry Richardson, born in England, is named Principal Keeper at Cape Henry Lighthouse, VA. His salary is $760/year. (His wife Carrie Richardson served as Second Assistant) Sources: Chesapeake Chapter Keeper’s Database; familysearch.org; uslhs.org
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Date of Service: 1869-1870 1869-1870: H. Creekmore, born in Virginia, is named Principal Keeper at Cape Henry Lighthouse, VA. His salary is $760/year. (His wife Mary Creekmore served as Second Assistant) Sources: Chesapeake Chapter Keeper’s Database; familysearch.org; uslhs.org
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Date of Service: 1864-1869 1828: William Harding is born in approximately 1828, in Maryland. 1864-1869: William Harding is named Principal Keeper at Cape Henry Lighthouse, VA. His beginning salary is $550/year. His ending salary is $760/year. (His wife Julia A. Harding served as First Assistant) 1870: In the 1870 U.S. Census, William Harding’s occupation is …
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Date of Service: 1864-1872 1864: Jean G. Potts, from Germany, is appointed Principal Keeper at Cape Charles Lighthouse, VA. His beginning salary is $500/year. (His wife Nancy B. Potts served as First Assistant) 1868: Keeper Jean G. Potts is killed in a disagreement by a man he meets walking on the railroad tracks near the …
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Date of Service: 1869-1877 1833: William M. Elmore is born in Northumberland County, VA. 1863: William M. Elmore marries Augusta P. Ashburn in Virginia. 1869-1877: William M. Elmore is named Principal Keeper at Bowlers Rock Lighthouse, VA. His beginning salary is $600/year. His ending salary is $540/year. (His wife Augusta P. Elmore served as Assistant …
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Date of Service: 1868 – 1872 1841: Born on August 10th in Delaware. 1868-1872: Mary C. Smith is appointed the First Assistant at Assateague Lighthouse, VA. Her annual salary is $400/year. (Her husband Charles Smith serves as Principal Keeper) 1908: Mary Caulk Smith dies on March 7, 1894. She is buried at Wilmington Delaware and …
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Date of Service: 1867-1872, 1874-1881, 1895-1908 1840: Born on September 24th in Delaware County, PA. 1860-1865: Serves as First Mate on the U.S. Transport Steamer, Diamond State. 1865: Moves to Chincoteague, VA., where he serves as the Captain of a small cutter. 1867-1872: Appointed Principal Keeper for the newly constructed Assateague Lighthouse, VA., in 1867. …
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Date of Service: 1905 – 1919 1859: Born April 13 to parents Thomas and Maria Tyler in Somerset, MD. 1880: Occupation is listed as Seaman in the U.S. Census 1900: Occupation is listed as Oysterman in the U.S. Census 1905–1906: Serves as Second Assistant at Thimble Shoal Lighthouse, VA, with an annual salary of $440. …
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Date of Service: 1895 – 1908 1862: Born on February 14 in Queen Anne’s County, Eastern Shore, MD. 1869-1870: Family moves to Gloucester County, VA. 1880: Works as a farmer. 1888: Works as a lumberman. Marries Virginia E. Davis on December 26. The couple raises three children, Lessie, Linwood, and Estelle. 1895-1901: Serves as …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/keeper-bio-walter-m-shawn/
Date of Service: 1919 – 1954 1884: Born on April 2 at New Point, Mathews County, VA. Keeper Dow was part of the 8th generation of Dows originally immigrating from England. 1909: Marries Hattie May Brooks on December 25. The couple raises two children, Walter Carroll, and Elizabeth Snow. 1910: Works as a sailor on …
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Date of Service: 1875 – 1919 1855: Born on April 15 in Mathews County, VA 1875: Serves as Second Assistant Keeper at Windmill Point Lighthouse (VA). Annual salary – $400. 1875-1876: Serves as First Assistant Keeper at Windmill Point Lighthouse (VA). Annual Salary – $440. 1876-1907: Serves as Keeper at Windmill Point Lighthouse (VA). …
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Date of Service: 1909 – 1923 1853: Born on September 3 in Mathews County, VA. 1878: Marries Lucy Jane Marchant on January 31. The couple has six children - Egbert, James, William, Thomas, Golden, and Gladys. 1900: Works as an oysterman. 1909-1911: Serves as Assistant Keeper at Cobb Point Bar Lighthouse, MD beginning November …
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Date of Service: 1918 – 1941 1873: Born on October 14 in Mathews County, VA. Marries Edna Earle Brooks. The couple raises one child – Mary Elizabeth. 1918- 1920: Serves as First Assistant Keeper at Deep Water Shoals Lighthouse (VA). Starting annual salary – $480; ending – $720. 1918: On August 7, First Assistant …
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Date of Service: 1903 – 1930 1867: Born in Mathews County, VA. 1887: Serves as an oysterman. Marries Willia Peters on February 27. The couple raises one child – Edith Pearl. 1903 – at least 1913: Serves as Assistant Keeper at Stingray Point Lighthouse (VA). Starting annual salary – $420; ending – $480. 1915: Serves …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/keeper-bio-andrew-broaddus-sadler/
Date of Service: 1925 – 1954 1892: Born on July 3 in Mathews County, VA. 1914: Marries Emma Lewis on October 10. The couple has two children – Eileen and Weldon Lewis. 1917: Works as a fisherman – Gwynn’s Island, VA. 1925: Works for the United States Lighthouse Service as a foreman for the Shipping …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/keeper-bio-charles-franklin-sadler/
Date of Service: 1884-1918 1852/1853: Born in Virginia to parents G.W. & Mary Wilkins. 1884: Served as First Assistant at Watts Island Lighthouse, VA. His salary was $420/year. 1890: Appointed Keeper at Tangier Sound Lighthouse, VA. His annual salary was $575/year. 1892: Marries his wife, Lida, on June 12 in Northumberland, VA. They …
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1837: On March 3, Congress appropriates $5,000 to construct a lighthouse on the south end of Hog Island, Virginia. 1837: In a letter dated April 18, Commander Alexander Claxton wrote a letter to Commodore John Rodgers, President of the Board of Navy Commissioners. In the letter, he recommended that the money appropriated by Congress was …
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1870: A request of $15,000 is made to construct a square lighthouse at Lambert’s Point on the east side of the Elizabeth River to mark a shoal just off the point. 1871: Congress appropriates $15,000 on March 3 to construct the square lighthouse on five piles with a fifth-order red light. 1873: The west side …
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1852: On August 31, Congress appropriates $10,000 to build a lighthouse at Pungoteague Creek, Va. 1853: The site for the lighthouse is selected and approved plans and estimates are provided by Major Hartman Bache. 1854: The entire structure, foundation, superstructure, and ironwork is completed in Philadelphia, Pa. On April 23, materials were shipped to the …
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1887: The lighthouse board requests $25,000 to construct a screwpile lighthouse at the Tangier Island Shoal, at the entrance to Tangier Sound in the Chesapeake Bay. 1888: Congress appropriates $25,000 to construct a lighthouse at Tangier Island Shoal on October 2. 1889: Plans & specifications are prepared, and proposals were opened on March 16 for …
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1837: A request is made to the Secretary of the Treasury to provide a contract for construction of a light vessel on York River Spit, or a lighthouse in Virginia on March 3 for $10,000. 1853: A request is made to the Lighthouse Board from the Custom House Office in Yorktown, Virginia to provide a …
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1874: Congress appropriates $15,000 on June 23 to construct a lighthouse at Too’s Marshes, near the mouth of the York River, Virginia. 1875: Construction begins on the lighthouse on May 24th. It is to be a square screwpile cottage structure on iron piles. It is equipped with a sixth-order Fresnel lens first exhibited on August …
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1828: Congress appropriates $6,500 to construct a lighthouse on Little Watts Island on May 23. 1831: Congress appropriates $6,400 for a lighthouse on Little Watts Island. 1833: John Donahoo builds a 48-foot tower equipped with a fifth-order Fresnel lens and keepers house at a price of $4,775. 1838: The keeper’s house is noted as being …
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1850: The U. S. Lighthouse Board authorizes $3,500 for preliminary work in the engineering & design for four lighthouses on the James River. 1852: Congress appropriates $1,000 for a beacon on White Shoal, August 31, 1852. 1854: Construction of a square cottage supported by five, five-inch diameter wooden piles covered with a cast-iron screw sleeve, …
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Date of Service: 1921 – 1948 1898: Born on February 20 to John Lotson Austin & Markey Poyner Austin, in Frisco, NC 1916-1917: Joins the U.S. Lighthouse Service and was stationed on three lightships, including LV71. 1918-1921: Worked on multiple “oilers” for the U.S. Army. 1921: Returned to the U.S. Lighthouse …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/keeper-bio-julian-haywood-austin/
Date of Service: 1897-1931 1869: Born in Craven County, North Carolina on December 11, 1869. 1897: Works as a cook at Smith Point Lighthouse in Virginia for $30. 1898-1901: Works as First Assistant at Pages Rock Lighthouse in Virginia. His annual salary was $420. 1901: Marries his wife Virginia Mildred Oliver on October 9, in …
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Point of Shoals Lighthouse had two lighthouses. The first was built in 1855 in Burwell’s Bay on the shallow southern shoreline of the James River. It was a small, twenty-foot square, four-room white dwelling with a red tin roof and black lantern supported by five wrought-iron piles. It was equipped with a large-sized pressed glass …
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1837: A request is made by Beverly Kennon, Captain of the United States Navy, to construct a lighthouse at three locations along the James River in Virginia; Day’s Point, Point of Shoals and Deep Water & Lyon’s Creek Shoals. 1850: The U. S. Lighthouse Board authorizes $3,500 for preliminary work in the engineering & design …
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Due to increased river traffic along the York River, Congress appropriated $25,000 on March 3, 1891, to construct a lighthouse on a shoal which jutted out from Blundering Point, about 5 miles north of Yorktown, Virginia. After borings were made, it was determined that the river bottom was not firm enough to support a lighthouse …
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1883: The U. S. Lighthouse Board recommends that a lighthouse be constructed at Pages Rock, in the York River, approximately five miles from Yorktown, Virginia at a cost of $25,000. The combination of railroads at West Point and the increasing commerce on the York River are the reason for the request. This request is repeated …
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