Date of Service: 1918 – 1945 1900: Born on January 29 to William S. Kelly and Bertha Wallace Kelly.1918 – 1920: Begins Lighthouse Service. Serves as Assistant Keeper at Old Plantation Flats Lighthouse (VA) – an off-shore screwpile lighthouse on the Eastern Shore of the Bay, southwest of Cape Charles City, VA. His salary was …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/keeper-bio-william-james-kelly/
Date of Service: 1895 – 1923 1856: Born on January 17 in Mathews County, VA1879 or 1880: Married Ellen Gertrude “Mittie” Thomas and raised eleven children.1895: Serves at the Smith Point Lighthouse. The Chesapeake Bay freezes. Ice strikes lighthouse – carries it six miles away from the foundation. Lantern, fog-bell apparatus, oil and some supply …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/keeper-bio-john-filmore-hudgins/
Date of Service: 1846 – 1854 1789: Born in Mathews, Virginia.1812: Serves as a Private and Sergeant in the 61st Regiment, Virginia Militia during the War of 1812.1814: Marries Mary “Polly” F. Miller. The couple raises seven children: Baldwin, John, Elizabeth, Seth, Isaac, William Shepard, and Julia Ann. Sons – John, Seth, and William Shepard …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/keeper-bio-isaac-foster/
Date of Service: 1916 – 1943 1882: Born January 5 in Mathews County, VA1908: Married Edna Grey Brooks on November 18 at Bethel United Methodist Church in Laban (now Onemo), Virginia. The couple raises three children, daughters Edna Virginia, Alice Jeanette and a son, James Carlton.1916 to 1917: Serves as Second Assistant Keeper at Wolf …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/keeper-bio-william-james-diggs/
Date of Service: 1930-1968 1908: Born on November 16 in Mathews County, VA.1930: Marries Melva Sadler on June 21. The couple raises three children.1930: Joins the U.S. Lighthouse Service. Serves as a seaman on Diamond Shoals Lightship #105.1933: Survives 150 mph winds of Chesapeake-Potomac hurricane. The Lightship is swept off course 5 miles.1937: Transferred to …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/keeper-bio-crewe-floyd-earl/
Date of Service: 1937-1965 1903: Born March 30 in Hallieford, Mathews County, VA.1920: Begins service in the Merchant Marine and as a crew member on the Steamer Pennsylvania. The vessel stopped at Old Point Comfort Lighthouse in route between Cape Charles and Norfolk, VA.1929: Married Arlys Hurst on August 26. The couple raises one daughter, …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/keeper-bio-nelson-stanley-atherton/
