The Lighthouse Keepers
Early keepers of the light at Admiralty Head faced not only the quiet isolation of forest and sea, but also the threat of hostilities from Haida Indians of British Columbia. In 1857, just a year before the US government purchased land for the lighthouse from Dr. and Mrs. John Kellogg, a band of Haidas had camped at Admiralty Head with the intention of murdering the doctor in revenge for the death of one of their chiefs at the hands of Americans near Port Gamble.
But Kellogg had been away from home on one of his frequent trips, and the Haidas had grown tired of waiting. So instead, they murdered his neighbor, Colonel Isaac Ebey.
1861 - 1864: Captain William Robertson
The first Keeper, William Roberston, in 1859, was appointed Keeper of the New Admiralty Lighthouse. Robertson was a political appointee, being a appointed by the Deomcratic President Buchanan. He opened the new ligthhouse on January 26, 1861. The lighthouse which was Known as "Red Bluff" was a white, wooden, two-story house The story goes that, "He got the job because he was a Democrat and then lost it because he was not a Republican." He was a veteran sailor from the east Coast, operating out of Baltimore, Maryland. Captian Robertson owned a Schooner and engaged in shipping and transportation on the Atlantic Coast. By 1849 he was married to Mary Jane Perry and had five children. He sold his Schooner, a fore-and-aft rigged ship with two and possibly more Mast. In the company of ten other seamen,the Captain chartered a essel and sailed around Caper Horn to San Francisco.
It was the beginning of the gold excitimetn in California, yet the Captain was not taken with "gold fever". Being more of a mechant at heart, he observed that San Francisco lacked piers. He also noticied many ships laying in anchor to receive discharged cargoes, thus providing wareshouse space the port desperately needed.
He carried on his ship-wareshouse business until 1851, possibly even longer. In that year, however, he purchased the brig, "Tarquina", built at Perth Amboy, New Jersey in 1844. She was squared-rigged on both masts and her dimensions were ninety feet in length, beam of twenty-six feet and depth of ten feet. He said the "Tarquina" to Puget Sound, loaded with a cargo of much needed supplies for the settlers.
It would not be to difficult to imagine the impact of this wild, beautiful Pacific Northwest on the newcomer to its shores. Captain Robertson, either on this first trip to Puget Sound or so thereafter, searched for and found his land donation claim on the west side of Whidbey Island over-looking Admiralty Inlet. It not only furnished a prairie for developing a farm but a forest from which he could cut his cargo for San Francisco: mine props and timer for piers being built for the harbor of San Francisco. It was a beautiful, rugged and some what isolated "spread". It looked west to the Oympic Peninsula, down the Straits to the Pacific Ocean and north to Vancover Island, British Columbia. The Robertson claim consisted of two hundred forty six acres and six hundredths acres according to their Patent. When the whole family moved to Whidbey Island, which is beleived to be about 1854, there was general unrest among the Indians throughout the entire Puget Sound country which cotinued for a couple of years. With a land calim to develop and a family to protect, Capt. Robertson allowed the ship's mate to take the Tarquina on her next voyage. That was the last they ever saw of her.
The lighthouse is located about three miles northwest of the Robertson claim. He served as master of the light for five years. Then came the change as Lincoln's administration took over. Daniel Pearson was put in charge of the light. Robertson retired in 1865 and lived on Whidbey Island until his death in 1888.
Written in part from the Robertson story, by Leah Jean Lovejoy, 1991
1864 - 1878: Daniel Pearson
The lighthouse gained notoriety during the term of its second keeper, Daniel Pearson, who brought two marriageable daughters with him as assistant keepers. In the 1870s, a lighthouse keeper earned $1,000 a year and an assistant made $625.
Pearson reportedly owed his appointment to the fact that his Whidbey Island neighbors felt sorry for him because of poor health, and because a third daughter, Georgia, a school teacher who was the family's main breadwinner, had a heart attack and died suddenly. It was a tragic loss for the family and the community. Pearson's remaining daughters, Georgia was very soon assisting her ailing father as Assistant Lightkeeper.
Flora and her mother arrived about a year later to reunite the family. The two girls were courted by eligible bachelors from throughout the surrounding area. Georgia had been one of the earliest "Mercer girls", the educated and marriageable young women brought out to Seattle from the East in by Asa S. Mercer. Flora was groomed for the lighthouse. She had a gift for writing and left a legacy of early pioneer life history of Whidbey Island. She became the official Assistant Lightkeeepers whose daily logs reports are well known in the lighthouse story. They showed that she lived a very active life both at the lighthouse and in her later years, as a writer and poetess for the Island County Times. Her vivacity won for her the admiring title of "perennial queen of Island women."
Flora married William Engle in 1878 and resigned her position at that time. He father soon did likewise.
Pearson eventually bought a farm on Whidbey Island and resigned from the lighthouse service in 1878.
Written in part from Admiralty Head Lighthouse, the Keepers of the Light, by Harry R. Moore, 2003
1878 - 1887: Lawrence Nessel
The third keeper, Lawrence Nessel took over the lightkeepers duties in 1878. He was a fifty year old bachelor who was born in France. He was serving at the New Dungeness Lighthouse before being tranferred to the lighthouse. Mr. Nessel served until November 2, 1887, or for nine years. Richard Holbrook was Acting Assistant from 1878 to 1879 when he resigned. William Carlton, twenty-nine years old was Assitant Keeper from 1879 to 1880. In 1882 the Assistant Keeper was abolished.
It was during Laurence Nessel's watch that the Point Wilson light came on line, December 15, 1879, on the far shore. Less than six months later, Admiralty Head's oil lamp was converted to kerosene.
Written in part from Admiralty Head Lighthouse, the Keepers of the Light, by Harry R. Moore, 2003
1887 - 1900: Joseph E. Evans
In 1888, Joseph E. Evans took over as keeper. He was born in Mississippi in 1844. When he was a young child, his family moved to Maryland. In 1862, at the age of 18, he went to Pennysylvania and volunteered for duty with a Pennysylvania Infantry Regiment at the outbreak of the Civil War. He enlisted as a private and later attained the grade of Lieutenant. Serving with the 130th Infantry Regiment, he was seriously wounded during the battle at Antietam. Later he fought at Fredericksburg and Chancellorville in 1865. Lt. Evans also served in the Indian War in Kansas.
Following the Civil War and the Indian Wars in Kansas in a cavarly unit, he met and married his wife, Elizabeth, in 1870 in Washington, D.C. He established a weather stations in Alabama and South Carolina and then headed to the Northwest to set up a weather station in Portland, Oregon. He also acted as a Police Judge and Justice of the Peace. He resigned because of health issues and joined the Lighthouse Service for the next thirty-three years. Mr.Evans served at Point Adams in Oregon and Point Wilson, then Ediz Hook, Washington. He was finally tranferred to Admiralty Head where he served as Keeper from November 2, 1887 to January 22, 1900. It was nine years into his watch, when the U.S. government purchased an additional 123 acres adjoining the lighthouse for the construction of Fort Casey, a US Army Coastal Defense installation.
This veteran keeper was well known and well liked by the lighthouse community. It was during these years when tradegy struck a Lightouse Keepers family for the first time. On October 18, 1893, while Mr. Evans and his wife were in Port Townsend, that their young son Henry took the lighthouse boat out onto the straits of San Juan De Fuca. The story goes that he rowed to Smith Island Lighthouse to convince the Keepers son there to head to Alaska. The Smith Island Lighhouse lad declined and Henry took off, supposably heading for Alaska in the small boat. The boat washed up on the shore and Mr. Evena his wife we later charged with paying for damages to the boat and supplies that Henry took from the lighthouse, which included a buffalo skin blanket.
Lighthouse history shows that this was a very hard time for Mr. Evans and he was reprimanded by the Lighthouse Service for Intoxication and disorderly conduct as well as negligence of duty. He was tranferred to Astoria, Oregon where he was put in charge of Lighthouse Supplies and the Buoy Depot for the next twelve years. In 1912 he was tranferred back to Washington and assigned to Smith Island Lighthouse.
A year later, in 1913, while on a vist to Port Townsend from Smith Island, Mr.Evans died suddenly of a heart attack. He was memorialized with a larger funeral and buried with full military honors, escorted by troops from Fort Worden, in Laurel Grove Cemetary in Port Townsend. The revenue cutter, Areta, was ordered to escort his wife back to Smith Island.
Written in part from Admiralty Head Lighthouse, the Keepers of the Light, by Harry R. Moore, 2003
1900 - 1914: Charles Davis
On January 23, 1900 Charles Davis became the fifth keeper. There is little known of his early years. He is reported born in the small community of Corrina, Maine in 1832. Mr. Davis was a veteran of the Civil War in the US Navy. He enlisted in Boston May 1, 1861. He served on the USS OHio and USS Mississippi under Farragut and Dewey at Mobile Bay on the Mississippi River. There is a naval record that shows he deserted from the Naval Hospital in Chelsea, Massachusetts in March 1862. His discharge from the military became official on a 1907 naval record.
After the warthe Port Townend Morning Leader recorded in a retrospective of his life, Mr. Davis was a steam boat captain on the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. He sailed as far north as Montana. So it appeared that it was as a steam boat captain, and not for military rank, that Mr. Davis became known for the rest of his life as Captain Davis.
Captain Davish appears int he Lighthouse Keepers list in 1885 at Tilamook Rock, Oregon. This was a treacherous duty station with more assistant keepers and keepers then any other lightouse in the 17th district, which covered Oregon and Washington. It is still visible from the coast at a distance of three miles. The waves continually pound the huge rock it sits upon and construction of that lighthouse was almost impossible to complete and was very costly. Captain Davis served there for two years before he was tranferred to Point Robinson Lighthouse in Washington in 1888, He served at Point Robinson from 1888 until he was transferred to Admiralty Head on January 23, 1900.
Almost exactly one year from assuming the position of keeper, tragedy struck the lighthouse for a second time. His wife died on January 21, 1901 at Porividence Hospital in Everett. Captain Davis was confined to Fort Casey at the time. He ended up being tranferred to Providence Hospital after his wife died.
Captain Davis served in both the old wooden "red bluff" lighthouse and the new present day brick lighthouse. He was the only keeper to serve in both lighthouses. He witnessed the removal and installation of the original light from the old to the new, which was done without any loss of light as the process was completed in one day. There was tenatative plants for him to be transferred, but this never happened. The local people were very glad to see him stay in 1903.
He was the first keeper of the new masonry lighthouse designed by Carl Leick and built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It was said to be the most comfortable home in the territory with its indoor bathroom and laundry room, made possible by the presence of the adjacent Fort Casey. Davis would remain at his post until 1914, when he died in the lighthouse at the age of 82.
Written in part from Admiralty Head Lighthouse, the Keepers of the Light, by Harry R. Moore, 2003
1914 - 1919: Edward Scannel
Shortly after Captain Davis' death of January 8th, 1914, it was not recorded who was keeping the light lighted. The Friday January 25th issue of the Island Times reported, "We understand that a Mr. Scannel is to succeed the late C.H. Davis as lighthouse keeper at Fort Casey. The gentleman has been keeper of the lighthouse at Point No Point in Seattle. He is an elderly gentlemen with a wife and a widowed daughter and her child who live with them." This is the only record of events at the lighthouse at this time.
Through later publications and records there is more information about this veteran light keeper who was born in Ireland. He first served at Point Wilson lighthouse from December 5, 1885 to April 23, 1888, when he was transferred to Point No Point. On this dame date, he was appointed "acting keeper."On March 27,1889 the appointment became permanent.
The 1910 cenus list him at Point No Point with his wife Mary. Mr. Scannel was sixty-eight years old and Mary was 65. They were married thirty-four years. His son, Edward aged twenty-three and a widowed daughter, Eleen B. Savage, age twenty-eight, and her eight year old son, Claude, were also living at the lighthouse. Mr. Scannel was keeper at Point No Point for 28 years before coming to Admiralty Head. His wife Mary, was the postmistress for all the years they were at the lighthouse for the small community of Hainesville. The Point No Point Lighthouse still stands and recently became headquarters to the United States Lighthouse Society.
1919 - 1922: Hans P.Score
Hans P. Score, the seventh and final lighthouse keeper at Admiralty Head, was a thirty-two year veteran of the Lighthouse Service and an eleven year veteran of the US Navy. His first tour of duty was at Cape Atago, Oregon, the Tillamook Rock, Oregon, the Point Wilson , SlipPoint and fianlly Admiralty Head. While serving at Point Wilson, he met and married Carrie Leeper in 1904. She was born in Illinois in 1871. They had two children. A son, Walter, born in 1895 and a daughter, Edna, was born in 1896. lThe address given on the birth records was Point Wilson Lighthouse.
While serving at Point Wilson, near Port Townsend, Washington, Mr. Score became a central figure in a marine disaster that occured on the shore of by the lighthouse in September of 1896. The Port Townsend Morning Leader reported that during a dense fog the passenger ship Umatilla, coming from Victoria, ran aground and was severly damaged. The captain of the ship claimed the fog bell was not working. Hans Score, who was on duty, claimed it was working throughout the night. The ship was eventually floated and moved to a dock where the cargo was unloaded. In one lift, the sling broke and the barrel of sugar that fell to the dock burst open to reveal a keg of whiskey. Uponfurther examination, seventy-four gallons of whiskey wee found in the other barrels. The carog was confiscated by Custom agents. The whiskey was sold in public auction. The ship was charged with contraband cargo and was referred to the U.S. Circuit Court in Seattle. Eventually, the honor of the LightKeeper was restored.
1922: Harry "Doc" Kistemacher
In 1922, the Admiralty Head light was decommissioned after only 19 years of service in its current structure.
