Historical
Information

It is hard to imagine digging into the
history of the Beaver Island Harbor Lighthouse without coming across the
name of Elizabeth Whitney Williams. Little did the four-year-old child,
who arrived on the island with her family in 1846, know that she would
become so much a part of Beaver Island history. For Elizabeth would
eventually carve herself a position of immortality some fifty-nine years
later with the publication of her autobiography "A child of the sea
- Life among the Mormons."
Two years after the Whitney family took
up residence in the Irish fishing community, James Jesse Strang and his
group of Mormon followers arrived, inexorably changing the complexion of
life on the bucolic island. As a carpenter, Elizabeth's father Walter
was employed at various times by Strang. While not of the Mormon faith,
Walter somehow earned Strang's trust, as it was Walter that Strang chose
to build his new residence on the his new island kingdom.
As Strang's control of the island
widened, life became increasingly uncomfortable for the island's
"gentiles," as those of non-Mormon faith came to be known.
Fearing for the lives of his wife and daughter, Walter moved his wife
and daughter off the island to Charlevoix in1852. Whitney's two sons
stayed behind, having invested too much in their fishing business to
abandon.
Strang's hold on the community ended
abruptly in 1856, when mortally wounded by a band of followers, he left
the island to die some weeks later in Wisconsin. Without the strength of
their leader, most of the remaining Mormons were easily driven from the
island by the remaining fishermen with help from a band from Mackinac
Island who were committed to ridding the area of the "Strangite
influence" once and for all.
1856 was also the year in which the
Lighthouse Board constructed the first lighthouse on Whiskey Point. The
need for a light on Beaver Island had long been realized, having been
mentioned as early as 1838 by Lieutenant James T Homans in his report on
Great Lakes lights to Stephen Pleasonton, the Fifth Auditor of the
Treasury. In that report, Homans indicated that "The loss of
property from shipwrecks on the Beaver Island has been considerable this
season alone, and in value to exceed the cost of building many
light-houses and maintaining them." However, under The Fifth
Auditors tight-fisted financial control of the department, no action was
taken on Homan's recommendation. With the appointment of the Lighthouse
Board in 1852, the nation's aids to navigation were looked upon in a new
light, with consideration of maritime interests taking a higher priority
than least-cost operation.
We have been as yet unable to find
definite information as to the appearance of this first structure.
However it would appear that it was both small and ill-constructed, and
as a result was not likely considered to be a particularly enjoyable
assignment by Lyman Granger, the station's first keeper.
With Strang's departure, life on the
island finally returned to a sense of normalcy, and many of the exiled
settlers began returning to the island the following year. Among them
the Whitney's who took up residence in the abandoned "Strang
house," which Walter had helped build a few years previous.
Lyman Granger left the Service on
December 7, 1859, and Peter McKindley took over as the station's second keeper.
In 1860, at the age of 18, Elizabeth
married Clement Van Riper, and the newlyweds took up residence in a
house on Whiskey Point near the lighthouse, where Elizabeth established
a close relationship with McKindley's daughters. Clement established a
successful cooper shop on the Point, which he operated during the summer
months, he and Elizabeth preferring to spend the winters off the island
in various locations around Lake Michigan.
With the increase in lumber shipments
making the Manitou Passage bound from the ports of Western Michigan, the
Lighthouse Board recommended in its 1867 annual report that a new and
larger light be constructed on Whiskey Point to better guide traffic
into the harbor, thereby increasing its effectiveness as both a port and
a harbor of refuge. With considerable pressure applied by Michigan's
Lumber Barons, Congress responded favorably the following July with an
appropriation of $5,000 for construction of the station.
Unfortunately for Keeper McKinley, was
unable to enjoy the planned station as failing health forced him to
resign his position in August 1869. Clement applied for, and was
appointed to the keeper's position. Closing his cooperage, he and
Elizabeth took over the full-time duties at the lighthouse. Elizabeth
evidently took to the lighthouse life, as she was soon involved in
cleaning and tending the station's illuminating apparatus..
In
the spring of 1870 a lighthouse tender arrived at the island and
unloaded a work party along with the necessary supplies for the
construction of the new light station. Built of Cream City
brick, the
story and a half keepers dwelling with matching summer kitchen was
attached to a forty-one feet tall cylindrical tower capped with a
decagonal prefabricated iron lantern, housing a new red Fourth Order
Fresnel lens manufactured by Barbier Fenestre of Paris.
Soon after taking his appointment,
Clement also took ill, and Elizabeth took over all keepers duties while
her husband recovered. Elizabeth took great pride in maintaining the new
light station, paying special attention to labors involved in keeping
the lard oil fired lamp burning brightly under the harshest conditions.
One
dark and stormy night in 1872, Elizabeth and Clement became aware of a
loud flapping of sails in the distance and could barely make out the
flashing lights of a vessel n distress through the inky darkness. As
they strained their eyes to make out her shape rounding the point into
the harbor, the vessel sink before their eyes. While still in ill health
Clement and the first mate of the schooner Thomas Howland put out to see
if they could help any survivors. As Elizabeth watched her husband row
out into the darkness, she could not know it would be the last time she
would see him. No trace of either Clement of his companion were ever
found.
While Elizabeth was heartbroken, she
would later write that "though the life that was dearest to me had
gone, yet there were others out in the dark and treacherous waters who
needed the rays from the shining light of my tower. Nothing could rouse
me but that thought, then all my life and energy was given to the work
which now seemed was given me to do.
Elizabeth's
stewardship of the light was quickly noticed by the authorities, and she
was appointed as keeper of the Beaver Island Harbor Light a short time
thereafter. Three years after Clement's tragic death, Elizabeth married
Daniel Williams, who moved into Elizabeth's lighthouse, while she
continued to faithfully tend the light for the following nine years.
In 1884, at the age of 42, Elizabeth
requested that she be transferred to a mainland light. Responding to her
request, she was transferred to the Little Traverse lighthouse in Harbor
Springs.
The following year, the steam barge
Ruby again delivered a work party at the Beaver Island Harbor Light to
undertake major repairs to the fifteen year old station. To stabilize
the structure, the cellar beneath the dwelling was filled-in, the former
barn was converted into a summer kitchen, and a 10 foot by 12 foot oil
storage building was built for the storage of the volatile kerosene
which was now being used as the primary illuminant throughout the
system.
Elizabeth continued on as head keeper
of the Little Traverse
Lighthouse, writing her memoirs while her husband
photographed the resort country around the bay, selling his images to
the summer resort visitors. Elizabeth's memoirs titled "A Child of
the Sea" were published in 1905, and brought her considerable
admiration as people learned of her interesting and difficult story.
Elizabeth continued to serve at Little
Traverse until 1913, when she retired at the age of 71, after forty-one
years of dedicated public service. The Beaver Island Harbor Lighthouse
was automated in 1927, and maintained by coast guardsmen working out of
the old lifesaving station around the bay. With the keeper's dwelling no
longer required, the structure along with all outbuildings were
demolished in the 1940's, leaving the forty-one foot tower standing
alone on Whiskey Point.
The lone tower still serves as an active aid
to navigation, welcoming visitors arriving on the island on the daily
ferries which run back and forth between the island and Charlevoix
during the summer months. In June 2004, the station was transferred to
St. James Township under the auspices of the the National Historic
Lighthouse Preservation Act. The township subsequently began a full
restoration of the tower.

Keepers of
this Light

Click Here to see a complete listing of
all Beaver Island Harbor Light keepers compiled by Phyllis L. Tag of
Great Lakes Lighthouse Research.

Seeing This Light

The Beaver Island Boat Company offers daily ferry trips from Charlevoix
out to Beaver Island Harbor, with up to four trips a day scheduled
during the busy summer weekends at a round-trip cost of approximately
$32.00 per person. For more information, contact them at:
Beaver Island Boat Company
103 Bridge Park Drive
Charlevoix, MI 49720
Phone: 231-547-2311
info@bibco.com
Or Click here
to visit the Beaver Island Boat Company website.

Reference Sources

Inventory of Historic Light Stations, National Parks Service, 1994.
USCG Historians office, Photographic archives.
Annual reports of the Lighthouse Board, Various 189-1903.
Northern Lights, Charles K. Hyde, 1995
02/24/01 email from Thomas A. Tag on McKindley's last day at the light.
Beaver Harbor Light, Beaver Island Net, website
A child of the sea - Life among the Mormons, Elizabeth
Whitney Williams, 1905
Women Who Kept The Lights, Candace Clifford, 1993
The life of Elizabeth Whitney Williams,
Michigan Educational Portal.
The lighthouses and lore of "America's Emerald Isle, Jeremy
D'Entremont, 1995
Keeper listings for this light appear courtesy of Great
Lakes Lighthouse Research
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