Fannie Salter
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Fannie May Hudgins Salter (May 20, 1882 – March 11, 1966) was an American
lighthouse keeper A lighthouse keeper or lightkeeper is a person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Lighthouse keepers were sometimes referred to as ...
and the last lighthouse keeper at Turkey Point Light in
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...
. She served from 1925 until she retired in 1947, at which point the station became fully automated. From 1922 to 1925, she worked at the lighthouse along with her husband, fully taking over the duties after his death. For a time, Salter was the only female employed by the
United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...
and was the last civilian female lighthouse keeper in the U.S. She was one of four female lighthouse keepers who served at Turkey Point between 1844 and 1947, covering 86 of its 114 years of service.


Early life

Born Frances May Hudgins to Isaac Hudgins and Indiana Jarvis on May 20, 1882, she married Clarence Winfield Salter, also from
Mathews County, Virginia Mathews County is a county located in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,533. Its county seat is Mathews. Located on the Middle Peninsula, Mathews County is included in the Virginia Beach-Norfolk- Newpo ...
, on May 24, 1904. They had three children together: Mabel, Jessie Olga, and Charles. For a brief time during the 1920s, she and her husband lived in Franktown, Virginia, where their son was born.


Career

Fannie assisted her husband in maintaining and servicing several lighthouses in the
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area: York Spit Light (1904–1908), Old Plantation Flats Light (1908–1912), Cherrystone Bar Light (1912–1913), Hog Island Light (1915–1922), and Turkey Point Light (1922–1947). All of the lighthouses the family was stationed at prior to 1922 were in Virginia.


Turkey Point Light Station

Beginning in 1922, C. W. Salter served as the station keeper of Turkey Point Light, with Fannie once again assisting him with the day-to-day tasks. C. W. died suddenly on February 11, 1925, following an acute attack of
appendicitis Appendicitis is inflammation of the Appendix (anatomy), appendix. Symptoms commonly include right lower abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fever and anorexia (symptom), decreased appetite. However, approximately 40% of people do not have these t ...
. Upon his death, Fannie fully took over her husband's duties at the age of 43 and officially applied for his position shortly after. It was customary at the time for the family of the keeper to continue operating the station. The Salters had been preceded by three female keepers:
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1862, and Rebecca Crouch 1895, who both took over following their husbands' deaths and served until their own deaths; Rebecca Crouch's daughter, Georgiana Brumfield, wanting to follow in her footsteps, took over the duties from 1895 to 1919, retiring after spending 54 years on the homestead. Despite over 20 years of assisting with day-to-day operations of a lighthouse, she was initially denied the role by the
Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...
, who cited her age as preventing her from being able to perform the necessary tasks. Salter petitioned
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to appeal the decision. Weller then asked
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, who overruled the Civil Service's decision and personally appointed her as official keeper at Turkey Point. Though U.S. presidents had appointed keepers in the past, Salter was the first female keeper with a presidential appointment to that point or since.


United States Lighthouse Service

After her official appointment, Salter was issued a manual and learned how to use a
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. She was on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and received a salary of $1,140 her first year in service, . Prior to being
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for electricity, three brass oil lamps were cleaned and filled daily. At dusk, Fannie would fill one of the lamps with fuel, climb the tower, trim and light the wick, and place the lamp within the lens. She would recheck it about one hour later, and again at 10 pm before going to bed. Her bedroom in the keeper's quarters faced the tower, so she could ensure the light was functioning properly. If the light extinguished in the middle of the night, she would immediately wake up and have it reignited or replaced by one of the emergency lamps kept onsite. In 1928, the
United States Lighthouse Service The United States Lighthouse Service, also known as the Bureau of Lighthouses, was the agency of the United States Government and the general lighthouse authority for the United States from the time of its creation in 1910 as the successor of th ...
(USLHS) authorized $25 per month () for a laborer to go to the station and manually wind the
fog bell A fog bell is a navigation mark used as an audible aid to navigation in seafaring, especially in fog and poor visibility. Floating navigation signs with bells are called bell buoys. On ships, the ship's bell is used for sound signals. Due to more s ...
striking mechanism. This charge was reduced to $15 per month in 1932 (). Once, during a particularly foggy day, the fog bell mechanism failed, and Salter had to manually strike the fog bell four times per minute for nearly an hour to help a steamer safely navigate the
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. During this time, she missed the phone call from her son-in-law announcing the birth of her first granddaughter.


United States Coast Guard

The U.S. Coast Guard absorbed the USLHS in July 1939, making all keepers, including Salter—the only woman employed by the USLHS at the time—civilian members of the Coast Guard. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the Coast Guard had
shortwave radio Shortwave radio is radio transmission using radio frequencies in the shortwave bands (SW). There is no official definition of the band range, but it always includes all of the High frequency, high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30& ...
systems installed in a number of lighthouses on the east coast to listen for
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activity. Salter learned to maintain radio watch in addition to her other duties. They also had existing lighthouses electrified in place of the oil or
kerosene Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustibility, combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in Aviation fuel, aviation as well as households. Its name derives from the Greek (''kērós'') meaning " ...
used in the past, with Turkey Point being upgraded in 1943. This upgrade meant that Salter could just flip a switch to power a 100-watt bulb that, in combination with the lens, could produce 680
candlepower Candlepower (abbreviated as cp or CP) is a unit of measurement for luminous intensity. It expresses levels of light intensity relative to the light emitted by a candle of specific size and constituents. The historical candlepower is equal to 0.981 ...
of light, though a kerosene backup was maintained at all times in the event of a power outage. Still, there was work to be done, as each lens needed to be cleaned daily and polished at least once per week to be able to maintain the visual clearance needed for vessels to safely navigate the area.


Additional duties

According to Turkey Point Light historian Mike Duvall, Turkey Point was an isolated station. The nearest city that could supply the station at the time was
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, across the Chesapeake; the nearest town that could be reached without a boat was
North East, Maryland North East is a town in Cecil County, Maryland, United States. It is located between Philadelphia and Baltimore. The population was 3,572 at the 2010 census. The Turkey Point Light Station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places ...
, from the station. In the years before highways and mass automotive transit, this meant that, along with her duties as keeper, Fannie and her entire family would need to provide for themselves much of the time. Adjacent to the living quarters was a farm where the Salters tended to a garden, as well as several kinds of livestock, including sheep, cows, and turkeys. When supplies were received, they most often came by boat. A steep, 137-step stairway led down the bluff to the Elk River floating dock. A chute with a
windlass The windlass is an apparatus for moving heavy weights. Typically, a windlass consists of a horizontal cylinder (barrel), which is rotated by the turn of a crank or belt. A winch is affixed to one or both ends, and a cable or rope is wound arou ...
was installed next to the stairway; the winch would need to be manually operated, but it allowed for heavy supply crates to be hauled up to the station.


Retirement and later years

Salter retired on October 1, 1947, at age 65, after 22 years of service. Her ending salary was $2,229 per year, . During an interview around the time of her retirement, she stated, "Oh, it was an easy-like chore, but my feet got tired, and climbing the tower has given me fallen arches." Shortly after her retirement, the light was fixed on automatic control, eliminating the need for a keeper and making Fannie Salter the last civilian female lighthouse keeper in the United States. She had her retirement home built only from the tower where she had spent so many years, commenting that, at night, she could still see the beam from her new home. Fannie May Salter died of natural causes on March 11, 1966, in Baltimore, Maryland. She and her husband are buried side-by-side in St. Paul's Methodist Church Cemetery, in
Susan Susan is a feminine given name, the usual English version of Susanna or Susannah. All are versions of the Hebrew name Shoshana, which is derived from the Hebrew ''shoshan'', meaning ''lotus flower'' in Egyptian, original derivation, and severa ...
, Virginia.


References


External links


Coast Guard bio

Turkey Point Light Station


{{DEFAULTSORT:Salter, Fannie 1882 births 1966 deaths Female United States Coast Guard personnel People from Cecil County, Maryland People from Mathews County, Virginia United States Lighthouse Service personnel Women lighthouse keepers American lighthouse keepers