Sea Girl Lighthouse, NJ, photo courtesy lighthousefriends.com
Keeper George Thomas had two priorities: maintaining the lighthouse and taking care of his family. After he married Minnie De Bow in 1910, the couple spent the early years of their marriage at Fire Island Lighthouse where he was the assistant keeper. While there, his two daughters, Alice and Lucy were born.
The family enjoyed living at the lighthouse, so when George was offered a transfer to Point Au Roche Lighthouse on Lake Champlain, he turned it down. Even though the new position was a promotion, George knew the lighthouse in upstate New York had such limited living quarters that his wife and children would not be able to live with him.
But when he was extended a position at Shinnecock Lighthouse in 1925, he accepted and moved his family to one of the two keeper homes there. The girls were assigned chores at the lighthouse and helped their mother keep it spotless in case the lighthouse inspector made an unexpected visit. George and his family made a good team, and he was awarded many Efficiency Stars during his career.
Shinnecock Lighthouse and keepers houses
Tragedy struck in 1930 when George’s wife died. Soon afterwards, he turned down a transfer to Bullock Point Light Station in Rhode Island. The offshore lighthouse in the Providence River would be an unwelcome change for his daughters, and he asked to remain at Shinnecock instead.
By March of 1931, Keeper Thomas began looking for a less demanding assignment to a lighthouse with fewer steps to climb than the 178 steps to the top of Shinnecock. Thinking of his daughters, Mr. Thomas wrote headquarters: “I will accept any land station with family quarters.”
He suggested three lighthouses he felt would be more family-friendly: Beavertail and Point Judith Lighthouses in Rhode Island, and Sea Girt Lighthouse in New Jersey. Sea Girt had the advantage of the fewest steps to climb – 42 from the keeper’s office to the lantern room.
Sea Girt, courtesy US Coast Guard
Once again, he rejected offers of offshore positions – at Connecticut’s New London Ledge, and Greens Ledge Light, in Long Island Sound – that would have separated him from his daughters. Mr. Thomas advised the Office of Lighthouse Superintendent he sought a “vacancy as keeper where I can take my family.”
When the keeper’s position at Sea Girt was offered October 16, 1931, Mr. Thomas was quick to respond. “Please be advised that I am holding myself in readiness to report for duty. Thank you for your kindness in this matter.” By the end of the month, the Thomas family was living at Sea Girt Lighthouse.
While George tended the lighthouse, Alice and Lucy took responsibility for shopping, preparing meals, doing the wash. In the spring they planted a garden, just as they had at Shinnecock. At nights, George and his daughters gathered in the parlor to read, chat or play cribbage or cards.
Keeper George Thomas retired in 1940, and his grown daughters settled nearby.
George was a good father to his daughters, looking to their best interests. In the same way, our Heavenly Father takes care of us, His children.
“As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.” Psalm 103:13
How has your Heavenly Father taken care of you?
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