Katie Walker, Vigilant Keeper of the Light

By Linda Harris Sittig

Katie’s Story

When petite Katie Gortler Walker followed her husband up the stairs to their new home, she peered at her surroundings with dismay.

No matter which way she looked, her gaze fell upon water. Their new home was a lighthouse built on a rocky ledge, surrounded by Upper New York Bay. The closest community was a mile over the water to Staten Island, New York.

The year was 1885, and Katie and her husband were no strangers to being lightkeepers. They had previously tended the Sandy Hook Lighthouse in New Jersey. But at Sandy Hook, Katie had a garden and neighbors. Here at Robbins Reef, the only neighbors were the seagulls. The prospect of living in total isolation while tending a lighthouse was enough to make Katie wonder if their marriage would survive.

Then only a year after her husband John brought Katie to Robbins Reef, he died from complications of pneumonia.

But Katie was a strong woman, a powerful woman. At age 44, faced with the prospect of being an unemployed widow, Katie decided to stay at the lighthouse. In addition to the duties involved with the light, Katie had to row her children to school each morning on Staten Island and returned for them each afternoon.

Katie had been assisting John as the keeper of the light, and she continued to tend the lighthouse for four more years in an unofficial capacity. After her husband’s death, the keeper position at Robbins Reef was offered to multiple men, but all declined. Katie was finally hired, officially, at a salary of $600 per year.

Lighthouses in American History

Lighthouses had existed in America since the early 1700s but were tended mainly by men.

By the mid-1800s, the women who did become ‘keepers of the light’ were usually widows or daughters of keepers. Data suggests that they were primarily middle-aged (in their 40s) and able to read and write. All of them were physically strong, and for the most part, their salaries were equal to that of male keepers.

They had to be strong because daily chores involved keeping the light in working condition and any needed repairs to the living quarters, tower, and grounds. At night, the keep would climb the steep stairs, light the kerosene light, and maintain a vigil, winding the mechanism for the rotating lens once every five hours. Of course, for the lamp to stay lighted, the keeper also had to haul large quantities of oil. That meant hauling the oil up however many steps as necessary to reach the top—often 200 or more.

Then the heavy lens had to be cleaned daily and the wicks trimmed and brass polished. Katie extinguished the massive lamp each morning at dawn. And if by chance the night contained dense fog, then Katie would climb back down to the basement of the light and start the generator to operate the fog horn. And during her long career, she witnessed the progression from kerosene lamps to oil, and finally to electricity.

At dawn, after extinguishing the lamp, she would draw blinds to protect the Fresnel Lens from the direct sunlight and then retreat to her living quarters until it was time to rise with the children to get them to school. She often grabbed a nap after lunch to sustain herself for the mile-long row to retrieve the children and the evening ahead of tending the light.

The manual labor for women keepers was often accompanied by penetrating isolation, depending upon the lighthouse location. For Katie Walker, in the middle of New York Bay, that meant very few visitors.

Rescues

Then, there were the rescues.

Lightkeepers often rowed out to sea, even in a storm, to save the lives of any persons whose boat had capsized. Over her 33 years of tending the Robbins Reef Light, Katie accomplished 55 rescues.

Katie continued in her job until 1919, being one of the 142 women who had been granted official lighthouse keeper status between 1830 and 1947, with a mandatory retirement age of 71. Their names and backgrounds are as varied as the lighthouse locations where they lived. And although all of them were required to keep daily log books, very few of those have survived, so we don’t know the personal recollections of their lives.

Katie retired to Staten Island at age 73, with the Robbins Reef Light permanently in her view. She spent the last years of her life often walking to the shore, listening to the seagulls, and feeling the water spray on her face. She passed away at age 83 and is buried in Ocean View Cemetery.

The next time I see a lighthouse, I will think of Katie Walker and her 141 sisters who dedicated their lives to providing safe passage in the middle of the night to those who venture upon the rolling waters.

Strong Women

If you enjoyed Katie’s story and are not yet a follower of this blog, please sign up on the right. And if you want to read a book on women lightkeepers, look for Mind the Light, Katie by Mary Louise Clifford and J. Candace Clifford.

As I work on my next book about strong women, you can also catch me on my webpage at https://www.lindasittig.com, Twitter @LHsittig, Instagram at LHsittig, and Facebook as Linda Sittig.

My novels about strong women can be found in bookstores as well as online. Cut From Strong Cloth, Last Curtain Call, and Counting Crows. By August, my newest book, B-52 Down!, should also be available.

~ Linda