Next, Jim Eagan donated voluminous facts from his years of expert research on Bill Johnston, famed “pirate” of the Patriot War of 1837 and third Keeper (not the first, as most texts claim) of Rock Island Light. Response was immediate – and thrilling: Chris Andrle was the first to respond, donating a complete biography and portrait of the first keeper, Chesterfield Pearson. Getting the word out was easy I announced the new organization and its website via a message to the Jefferson County, New York, Rootsweb mailing list, whose membership consisted of people interested in the history of the area and the genealogy of its residents, with a plea for submission of any information related to the station and its keepers. My mission would be simple: learn everything about Rock Island and its keepers and publish it all online for others to discover - was born! Finding ways to advocate for and assist in Rock Island’s preservation would also be a driving goal – I wanted to make sure Rock Island’s future would be appreciated and respected. Out of a desire to honor the memory of the keepers and to help their families reconnect with the story of their lives I created the Rock Island Lighthouse Historical & Memorial Association in May 2000. Perhaps they had forgotten the service of their ancestor at Rock Island like my family had perhaps, like me, they had searched for more about the lighthouse and given up, discouraged by the lack of information. It was at this point that I realized that Rock Island Lighthouse was not just about my family it was about the families of the other keepers too. I couldn’t be in a better place at a better time. Government lighthouse records were stored. Second, I had moved to Washington, D.C., and lived within walking distance of the National Archives, where U.S. In the process, I learned that in 1901 Michael had died at the station and that his wife Emma had taken over for him – the only woman ever to serve in a government-appointed position at the lighthouse. First, through an online search I discovered the Great Lakes Lighthouse Research Thomas Tag - of that organization, queried his database and returned to me a complete list of keepers of Rock Island Lighthouse and their dates of service. My research finally got a kick-start soon after college. None mentioned Diepolder, and Rock Island Lighthouse was usually mentioned in context of all the lighthouses in the area, but with few specifics. Local libraries had a few newsclippings, but little else. My attempts to learn more about Rock Island Lighthouse and my great-great-great-grandfather, Diepolder, were quickly frustrated by a nearly total absence of information in any of the Jefferson County history resources I could find in print or online. I was no longer merely searching for a name from the past I was embarking on a quest to discover a real place – a history I could touch. Diepolder, keeper of Rock Island Lighthouse, Fisher’s Landing. Fascinating – I had to know more! After I hung up the phone, a quick check of Child Hamilton’s 1890 Business Directory of Jefferson County on the Jefferson County GenWeb site yielded a name and a place: Michael J. Reuben remembered that Ada’s father had been a lighthouse keeper at Fisher’s Landing. My next call was to Reuben Carter, then of LaFargeville, a distant cousin my grandmother remembered from grade school she thought he might know more about the family. But she didn’t know anything more about her grandmother’s folks – I had a new puzzle to solve! Lawrence (I guess modesty didn’t run in the family). Carter had been a boatbuilder and that her grandmother Ada Diepolder had once claimed to be the prettiest woman on the St. Carter had helped build the Thousand Islands Bridge that her grandfather Floyd L. My grandmother, Barb O’Brien, told me that her family were “river people”: that her father Austin S. From that day forward, genealogy has been my constant passion.īy the time I got to high school, I was laser-focused on tracing my father’s side of the family tree, and interviewing anyone who could illuminate those branches for me consumed my free time. I drew my first pedigree chart that night. When I was 10 years old, my mother sat me down at her parent’s porch table and showed me her grandmother’s notes written in the 1920’s in preparation for her application for membership in the National Society of the Daughter’s of the American Revolution.
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