Llighthouse keeper Samuel Barney is pictured. (Photo courtesy of the Marquette Regional History Center)

MARQUETTE — As mentioned in part one of this story, by the time Samuel Barney took over the Marquette Lighthouse in late October 1873, twenty years after it was first lit, he was the eighth keeper. He was the first to be given an assistant keeper, his young adult son, Albert. Marquette was a distinct improvement over their previous post at Granite Island. But of the previous keepers, three had resigned and three been fired, while the circumstances surrounding the departure of the first keeper, in 1857, are unknown.

In 1859, the first to be removed was John Roussain. That summer, Peter White, Register of the U.S. Land Office, penned a letter to the Light-House Board in Washington: “Great complaint is made about the keeper of the light at this place. He is a habitual drunkard, frequently thrashes his wife and throws her out of doors. He has several times failed to light up until morning – last night he did not light up until after midnight – three sail vessels came in and one steamer during the night…it is quite important that the light should be kept by a sober man as well as an efficient one. Certain ‘Pot House’ politicians here have recommended to the collector [of customs] at Mackinaw the appointment of Henry Graveraet, an old man over 70 years, dissipated and an imbecile, and we protest most earnestly and respectfully against this appointment.”

At the time Marquette had a population of 300, and Roussain, although he moonlighted as the lighthouse keeper, also owned the only liquor store in town. Although many light keepers needed second jobs, Roussain was fired. Henry Graveraet was not hired but his son, Robert, was.

The second keeper to be “removed,” at the close of the Civil War, was Anastasia “Eliza” Truckey. She was thirty-eight and a mother of six when, in 1862, her husband Nelson resigned his position as keeper and left to join the Union Army. It was not unusual for a wife to assume these duties when her husband could not. But she still needed to be able to read, write and keep accounts and Eliza could not. In a legal document dating from the 1880s, Truckey signed with her mark, an X.

Barney’s immediate predecessor, Clark Earle, was also fired. He had been at the station for four years, when, in mid-November, he was removed. The official reasons are not known but can be pieced together from Barney’s first entries in the Marquette Lighthouse log book- a book which he begins.

Nov. 10 Got possession of the light today. Went to take a look at the fog whistle and found the hand pump had been left with water in it and had frozen and bursted.

Nov. 13 Took the broken pump to the machine shop to see if it could be fixed. Was told it would cost as much as a new one or more to repair it.

It was a station in neglect.

Barney’s log continues, and consists primarily of weather and maintenance reports, interspersed with tidbits of news:

1874

Oct. 2 Helped to take up the broken plank on the breakwater.

Nov. 1 The weather cold enough to make ice in the signal house. Got up steam to thaw out ice.

1875

June 19 …Forbid people from taking sand from lighthouse grounds.

July 15 The United States Light-House steamer “Dahlia,” Commander Mr. McLarin, Light House Inspector and Officers paid the light a visit and left supplies for a year.

Aug. 8 A man murdered on the schooner “Fayette Brown” this morning while laying at the dock.

Sep.7 A gale from the South West. A fish boat capsized by the lighthouse with two men in it. Saved both.

Sep.16 A gale from the North East. Could not get the light on the breakwater.

Sep. 24 Received an order from the Light-House Engineer to repair up the damages to the beacon light by the weather on the breakwater.

Sep. 27 The oil all run out of the lamp in the tower running to the foot of the stairs.

Barney’s son Albert was fired the next day. The question remains as to who actually removed him. Was it his father? In the U.S. Light-House Service’s “Instructions to Light-Keepers” we find Rule #1, “The keeper is responsible for the care and management of the light, and for the station in general. He must enforce careful attention to duty on the part of his assistants…”

A new assistant keeper, Samuel Torrence, a laborer, was hired, but resigned before the opening of the shipping season the next year.

1876

June 24 Assistant Keeper in duty today for the first time.

This was James Cunliff, who had been hired back in May. Why it took him so long to report for duty is open to conjecture. But the fact that he found the position uncongenial is not. On July 14 he “Deserted Post.” A ship’s carpenter, Thomas Robinson, was hired as his replacement.

July 6 Wind south. Fresh. Thunder showers at night. The lightening striking the light-house.

Sept. 18 Supplies for the fog signal delivered today and also a new lamp in place of the old one. Mc Crump, the Lampist making the change.

1877

Apr. 30 The harbor full of ice. The pier light went out at three o’clock this morning.

May 7 …The Assistant Keeper went to sleep on duty and let the lamp smoke.

May 8 …Oil butts needed to be cleaned. Received notice of my dismissal.

May 9 Filled the blank receipts and delivered everything over to my successor.

“The Modern Light-House Service,” “A keeper found intoxicated is not only summarily dismissed the service but is instantly ejected from the station; and a keeper who allows his light to go out is dismissed without regard to his excuse or his previous good conduct.”

While carrying local prestige, a lightkeeper’s position was low paying and insecure; and the Light-House Service’s standards were high but its gratitude thin.

Barney’s successor was Philip Morgan, superintendent of the municipal water works, at the foot of the breakwater. Five years later, he too, was fired.