|
EAST MACHIAS - A 1929 hand-written journal, compiled by Agnes “Aggie” Cole, about daily life at the defunct St. Croix River Lighthouse has been donated by Doris M. Cates to Tim Harrison, noted lighthouse historian and publisher of Lighthouse Digest.
The journal is a near-daily record of Cole’s time spent living at the St. Croix Island Lighthouse on Douchet Island in the St. Croix River in Washington County, Maine near Calais, from October 14, 1929 to June 3, 1930. She was staying at the lighthouse with her brother, Charles A. Kenney, who was the lighthouse keeper there from 1923-1930
“We can only assume the journal ended when it did because Kenney left the lighthouse in 1930, when we assume he retired from the U. S. Lighthouse Service,” said Harrison. Kenney had previously served as a lighthouse keeper at Petit Manan, Libby Island and Little River Lighthouses.
“Of historical significance,” said Harrison, “is the fact that lighthouse keeper Charles A. Kenney autographed the journal when he hand-wrote a note in the front of the journal presenting it to his sister.”
Although the daily journal does not talk about lighthouse keeping specifically, it does go into great detail about Cole’s daily life along with the other women who lived in the lighthouse, Kenney’s wife and grandmother. The journal talks about the daily chores of cooking and cleaning, names of people Agnes wrote to, making dolls, and how the ladies entertained themselves by playing various card games, and taking walks when the weather permitted. One big complaint she wrote about was the constant wind, especially during snow storms when leaving the house on the island was impossible for days on end. One of their highlights was the arrival of the mail. “From reading the journal, these folks spent a lot of time writing letters back and forth to family members,” said Harrison.
A page from the hand-written daily journal kept by Agnes Cole that describes the day to day life at St. Croix Lighthouse in 1929-1930
Near the end of the journal there is a 1902 poem written by J. B. Brown that was copied into the journal by Agnes Cole as religious words of wisdom and guidance to herself.
“But the biggest treasure of all,” said Harrison, “is the very last page of the journal which gives the hand written names and exact dates of service of all the previous lighthouse keepers to have served at St. Croix River Lighthouse, including the names of some who were previously unknown to us. They were probably copied from the original lighthouse log books that would have been kept at the lighthouse.”
Harrison said he would use some of the material from the journal in a book that he is working on about the Lighthouses of Washington County. He hopes that this type of donation will encourage others to come forward with material or old photographs that could be included in the book. “After all,” he said, “once the book is printed, it’s too late to add other photographs that can help tell the history of these lighthouses for future generations.”
Because Charles Kenney was also a lighthouse keeper at Little River Lighthouse in Cutler, Harrison said the journal would go into the archives of the Friends of Little River Lighthouse, which is a chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation.
Photos or historical information on lighthouses can be sent to Tim Harrison, Lighthouse Digest, P. O. Box 250, East Machias, ME 04630 or he can be called at 259-2121.
|
