Dyle R. Johnson, History of the Lighthouse Service in
Mayport, Florida, 1833-I929
State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory, http://floridamemory.com/items/show/61604
1
No discussion on the history of the Mayport Lighthouse can begin without first
mentioning the Bar Pilots. The St. John's Branch was established by the following
men: Captain James Arnau, Frank Majones, Peter Masters, Captain Timothy
Wightman, Phillip Dewees, and John and Andrew Floyd.
These men were a hard lot: there [their] job was to go out to sea and pilot the
ships across the bar through an ever changing channel, affected by tides and
winds. The Pilots erected a lookout that was 75 feet high from which they were
able to see ships many miles at sea.
There was no Lighthouse at this time and sailing vessels had to anchor off the
bar until a pilot could go out and bring them safely across. They often had to
wait until ‘he winds were from the South-East or North-East to sail the ships across
the bar.
On May 23, 1828, Congress appropriated 36,503 for the construction of a
lighthouse at the mouth of the St. Johns River in the Territory of Florida. On March
2, 1829, another $7,503, and, finally, $10,533 was expended in 1833. This first
lighthouse, located on the south side of the river, may have been near the same
site on which Jean Ribault placed his monument claiming this territory for France
in 1562.
The first keeper of the light was William Livingston, recommended by the
Superintendant [sic] of Lighthouses, and appointed by the Secretary of the
Treasury in 1830.
The coastal tides kept washing the point away, and the lighthouse and property
were depreciating rapidly. Due to this condition, it was decided to relocate the
lighthouse about one mile upriver. On June 30, 1834, Congress appropriated
$10,000 for this move. Unfortunately, this decision did not eliminate the erosion
and shifting sand dunes. In 1852, another $10,000 was alloted [sic] to try to make
the lighthouse more secure.
According to T. Frederick Davis in his History of Jacksonville, Florida, the
Jacksonville Courier, on August 6, l855, published this interesting correspondence
2
about the St. Johns Bar:
Dear Sir: The Bar of St. Johns River is at this time at the northeast part of the
entrance, and affords from 12 to 15 feet at high water, as the state of the
tide may be, whether spring or neap tides. Vessels bound into the St.
Johns River wishing a pilot should keep the Lighthouse bearing from SSW
to WSW, and run into b,5, or 6 fathoms of water, as the weather may be;
In running in for the lighthouse in the night, bring it to bear as above, and
anchor in 6 or 7 fathoms if moderate and smooth. Masters of vessels may
always know that their signal for a Pilot is seen by the Pilots on shore, by it
being answered by a signal from the lighthouse. The Pilots pledge
themselves to give prompt attention to all vessels coming to this Bar and
River.
St. Johns Bar, July, l835. Timothy Wightman, Branch Pilot.
In 1853, the site of the Lighthouse was in danger of being entirely destroyed.
Ships were complaining as to the effectiveness of the light. The sand dunes had
shifted and the keeper’s house was almost covered. The light was behind the
dunes and could not be seen by ships as they came in close to the beach.
These conditions probably had something to do with the name adopted for the
community at the mouth of the St. Johns River. Hazzard, as it was called,
seemed a very appropriate description of the ever changing bar. This name
stayed with the community until Dec. 7, 1848. The name was changed to
Mayport Mills on January 27, 1849.
Due to the ineffectiveness of the lighthouse at this time, Congress appropriated
$15,000 on August 3, 1854 for erection of a channel and beacon light to serve as
a range for the channel. These were located across the river from the existing
lighthouse. This led to the construction of the final lighthouse, completed
January 1, 1859.
Nothing appears in the Coast Guard records until June 30, 1864 during the War
Between the States. The lighthouse was used to mark the channel for Yankee
gunboats. The light was extinguished in 1864 by Rebels. This report confirms the
story of old timers who credit John Daniels, caretaker since 1859, with defying
3
the Yankees by shooting out the light in the tower. Lanterns were used after the
war until the light was repaired.
In 1887, the light was raised 15 feet to its present height. The candle watt was
increased 15 X in 1912. The lighthouse was abandoned January 15, 1929 in favor
of the St. Johns Lightship which was anchored about eight miles east of the bar.
The ship was manned by the Coast Guard to guide shipping into +he mouth of
the St. Johns River and Port of Jacksonville.
In 1953, the Lightship was replaced by a new lighthouse built and operated by
the Coast Guard. It was located about l mile south of the Jettys [sic], on the
eastern edge of the Mayport Naval Station. It was built to provide living quarters
for four Coast Guard families. This lighthouse is rated as a fifteen mile light. Ship
captains have reported seeing the light as far as twenty-five miles out. The light
is completely automated now, controlled by the Coast Guard Base in Mayport.
The old St. Johns Lighthouse is located on the Mayport Naval base, at the foot of
Palmer Street, inside the security fence. The Navy contends that it is a hazard to
planes and would like to have it torn down, but it still stands as a landmark and is
listed in the National Register of Historical Places.
According to T. Frederick Davis [,] History of Jacksonville, Florida and Vicinity
1513 to 1924, keepers of the light beginning in the year 1830 were in order
named: William Livingston, Rogue Leonardy, John Warren, Henry Maxey and
Mathew H. Phillips.
Treasury Department records reveal the following names and dates of service:
William Henry Houston/Huston1
Services no longer needed July 9, 1842
January 14, 1841
George C. Acosta
July 11, 1842
William H. Houston/Huston reinstated
September 9, 1842
The name is spelled both ways. A descendant with whim Johnson corresponded spelled it as
Houston.
1
4
Names and dates of service to follow were obtained from the National Archives
and Records Service.
Name
Dates of Appointment and Termination of Service
Joshua Fennimore
August 8, 1849 -
William M. Hagin
October 24, 1853 —
John Daniels
August18, 1858 - January 17, 1870
A. W. Brown (Assistant)
July 12, 1867 -October 12, 1868
Mrs. Josephine Daniels (Assistant) October 12, 1868 – January 17, 1870
John A. Hogan
January 17, 1870 (Declined)
Eli Haworth
March 5, 1870 - October 6, 1871
Alphonso Haworth (Assistant)
Alexander McDonald
November 3, 1873 - Dec. 13, 1871
October 6, 1871 - Apr. 1879 (Died in office)
Mrs. Francis McDonald (Assistant) December 27, 1871 -August1, 1886
Assistant keeper position abolished August3, 1886
Joseph Champagne
October 14, 1890 - January 1, 1893
Amos Buford (Acting)
January 1, 1895 - July 26, 1893
Amos Buford
July 26, 1893- 1925
Charles L. Sisson
l925 - January 15, 1929
[Johnson wrote his name as Fred, the name of his son.]
Jan, 15, 1929 lighthouse was abandoned.
5
ADDENDUM
St. Johns River Lighthouse
Photo: Don Mabry
6
More recent technology enables us to present more information about
these people. We are able to search for and find personal details and photos of
people as well as, in this case, information about the lighthouses.
William Henry Houston married Sarah Ann Harrison. He died about 1845 in
Mayport; she was the head of the household in the 1850 census.2
Joshua Fennimore, keeper as of August 8, 1849, came from New Jersey.
He and his wife, Janey, had a daughter named Leonora.3
William M Hagin (son of Josiah John Hagin and Catalina Margarite Anna
Mabrumati) was born 1810 in St. Augustine, Spanish Florida, and died 1877. He
married Sarah Katen on November 25, 1835. They had seven children before he
became lighthouse keeper on October 24, 1853.
John Daniels (March 30, 1822-January 29, 1879) married Josephine García
(born May 26, 1822) of St. Augustine, Florida. She was his assistant Keeper from
October 12, 1868 until February 18, 1897. John was reputed the have shot out
the Light during the Civil War to hinder the United States Navy from entering the
river. It did not work but has given him a legendary status among many.
Josephine was the daughter of José García and Panchita (Frances) Pons. José
García carried he mail but was killed by Native Americans. His widow married
Estéban Arnau, a St. Johns River Bar Pilot.4
Winifred B. Shepard to Dyle R. Johnson. September 20, 1979, Dyle R. Johnson Collection,
Beaches Museum & History Park.
3 William B. Christian to Dyle R. Johnson, April 6, 1981, in Johnson Collection.
4 Herschel Conner, FLDUVAL-L Archives: June 2001.
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/FLDUVAL/2001-06/0992575111.
2
7
Daniels House ca. 1870 at the foot of the lighthouse
Source: Beaches Museum
Gene Nordan acquired the house from the City of Jacksonville in exchange for
moving it. Nordan obtained permission to cross the runway of Naval Station Mayport on
its way to Beach Avenue and 11th Street in Atlantic Beach. In 1988. He renovated it
and added two chandeliers and eight pf the dining chairs from the Chateau
Restaurant. 5
Eli Haworth, the Quaker physician born in Liberty, Union County, Indiana
on August 1, 1829, migrated to East Mayport. He died of liver congestion at age
59 at home on the old Pablo Plantation. Below is an 1870 deed to the property
he and W. F. Keller bought from David Palmer and Sara Ferris. He practiced
medicine; Helen Cooper Floyd wrote a nice article about various drugs he
compounded and his poppy field. In his last years, he managed the Burnside
House, a hotel on Burnside Beach (then Seminole Beach and now part of Naval
Station Mayport). Burnside Beach was a resort development of Alexander
Wallace, President of the Jacksonville, Mayport, and Pablo Navigation
Company, R. M. Haworth, Liberty, Union County, Indiana, and L. S. Burrows, a
5
Gene Nordan to Don Mabry, March 2, 2015.
8
lawyer in Mayport. Fire burned the Burnside House and many other buildings in
1889; the development failed. 6
Eli Haworth
1865
The Haworth Association of America. http://www.haworthassociation.org/Family-Notes2/Eli/Eli_Haworth.htm. Helen Cooper Floyd, “A Corner on History,” Sun-Times, August 10, 1978.
Archibald Number 5355, Book R, Page 689, found in the Johnson Collection. Helen Cooper Floyd,
"Burnside Beach, Developer's Dream that Never Came True," Sun-Times, p.A-7. August 5, 1981.
Donald J. Mabry, I’ve Been Working on the Railroad, Chapter 3,
http://historicaltextarchive.com/books.php?action=nextpre&bid=74.
6
9
July 28, 1879
Source: Dyle R. Johnson Collection, Beaches Museum
10
Eli Haworth obituary
May 3, 1887
Alphonso Haworth, his only child, served as the Assistant Light house
keeper for November 3, 1873 through December 13, 1871 but, more important
sired children to keep the Haworth lineage in the Mayport area. He operated
the Burnside House.
11
Alphonso Haworth
Amos Beauregard Buford (October 20, 1862-November 25, 1925) in
Boulogne, Florida, just south of Folkston, Georgia. His wife, Viola L. Pendarvis, was
also born in Nassau County. Although they lived in Mayport for a time, they
considered Nassau County their home and were buried there.
12
Charles L. Sisson
Source: Ponce de Leon Lighthouse,
Charles Leslie Sisson, born Black Hill, South Carolina, on November 25, 1871, had
a long career in the Lighthouse service. He started at age twenty after serving in
the Army. He learned the trade at the Venus Point Light in the Savannah River.
Then he served at Morris Island Light Station, Hilton Head Light Station, Parris
Island Range Lights, and the Haig Point and Daufuskie Island Range Light
Station. After arriving at the Fort Clinch Range Lights and Tiger Island Range
Lights in Cumberland Sound on the Florida-Georgia border, he met his future
wife, Ruth Ellen Sharpe. He became Keeper of the Mosquito Inlet [Ponce de
Leon Inlet] Light Station on July 1, 1924 and left on August 16, 1926. Then he
moved to the St. Johns River Light Station at Mayport, FL where he served from
1929 until 1929, at which it was closed and a light ship was used instead. Sisson
moved to the Lower Flats Range Lights in the Savannah River. “In 1932, his wife
died in a fire, and the next year, Sisson retired from the Lighthouse Service to
raise his children. Charles Leslie Sisson died at the age of 79 in the U. S. Marine
Hospital in Savannah on April 4, 1950. He was buried in the Bon-adventure
Cemetery in Savannah.”7
SISSON-L Archives, RootsWeb, http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/SISSON/200403/1078849214. Ponce de Leon Lighthouse, http://ponceinlet.org/keeper-charles-leslie-sisson.
7
13