Between 1828 and 1947 there were 138 women who were officially employed by The United States Lighthouse Establishment or Lighthouse Service as keepers. “Officially employed” does not credit the hundreds of women who were their husband’s “unofficial” assistant keepers. As early as 1776, Hannah Thomas became the first woman in the United States to take over her duties during the Revolutionary War.
Hanna Thomas was born in the early 1730’s on Gurnet Point in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Her parents owned a dairy farm. At the age of sixteen her father died, and she was “granted” one third of the farm’s acreage. When she was thirty in 1761, she married Dr. later Colonel John Thomas and together they operated the farm.
In 1768 the Massachusetts Legislature authorized the construction of the Plymouth (Gurnet) Lighthouse located on Gurnet Point on the north entrance to Plymouth Bay. This became the first of twin lights to be built on the site. Since there were no ways at that time to distinguish one lighthouse from another, twin lights were built if there were a series of single lights leading in either direction to the site. Now-a-days, towers are decorated with different colors, horizontal strips or bands to differentiate one from another, and a unique distinguishing flash pattern of the light identified the lightstation.
John and Hannah Thomas were the first keepers of the light. When John was killed at the very beginning of the Revolutionary War, Hannah became the first female lighthouse keeper in the America. She served from 1776 to 1790.
Interestingly, in 1802 Hannah sold the lighthouse station to the United States Government. It is still active.