While working in my digital research library, I recently revisited several letters written by the Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton. As you know, the Secretary of Treasury oversaw lighthouses in the early years of the new republic, with frequent oversight from President Washington. These letters were written to Benjamin Lincoln, the first customs collector in Boston, who, as the letters indicate, became the first superintendent of lighthouses for the state of Massachusetts. Copied from Record Group 26 during a 2001 visit to the Boston Regional Branch of the National Archives, the first letter is dated March 10, 1790, and the second July 14, …
Month: May 2015
U.S. Revenue Cutter Service/U.S. Coast Guard Celebrate 225th Anniversary
As most of you know the U.S. Coast Guard is an amalgamation of five agencies–the Revenue Cutter Service, the Life-Saving Service, the Lighthouse Service, the Steamboat Inspection Service, and the Bureau of Navigation. Established as the Revenue-Marine Service in the Department of the Treasury under Secretary Alexander Hamilton on August 4, 1790, the Revenue Cutter Service collected taxes and tariffs, enforced maritime laws, and suppressed piracy. The Revenue Cutter Service also frequently worked with the early Lighthouse Establishment. Before acquiring vessels to tend lighthouses and other aids to navigation (primarily buoys) the Lighthouse Establishment often relied on revenue cutters to assist them in …
Bodie Island Keepers: Oral and Family Histories
May 2015 update – Cheryl Roberts has copies of BODIE ISLAND KEEPERS available for purchase. Contact her at cherylrbrts22@gmail.com