Refer to page 22 of Lighthouses Short and Tall for Point Fermin Lighthouse
Keepers were not put on the Civil Service list until 1896. Before that time political
connections were often helpful in getting a keeper’s appointment. The first keepers at Point Fermin were sisters, Mary
and Ella Smith, although only Mary is listed as official keeper. She had been keeper at Ediz Hook in Washington Territory
1870-1874, replacing her father George Smith when he resigned. It is possible that Mary’s brother Victor Smith, having
secured a political appointment in 1860 as a Special Treasury Agent, arranged his father’s and his sisters’ appointments.
Before 1896 what might have happened to light keepers who were political appointees
when an election changed the government in Washington from one party to the other?
