Ida Zoradia Lewis lived an extraordinary life, becoming America’s most famous woman lighthouse keeper and national heroine. She is also eulogised as the ‘bravest woman in America’ for taking care of the light on Lime Rock in Newport, R.I., for more than 50 years, and also bailing out more than 25 people from death.
Ida, irrespective of her age, gender, class, and lack of education, managed to rise above the overwhelming bias and discrimination against women to fulfil her true potential and her life’s work.
She began her life’s calling of saving lives at sea when she was just 12 and continued doing so until she was in her 60s. Let’s take you on a journey through the story of America’s bravest woman, Ida Lewis, the lighthouse hero of old Rhode Island.
10 need to know facts about Ida Lewis
- Ida Lewis was born to Captain Hosea Lewis and Idawalley Zoradia Wiley on 25 February 1842 in Newport, Rhode Island, as one of four children.
- She lived with her family on the small near-island Lime Rock and began her life’s calling of saving lives at sea when she was just 12.
- Ida began tending to the lighthouse after her father suffered a stroke and eventually died after a couple of years, and she lost her mother to cancer in 1878.
- When Ida was 15 years old, she was recognised as the best swimmer in Newport, and she would row her younger siblings to school every weekday while fetching supplies that the family needed.
- She saved many lives at sea, including a young soldier’s, who was sailing in a skiff near the lighthouse and got overturned in 1866.
- She married William Wilson in 1870, and the pair got separated two years later in 1872.
- Ida Lewis had no children of her own.
- The Rhode Island legislature in 1924 officially renamed Lime Rock to Ida Lewis Rock in her honour.
- She took care of the light on Lime Rock in Newport for more than 50 years and died of a stroke in 1911.
- Ida Lewis is revered as America’s bravest woman, and her exploits were detailed in the National Press and have been retold many times since then.
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Early life, family background and rescue feats
Ida Lewis is the second oldest of four children of Captain Hosea Lewis of the Revenue-Marine. She was born on 25 February 1842 in Newport, Rhode Island.
Her father was appointed keeper of Lime Rock Light on the small near-island Lime Rock in Newport in 1854 following his transfer, but shortly into his tenure at the Lighthouse Service, he suffered a stroke.
Hosea Lewis could no longer tend to the lighthouse because of his predicament, and the responsibility fell on the shoulders of Ida Lewis and her mother. They both undertook all duties required of the keeper of the lighthouse while also tending to the newly disabled Hosea and a critically ill younger child.
The duties of the lighthouse keeper included tending the light by filling the lamp with oil at sundown and again at midnight, trimming the wick, polishing carbon off the reflectors, and extinguishing the light at dawn. They did this for a few years, and Ida continued after she lost her mother.
At just 12 years old, Ida Lewis performed her first rescue operation. She helped out a group of four boys who were sailing near the lighthouse when their vessel capsized. She had been known as a very good swimmer from childhood, which was expected because Lime Rock, their home, was almost completely surrounded by water and the only way to reach the mainland was by either swimming or taking a boat.
By the time Ida was 15 years old, she had become widely known as the best swimmer in Newport. She would row her younger siblings to school every weekday, and would also head to town to fetch supplies for the family.
Since it was a routine, it became part of her as practice makes perfect. Ida Lewis became very skilful at handling even heavy rowboats. She once said, “None – but a donkey, would consider it ‘un-feminine’, to save lives”, while responding to criticism that it was un-ladylike for women to row boats.
Sometime in 1866, Lewis was once again involved in another feat of bravery when she saved a young soldier’s life after his Skiff overturned near the lighthouse. She spotted him from the lighthouse and rushed out to pull him from the water. And she was said to have saved not just two men, but a sheep as well, from the icy waters the following year. The two sheep owners ran into trouble while searching for their lost animal, and Lewis went into the water to rescue both the men and their sheep from drowning.
She and her mother continued to tend to Lime Rock Light for her disabled father from 1857 until 1873 when Captain Hosea Lewis gave up the ghost.
The official title of keeper was passed on to Lewis’ mother after her husband’s demise. However, a few years later, her mother’s health began to deteriorate, leaving Ida Lewis in charge of caring for her mother as well as tending to the lighthouse.
Ida Lewis became the official keeper in 1879 after her mother died of cancer in 1878. She received the official appointment as keeper from Rhode Island governor General Ambrose Everett Burnside, who was an admirer of her valiant efforts. General Ambrose Everett Burnside was a Civil War hero, who governed Rhode Island, and later became a United States senator.
Career as official keeper
Ida Lewis inherited her career as keeper of the lighthouse from her parents. Her father was transferred to the Lighthouse Service and appointed keeper of Lime Rock Light on the small near-island Lime Rock in Newport back in 1854.
After he suffered a stroke, the duties passed to his daughter and wife. Upon his demise, Idawalley Zoradia Wiley, his wife, became official lighthouse keeper. However, when she passed in 1878, the official title of keeper was conferred on their daughter, Ida Lewis.
And with a salary of $750 per year, Ida Lewis was the highest-paid lighthouse keeper in the nation at some point. She was given an extra pay “in consideration of the remarkable services of Mrs. Wilson in the saving of lives”, a publication wrote. A price converter values her salary to be about $15,411.93 in 2021.
