Photo Caption:
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Shown here is lighthouse keeper George W. Ward with his son Edwin G. Ward who grew up to become a third generation lighthouse keeper and would eventually become the lighthouse keeper of the Sodus Pierhead Lighthouse.
Written reports indicate that George Ward’s father, James Ward, was also a lighthouse keeper; however, if that was true, we don’t know where he was a keeper. However, we do know that George Ward’s father-in-law, Horace Holloway, was a lighthouse keeper who started his lighthouse career as the acting keeper at New York’s Sackett’s Harbor (Horse Island) Lighthouse on November 1, 1883 and was officially appointed keeper on November 6, 1884 and he served there until February 28, 1909 when he was replaced by his son-in-law George, who served there until the mid-1920s.
Prior to being stationed at Sackett’s Harbor, George Ward was the 2nd assistant keeper at the Detroit River (Bar Point) Lighthouse from May 14, 1906 until March 31, 1907 when he was promoted to 2nd assistant keeper on April 1, 1907, a position he held until May 22, 1908 when he was promoted and transferred to be the head keeper at Crossover Island Lighthouse in Chippewa Bay, New York. He stayed at Crossover Island Lighthouse less than a year, leaving the following year on February 27 to take the position as head keeper on March 1, 1909 at New York’s Sackett’s Harbor Lighthouse where his father-in-law had previously served.
As well as George’s son Edwin, who grew up to be a lighthouse keeper, two other sons, Frank and Oswald, would also become lighthouse keepers. Frank served at Lorain, Ohio and at the New York lighthouses of Buffalo Breakwater (North End), Crossover Island, and Rock Island. Oswald, who might have been an unofficial assistant, reportedly also served at Buffalo and Rochester, New York.
George H. Ward died in Oswego, New York on December 13, 1927 and is buried at the Lakeside Rural Cemetery. (Photo courtesy Sodus Bay Lighthouse Museum.)
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