>> Click to enlarge << Ephraim S. Pinkham.

Ephraim S. Pinkham (December 8, 1815 – January 19, 1892) was the keeper at Maine’s Hedrick’s Head Lighthouse from 1859 to 1861. His son Merritt Pinkham married Mary Catherine Marr who was the daughter of Jaurel Marr who was the keeper at Hendricks Head Lighthouse from 1866 to 1895. Merritt Pinkham became an assistant keeper at Seguin Island Lighthouse in 1889 and became head keeper in 1890 and served there until 1898 when he was transferred to Doubling Point Lighthouse where he served until 1931. Another son of Ephraim S. Pinkham, Jaurel Benjamin Pinkham (1881-1953) also became a lighthouse keeper and served at Egg Rock Lighthouse from 1921 to 1942. It also believed he served previously at Seguin Island Lighthouse and Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse.

>> Click to enlarge << Jaurel Benjamin Pinkham.

Jaurel Marr’s sons Clarence, Preston, and Wolcott also became lighthouse keepers. Clarence Marr was the keeper at Cuckolds Fog Signal Station (later lighthouse) from 1896 to 1899 and Pemaquid Point Lighthouse from 1898 to 1922. Preston Marr was the keeper at Cuckolds from 1907 to 1920 and he also served at Portland Breakwater Lighthouse. Wolcott Marr became a keeper at Cape Elizabeth Two Lights, Cuckolds Fog Signal Station (which later became Cuckolds Lighthouse) and then the keeper at Hendricks Head Lighthouse from 1895 to 1930.

>> Click to enlarge << Merritt Pinkham.

There was also a Ephraim S. Marr who was a keeper at Seguin Island Lighthouse in 1866 and again from 1874 to 1875, and a William C. Marr, who was an assistant keeper at Seguin Island Lighthouse in 1866, but we’re not sure how either of them were related to other Marrs.

>> Click to enlarge << Marr family lighthouse monument in a cemetery in ...

>> Click to enlarge << Jaurel Marr.

>> Click to enlarge << Wolcott Marr.

This story appeared in the Nov/Dec 2012 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

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