Margaret Norvell

Margaret Norvell (1860-1934) was a lighthouse keeper, employed by the United States Lighthouse Service, a precursor agency to the United States Coast Guard.[1][2] Norvell became a lighthouse keeper in 1891, and remained in that service for 41 years.[3][4] Widows whose husbands were lighthouse keepers, who died in office, were allowed to hold positions as lighthouse keepers themselves.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Norvell's husband drowned in the course of his duties. Norvell was credited with saving many lives, including by venturing out into storms in a rowboat to rescue stranded mariners.

Margaret Norvell
Birth nameMargaret Celeste Dimitry Ruth
Nickname(s)Madge
Born(1860-02-11)February 11, 1860
Washington, DC
DiedJuly 17, 1934(1934-07-17) (aged 74)
Buried
Metairie Cemetery
AllegianceUnited States
Service/branchUnited States Lighthouse Service

Early life

Born Margaret Celeste Dimitry Ruth on February 11 1860 in Washington D.C. and married Louis Gray Norvell in 1883. Louis Gray Norvell was from St. Louis and became a lighthouse keeper on Deer Island at the Head of Passes on the Mississippi River.[12]

USCGC Margaret Norvell

In 2010 when the Coast Guard decided that all the new Sentinel class cutters would be named after Coast Guard personnel who had been recognized for their heroism Norvell was one of those to be honored.[13][2] The fifth cutter in the class will be named the USCGC Margaret Norvell (WPC-1105). She will be homeported in Miami, Florida, with the other first five cutters to be delivered.[14] Although she is homeported in Miami, the Coast Guard brought her to New Orleans, whose sea traffic was protected by the lighthouses she served in, for her official commissioning.[4] 55 of Norvell's descendants attended her commissioning in June, 2013.

References
  1. Connie Braesch (2010-11-01). "Coast Guard Heroes: Margaret Norvell". United States Coast Guard. Archived from the original on 2013-03-11. Retrieved 2013-01-03. As a member of the U.S. Lighthouse Service, she first served at the Head of Passes Light as an assistant keeper from 1891 to 1896. Her leadership did not go unnoticed and after Head of Passes she was appointed keeper of both the Port Pontchartrain Light from 1896 to 1924 and the West End Light where she served from 1924 to 1932.
  2. Stephanie Young (2010-10-27). "Coast Guard Heroes". United States Coast Guard. Archived from the original on 2012-11-27. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
  3. Marilyn Turk (2011-09-30). "It's my job". Archived from the original on 2014-01-02. Thus Margaret Norvell became a lighthouse keeper in 1891. In 1896, she was reassigned to be the keeper of the Port Pontchartrain Light Station on Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana at the treacherous mouth of the Mississippi River. And for the next 36 years, she handled the job of keeper and was credited with rescuing many shipwrecked sailors.
  4. Paul Purpura (2013-06-07). "'Heroine' lighthouse keeper links descendants to Coast Guard, which names cutter for her". New Orleans: New Orleans Times Picayune. Retrieved 2013-06-18. About 55 of Margaret Norvell's descendants converged on New Orleans for the commissioning, on the Mississippi River in the shadow of the Crescent City Connection bridge.
  5. Mary Louise Clifford, J. Candace Clifford (2001). Women who kept the lights: an illustrated history of female lighthouse keepers. Cypress Communications. ISBN 9780963641250. Retrieved 2013-01-03.
  6. "Own a part of our history: New London Harbor Light, Connecticut". Toledo Blade. 2002-09-29. p. 74. Retrieved 2013-01-22. As a keeper here from 1924-32, Margaret Norvell was one of 141 women who have worked for the Lighthouse Service She took on the job when her husband drowned.
  7. Florence L. Tucker (1902-12-02). ""The Lady of the Lake"--Famous Woman Light Keeper at Port Pontchartraine". Atlanta Constitution. p. e6. Retrieved 2013-01-22.
  8. "Sailors guarded by heroic women". Atlanta Constitution. 1912-01-21. p. d1. Retrieved 2013-01-22.
  9. Monica M. Dalide (2008). "683 Things About New Orleans". p. 27. ISBN 9781432737054. Retrieved 2013-01-22. Well before its time, New Orleans had a female lighthouse keeper, Margaret Norvell. Norvell ran three lighthouses in the New Orleans area during her long career spanning from 1891 to 1932. During the Hurricane of 1893, Norvell rescued 200 survivors, sheltering them within the Point Pontchartrain lighthouse, an act for which she was publicly recognized.
  10. Bethany Ann Bromwell (2008). "Mothers of the Sea: Female Lighthouse Keepers and Their Image and Role Within Society". pp. 19, 107. ISBN 9780549696759. Retrieved 2013-01-22. Margaret Norvell was the keeper at Port Pontchartrain Light Station in Louisiana, when a 1903 hurricane left her lighthouse as the only building standing along the lower coast of Lake Pontchartrain. She housed over 200 people following the storm and even helped supply and acquire relief funds for those who had lost their homes. This type of work makes these women and men appear to almost be an early form of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or the Red Cross.
  11. Bruce Roberts, Ray Jones (2002). "American Lighthouses: A Definitive Guide". Globe Pequot. ISBN 9780762722693. Retrieved 2013-01-22.
  12. Norvell, John E. "Margaret Norvell – 'True, Steady, Unfailing'", March 1, 2017. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  13. "FRC Plan B: The Sentinel Class". Defense Industry Daily. 2014-05-02. Archived from the original on 2014-07-07. Retrieved 2014-04-03. All of these boats will be named after enlisted Coast Guard heroes, who distinguished themselves in USCG or military service. The first 25 have been named, but only 8 have been commissioned...
  14. Rhonda Carpenter (2012-11-05). "Coast Guard Commissions Third Fast Response Cutter, William Flores". Defense Media Network. Archived from the original on 2013-03-24. The first six FRCs for District 7 will be homeported in Miami; the next six in Key West; and the remaining six in Puerto Rico.
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