Stephen Woolverton, Keeper of the Cleveland Harbor Lighthouse, 1831-1838
Lighthouse Keeper Stephen Woolverton wrote numerous letters to Fifth Auditor Stephen Pleasonton during the third decade of the nineteenth century. This correspondence provides glimpses not only into the life of an early keeper, but reflects the struggles of the growing Lighthouse Establishment in defining the role of a lighthouse keeper. There were 155 light stations in the U.S. when we first hear from Woolverton in 1831, no formal instructions were issued to keepers until 1835.