Her father was a revenue cutter captain. Also convince the government that instead of rowing backandforth, they should build a house for his family. Ida was 12 years old when that happened. They moved the whole family from downtown newport to lime rock and that is where she lived her entire life until she died. She died in the lighthouse as her father did. Ida was 12 years old in 1854 when she took over the duties of the lighthouse. Her father had shortly after they moved in, been stricken with a stroke and could not do the work anymore. Her mother and ida took over the duties. It was common for women, daughters taking over their fathers duties if he became ill. They never got the credit for the money for it. Ida was really built for this work. She loved living on a rock. She was meant for this. Not as romantic as a lot of people think. It is rugged. You have to provide your own heat and food. All the resources you have to bring in. Her siblings out to the mainland for school and pick them up in the worst weather. Her father would look away because he would think they are not going to make it, but she always did. She had the most prowess rowing then anybody in newport than anybody in newport. She was an amazing swimmer and nobody swam back then. She had her first rescue at 16. She was attending the light and she heard screaming for help. Four young boys about her age are having a picnic and they were getting kind of crazy and wild and someone climbed the mast and the boat capsized. Owed out there and saved all four of them. Nobody knew this. They all thank her thanked her and were on the way. That was her first rescue. She did many rescues throughout her career. The one that put her on the map was when she rescued disco soldiers from fort adams who had been having a good time and rowd a 14yearold boy to them back to fort adams, rather than walk however many miles around the long way. It was a windy stormy night. The boat capsized vertically. Ida jumped in her little skip and paddled out and saved the men. Unfortunately, the boy had drowned. The men were nearly gone and here they were, twice her size and her father had told her, you always pull someone in over the stern and that is what she did. Unbelievably strong and most of all, she kept a really calm head. That became her most famous rescue because it had to be documented. They were soldiers from fort adams and one was a sergeant. Morning, they spent the night there because they were almost dead. They spent the night there and the next morning, the sergeant admitted to ida and her mother that when he saw ida rowing out to get them, he thought we are doomed. It is only a woman. She is never going to make it. He said i watched her and she got closer and closer and i thought she is going to do it and we will be all right. That was 1869. What is ironic is after this famous rescue, these soldiers, the new york press came in and hartford weekly and a variety of magazines came in and interviewed her and they sketched her and did these illustrations. While they were heralding her as the bravest woman in america, they were also saying things like is it really a feminine thing to do for a young woman to people . At or rescue they questioned her femininity and in the end, one of the writers surmised that he hoped she would soon be safely married. She got lots of press and newport sorted to recognize we have this unbelievable heroin in our midst. Next was the july, they decided it was going to be ida lewis day. They dedicated the whole day to her. There was a parade, there were ida lewis banners, postcards. A boat,prised her with the rescue. They made this spectacular wooden boat for her. They thought she deserved something much better than her little skip. Speeches from the governor and everybody. She thanked the mall, got in the rescue thanked them all, got itthe rescue and rowed back to the lighthouse and never used it. It was too heavy, it was impractical with cushions and gold fleece. She had to rate this up to get it off of the rocks. There was no way she would be able to do this by herself. She could handle her skip by herself. She really appreciated what the townspeople had done for her. She was so famous after that that visitors started to come in droves. Invalider, who was an would sit by the fire on the stove and he would count how many people would come to visit her. One summer, he documented between 9000 and 10,000 people. She had so many chores to do, she just kept working while she would answer the questions and talk about the rescues. That is what they wanted to hear about. He was more than just visitors and townspeople, famous people came to visit. Elizabeth cady stanton and susan were in new england on behalf of the suffrages movement and they made sure to meet ida lewis and they spent the day with her. According to accounts, they were so enthusiastic and hoping that this is a woman that can really personify what this movement is all about, but when they left, she said i just have to get back to work. She did not want to be part of this national movement. Famous civil war heroes came to visit her. The highlight of her visits was from president grant. He had been in town for something and he said he was not leaving newport until he got to shake the hand of ida lewis. Ida got hundreds of proposals of marriage when she became famous but she was engaged at age 27. She was already engaged to another captain and she did leave the lighthouse to move in with him which she was expected to do, and be a fulltime wife. Less thanage lasted two years and when her father died of a second stroke, she came back to lime rock to take over the duties and never left. Records show see shaved she saved 18 people total but it is believed she saved between 25 and 35 because so many were undocumented. As she got older, she continued to rescue people. She was in her early 60s when she rescued just the women friends who were coming to visit. She zipped out and pulled the men. Ida always said the light is my child and if it no longer needs me, then she was ready to go. That is exactly what happened. The Lighthouse Bureau was starting to automate things. Electricity was being ushered in. She no longer had to care for the wick the way she had in the past and they were starting to really change all of the lighthouse systems. With that came a lot of bureaucracy and red tape. She would get these messages or letters from washington, d. C. Scolding her for not filling out the proper paperwork for her inventory and she was not used to any of this and it worried her a lot, that her job might be at stake. Chewed herctually out not even knowing she was the famous ida lewis. For not doing the job properly. She took this to heart and she worried about it and talked about it with her brother. Not long after that, she had a massive stroke herself in the lighthouse. She had gone to get some wood outside and brought it inside and collapsed from a stroke. Her brother found her on the floor, unconscious. He roused her and she said go get the doctor. When he came back, she was unconscious and she would never regained consciousness. She lived for three more days. They brought her to her bedroom and she died there, peacefully. It made National News that ida lewiss health was failing, that she had a stroke and that it did not look likely she was going to live. When she died, they put her in a casket and they rowed her to shore and they had a unbelievable funeral for her. All of newport shut down. Bells told. Tolled. Ships going out what also bring their bells would also ring their bells. She was ida lewis of newport and she was the most famous lighthouse keeper ever in the history of the United States and she still is that way. We need to return her to her rightful place in history, the national memory. She is a inspiration to girls and young women, today. Our cities tour staff recently traveled to newport, rhode island to learn about its history. Learn more about newport and other stops at cspan. Org citiestour. You are watching American History tv all weekend every weekend on cspan3. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the public broadcasting act of 1967. American history tv, a Panel Discussion on pbs documentary programming. Participants include Clayborne Carson who was Senior Advisor to the idol apprise civil rights series to the eyes on the prize civil rights series and the former executive producer of american experience. The library of congress and wp