1047. (document) Treasury Department, Fifth Auditor’s Office. Regarding Keeper Appointment – Great Captain Island Lighthouse. Stephen Pleasonton. November 2, 1839.
Welcome to Kenrick A. Claflin & Son
Featured on our web site and in our monthly web catalogues are new and out-of-print books, documents, post cards, photographs, maps and charts, engravings, lithographs, uniforms and insignia, tools, lamps, lens apparatus, equipment and apparatus and much more relating to these heroic services.
We now issue most of our catalogues on line rather than by mail. This allows us to issue more catalogues and feature more items, with better photos and descriptions. Let us know your email address and we will email you monthly as our catalogues are posted.
Type in your search word. After hitting Enter you will automatically be brought back to this page. Scroll down to this spot to see the results of search. Pages containing your search word will be listed. You will be allowed to click on the pages found. When on each page, Windows Explorer will allow you to use Ctrl + F to bring up a search box for that page. Type in your search word again and hit “Enter”. You will be taken to that item.
1047. (document) Treasury Department, Fifth Auditor’s Office. Regarding Keeper Appointment – Great Captain Island Lighthouse. Stephen Pleasonton. November 2, 1839.
Fifth Auditor Stephen Pleasonton
1047. (document) Treasury Department, Fifth Auditor’s Office. Regarding Keeper Appointment – Great Captain Island Lighthouse. Stephen Pleasonton. November 2, 1839. Rare letter signed in hand by Fifth Auditor Stephen Pleasonton, to William H. Ellis. Superintendent of Lighthouses in Connecticut. The letter instructs Ellis regarding “…the appointment of James Bird as Keeper of the Light House at Great Captains Island…” Pleasonton goes on to instruct Ellis to inform Bird “…of the necessity of his residing and being constantly in the house provided for the Keeper. Salary three hundred and fifty dollars per annum…I also enclose a copy of Instructions to Keepers of Light Houses…” Great Captain Island is at the western end of Long Island Sound, north of the main channel into New York’s East River. In 1829, Samuel Lyons sold 3.5 acres on the southeast part of Great Captain Island to the federal government for the building of a lighthouse. The first lighthouse, built for about $3,000, was finished in 1829 along with a five-room keeper’s house. A system of 10 lamps and reflectors sent light in every direction. However, by an 1838 inspection, it was reported that the 30-foot stone tower had been poorly constructed; the walls were already badly cracked. James Bird [Bride] was the third keeper, serving from 1839 – 1848. Stephen Pleasonton (1776 – January 31, 1855) was the Fifth Auditor of the Treasury of the United States; but he is chiefly remembered today for his work in overseeing the United States Light House Establishment during its infancy. He was the father of Union Civil War General Alfred Pleasonton. Stephen Pleasanton played a vital role as a young government clerk in the turbulent days of the War of 1812. It was the decisive action by Stephen Pleasonton that saved most of the United States’ valuable historical documents including the Declaration of Independence. He smuggled our Nations historic legacy out of Washington City in the fall of 1814 to Leesburg, Virginia and spared them from destruction by the invading British forces – A true Unsung Hero of American History! Document measures 8” x 9 ¾” and is clean and crisp. (VG+). $285.