Maria Andreu

Maria Mestre de los Dolores Andreu (April 25, 1801 – after 1860) was an American known as the first US Coastguard female employee. A lighthouse keeper, she was the first Hispanic-American woman to command a federal shore installation.[1] Marilyn Dykman said of her "Maria Andreu's leadership and perseverance as keeper of the lighthouse inspired generations of women to shine as female employees within federal service through her beacon of light."

Maria Andreu
BornApril 25, 1801
NationalityAmerican
OccupationLighthouse keeper
Spouse(s)Joseph Juan Andreu
Children8

Early life

Andreu was born on April 25, 1801 to parents Bartholomew Mestre and Marianna Lorenzo Mestre, and baptized on April 30 of the same year. She married Joseph Juan Andreu on May 6, 1822. The couple had eight children.[2]

Career

Andreu was the first Hispanic woman to serve in the Coast Guard and the first to command a federal shore installation.[1] She became keeper of the St. Augustine Lighthouse on January 7, 1859 after Joseph Juan Camillo Andreu, the prior keeper, died. He had been whitewashing the tower when the scaffolding collapsed and he fell about 60 feet onto the roof of the building where oil for the light was stored. Joseph was a cousin of Maria's late husband, Juan, who had died in 1849.[3] She would serve as keeper at a salary of $400 a year until 1861, when the light was ordered darkened by the then Confederate States Secretary of the Navy, Stephen Mallory, and George C. Gibbs.[2] She would subsequently live in the nearby region, spending the rest of her life in obscurity. It is thought she moved to Georgia.[4]

References
  1. Lisa Tendrich Frank (2013). An Encyclopedia of American Women at War: From the Home Front to the Battlefields. ABC-CLIO. p. 685. ISBN 978-1-59884-443-6.
  2. "First Female Lighthouse Keeper". St. Augustine Lighthouse. p. 47–48. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 July 2018. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  3. Elinor DeWire (8 March 2018). Guide to Florida Lighthouses. Pineapple Press. pp. 33–34. ISBN 978-1-68334-023-2.
  4. Jennifer Edwards (Aug 30, 2010). "She kept the light burning". The St. Augustine Record. Archived from the original on 16 March 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
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