Today I want to share a research memo on Henry Berry, an African American waterman who was a keeper of the Lower Cape Fear River Lights from 1885 to 1920.

The author of the memo is Debbie Mollycheck, an attorney in Rock Hill, S.C. Ms. Mollycheck is the granddaughter of Franto Mollycheck II, who was the keeper of the Lower Cape Fear’s  lights from 1937 to 1951.

Inspired by her grandfather’s life, Ms. Mollycheck has developed an expertise in the history of the U.S. Lighthouse Service’s Sixth District, which includes the Cape Fear River.

Last week I relied on Ms. Mollycheck’s expertise to interpret a pair of photographs in a story that I published here. That story was called “Range Lights, Buoy Depots, and Gas Works: Photographs from the National Archives at College Park.”

The two photographs with which she helped me featured U.S. Lighthouse Service personnel inspecting river lights on the Lower Cape Fear in 1917.

Ms. Mollycheck was especially helpful with the photograph above. Unlike me, she recognized the figure in the bow of the keeper’s boat as Henry Berry, and also unlike me, she knew a great deal about him.

She very graciously wrote this memo so that I might interpret the photograph with a deeper understanding of Henry Berry’s life and career on the Cape Fear River.

I found the information indispensable. However, I only had room in my story to convey a small part of the memo’s information—and I found the whole memo fascinating.

Because that was the case, I asked Ms. Mollycheck if she would permit me to publish the full text of her research memo on Henry Berry’s life here. She gave me her blessing to do so.

I present it here pretty much as she sent it to me. It is an informal memo, not an article, and should be read in that fashion. Also, I could tell that Ms. Mollycheck did not want to overwhelm me: the memo is only a small part of what she has learned about Henry Berry.

That fact only whets my appetite to read more of Ms. Mollycheck’s work in the coming months and years.

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To: David Cecelski

From: Debbie Mollycheck

With respect to National Archives photo #45697830:

In this photograph, Keeper Henry Berry is transporting Sixth District Assistant Superintendent and lighthouse engineer Thomas H. Gregg to inspect the light for Snow Marsh Channel and Reeves Point Channel. They are on the Lower Cape Fear River, a bit upriver of Southport. Keeper Berry is not wearing a USLHS uniform.

Gregg is positioned on the cabin of Keeper Berry’s boat as Berry pulls the craft towards the Snow Marsh Channel Range Light. When Berry positioned his boat, it is surmised that his assistant, his grandson, instinctively stuck his head out of the boat’s hold to help his grandfather. (You can see the young man’s cap.)

Berry had to pay his grandson, out of pocket, for assistance with the heavy tanks of acetylene gas that were used to light the beacons. Horatio B. Bowerman, chief constructing engineer for the Bureau of Lighthouses, based in Washington, DC, took the photograph.

A little on Keeper Berry. He was born a slave in Brunswick County, N.C. Although his birth date varies, depending on what document you are examining, he states in a 1920 affidavit in support of his application for retirement that he was born January 11, 1855. Based on the civic and professional positions held by Berry, he could read and write.

With 16 new post beacons being constructed to light the Cape Fear River in 1883-1884, the inspector for the Sixth District had the task of hiring nine part-time local watermen to man the posts from Smith Island to Wilmington. A particularly skillful, dependable boatman was needed for the range light near the river’s mouth. Henry Berry was recommended by local watermen. The nine post keepers, including Berry, were classified as “laborers-in-charge.” The laborers were black and white citizens living near their assigned post lights; they had to provide their own boats and gas.

At the beginning of his career, Berry was responsible for maintaining two beacons on the Lower Cape Fear. He was first ordered to light his two beacons “on or after” March 1, 1885.

Unlike the men classified as Keepers, who were all provided uniforms by 1885, Berry, as a laborer, was prohibited from wearing the uniform. He was, however, called a “Keeper” by the Lighthouse Establishment and later the Lighthouse Service. (Men aboard the tenders and lightships also received uniforms.)

In 1912, a more advanced system of lights was developed for the Cape Fear River. The laborers-in-charge were terminated, except for Henry Berry and an upper river keeper.

The new system consisted of 33 lights divided into two parts. Keeper Berry’s lights were fueled by acetylene gas stored in tanks weighing 250 pounds each except for three oil lights at the entrance to the river.

The second group of lights in the upper river consisted of 14 oil burning lens lanterns leading up to Wilmington and serviced by another laborer-in-charge beginning January 1, 1913.

By 1920, when Keeper Berry applied for retirement, he was in charge of 20 lights on the Lower Cape Fear including the Bald Head lighthouse.

However, laborers-in-charge employees were not eligible for the newly created Federal Lighthouse Retirement benefits– although according to his boss, Berry had worked full-time and been a “reliable and faithful” employee from 1885 to 1920.

Personnel files were not kept by the Establishment or Lighthouse Service on laborers. An employee had to be full-time to apply for retirement; only a handful of “laborer keepers” even tried.

Keeper Berry was an exception. Through many obstacles, on land and sea, Berry led a successful, productive life on both venues. He had watermen friends, black and white, and a supportive superintendent who assisted him in those endeavors–and his pursuance of retirement benefits.

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Debbie Mollycheck is currently writing a book on the history of the U.S. Lighthouse Service’s 6^thDistrict, which will include more on Henry Berry and his work on the Lower Cape Fear. You can learn more about her historical research here.