Legendary Female Lighthouse Keeper Elizabeth Whitney Williams Inducted into Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame
Michigan has more lighthouses than any other state (129) and over the course of the last two hundred years since the first was erected, nearly 50 women have served as keepers of these iconic beacons. Chief among those is Elizabeth (Whitney) VanRiper Williams who was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame on Tuesday, November 12, 2024 at ceremonies at the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center in downtown Detroit. Founded in 1983 by Dr. Gladys Beckwick, the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame is administered by Michigan Women Forward, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the economic empowerment of women and minorities. To date, more than 300 women have been inducted from all walks of life and periods of time in Michigan.
Elizabeth “Libby” Whitney was born on Mackinac Island on June 24, 1844, as the only child of Elizabeth Cross Dousman Gebeau and Walter Williams. Her mother had previously been married to Louis Gebeau (who died in a Great Lakes shipwreck) and was the mother of three boys, Louis, Antoine (Anthony or Tony) and Charles. As a child, Libby lived with her family on Beaver Island during the tumultuous reign of self-proclaimed Mormon king James Strang.
At the age of 16, she married Clement Van Riper who was later appointed keeper of the Beaver Island Harbor Light. As his health deteriorated, she assisted him with the duties and when he drowned in the harbor in 1873, she was named his successor. Elizabth later married Daniel Williams and in 1887, the couple transferred to the newly built Little Traverse Lighthouse in Harbor Springs where they entertained residents of Harbor Point with their musical prowess. She served her until her retirement in 1913, putting in 44 years of service between the two lighthouses.
Elizabeth and Daniel, who never had children, then moved to Charlevoix, where they lived another 25 years before passing away within a day of each other in January 1938. They are buried in Charlevoix’s Brookside Cemetery.
Author and historian Dianna Stampfler, president of Promote Michigan, has been researching Michigan’s lighthouses since the late 1990s, with a particular interest in the female keepers. She has written several articles about these pioneering women and presents regularly her “Ladies of the Lights” program to groups around the state. She also has a presentation dedicated to Elizabeth called “Michigan’s Lighthouse Matriarch: Elizabeth Whitney Williams” which features information, photographs and newspaper clippings found while researching an article for the Historical Society of Michigan called “An Illuminating Lady” which was published during the summer of 2022 in the society’s membership magazine, The Chronicle.
“I have had a first edition copy of Elizabeth’s 1905 autobiography, A Child of the Sea, in my personal library for years,” notes Stampfler. “Her stories of her life on Lake Michigan both as a child and as a lighthouse keeper are inspiring and it was because of her longstanding dedication to protect and serve that I nominated her for the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame. She and the other women were government employees – something unheard of for their gender in the 1800s – working side-by-side with their male counterparts, and believe it or not, earning equal pay.”
Stampfler, who has been professionally writing since high school, is the author of Michigan’s Haunted Lighthouses and Death & Lighthouses on the Great Lakes. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English with emphasis in Community Journalism and Communications with emphasis in radio broadcasting from Western Michigan University. She is a member of the Historical Society of Michigan, Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association, Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society & Museum, West Michigan Tourist Association and several other state and regional organizations.