DAUGHTER OF MICHIGAN:THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER'S WIFE

MEETING MARGARET

Margaret was born on a farm. However, Margaret was not destined to live her life on a farm. Neither was she destined to marry a farmer. She was destined to a life of adventure. Margaret King was born on August 18, 1876; the year after Edward M. Herman (n) was born. The town that she was raised in was a long way from Tonawanda, NY. Even though the state bordered a Great Lake, Michigan was very different from Lake Erie. Margaret’s hometown of Hudson did have a body of water of sorts, but it was definitely not the same size as the mighty Niagara River that flowed next to Tonawanda. In fact, some would say it was not even much of a watershed that is if they lived on the banks of the Niagara. The Bean Creek as it was called by the first settlers to the area has its headwaters near Devil’s Lake in Lower Michigan. The stream flows south through Michigan to the Tiffin River in Ohio. Hudson, one of three small towns along the banks, sits halfway down the stream. It was given the name, “Bean” for the timber that grew along the banks. Probably, referring to the Red Bud tree, the creek is home to a variety of tree species. It was also home to an American poet and a lighthouse keeper’s wife.

Hudson, Michigan had been in existence for about 40 years when Margaret was born. The world into which Margaret arrived would not have an immediate impact on her small town, yet, it would have a great impact on her life when she reached adulthood. The year of Margaret’s birth, like Edward’s, was also giving shape to the modern world.

On February 14, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell applied for a patent for the telephone. Eight days later John Hopkins University opened its door for the first time. By March 7, Bell had successfully patented the telephone and 3 days later Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone call to Thomas Watson. It would be quite a few years before his new invention would make its way into the community and homes of her hometown.

Once again, women would make the news, but not because they had formed a successful political group the year Edward was born. On March 16, 1876, Nelly Saunders and Rose Harland became the first females to enter a boxing match, fighting each other.

Beyond a boxing ring, Margaret’s world held one hand on the wild America, while reaching for and shaping with the other hand a modern nation. The country was facing growing pains and part of those pains involved the Native Americans. Indian wars were being waged and fought in the not so distant Wild West. The same month Nelly and Rose met in a boxing ring, a General was destroying the Cheyenne and Ogallala-Sioux Indian Camps.

Margaret’s world was not the only one changing. In one month, two worlds would be completely altered by the same event; one for the technological advancement it brought to connect a culture, the other for almost wiping out an entire culture. On June 4, 1876, an express train called the Transcontinental Express arrived in San Francisco on the first Transcontinental Railroad. The groundbreaking journey took only 83 hours and 39 minutes after leaving New York City. Twenty one days later, General Custer and the entire 7th Cavalry were wiped out by the Sioux and Cheyenne at little Big Horn. It was one small victory for the Native Americans. They could stop Custer and his horses, but they could not stop the iron horse from changing their world forever.

In that same month, a white woman was breaking new ground. Even though she did not have the right to vote, Sara Spencer, a Republican was addressing the U.S. Presidential Convention. She was the first woman to have that right.

By July 4, not only was the country celebrating its Centennial, the first exhibition of an electric light was being exhibited in San Francisco. At the end of July, another school was established. This one was to have a direct impact on Margaret’s future husband. On July 31, 1876, a training school was established at New Bedford, Massachusetts and it would eventually be known as The United States Coast Guard Officer’s Training School.

The same month Margaret King was born, Colorado became the 38th state admitted into the union. Little could she have known the year she was born a president was elected, Rutherford B. Hayes, who would vacation in the same community she and Edward would retire, Lakeside, Ohio. Her life was to be an adventure, a journey and just as the book first published in December 1876; it would involve a body of water. Mark Twain had just written Tom Sawyer and it was first published as a book that year. And like Tom, Margaret would travel to distant places and meet with many adventures.