Remember we wrote a little blog last Valentine’s day about the love that Keeper William Shinault had for his wife and the sweet letters he wrote to her before he died? And how that same generous donation of letters also included a portrait of Shinault, the first known and maybe only remaining image of him? In the gift that keeps on giving, that article reached the couple who just bought property in Mathews, VA where Keeper Shinault, his baby daughter Edith, and his father Captain Dixon Shinault were all buried. The couple found our blog about Shinault and it inspired them to clean the graves and share images with us. We thought you would enjoy seeing the graveyard.
We have been working on knowing where all of the Currituck Beach Lighthouse keepers were buried as we work on putting together biographies of each of our 24 lighthouse keepers. And indeed, headstones help answer questions but sometimes bring up others. In this case, like what happened to Clara, Shinault’s wife, and why isn’t she buried with him?
We’re including a brief bio on Keeper Shinault if you’re interested in the story of the man remembered by the News and Observer in 1913 as “popular with all who knew him” or curious about his “Darling wife,” as he addressed her in his love letters.
Keeper William Shinault was born in 1851 in Mathews County, VA, the fifth of seven children of Richard “Dixon” Shinault[1] and Mildred Foster (and the fifth of ten children of his father). It seems that his mother died around the time when he was nine. By 1869 his father Dixon was the first head lighthouse keeper of Windmill Point and, William, then 18, was his 1st assistant keeper there with him; in 1886 Dixon was discharged after 40 years with the Lighthouse Service “on account of old age.”
William Shinault’s Service Record Card indicates that between 1869 and 1879 he was an Assistant Keeper, a seaman, and a fireman on lighthouse tenders. On April 25, 1879 he took an oath of service to the Light-House Establishment and was appointed Acting Assistant Keeper of the Beacons at North Landing, Currituck Sound and North River, NC. Not a month later he was also appointed assistant keeper (Engineer) of the steam launch Bramble.[2] And that same year he married Clara Ballance in Currituck County. He was 28 years old and she was 22.
Shinault was principal lighthouse keeper at Currituck Beach for only a year and a half in 1881 and 1882. His only biological child, Edith, likely spent her entire life at the station. But in March of 1882, she died. We don’t know how or why, but it makes sense that William and Clara would want to leave the Currituck Beach Light Station. Two months after Edith’s death an opening came available at Long Point Light Station and William and Clara moved back. He was then principal “keeper of gas beacons in Currituck Sound, North Landing River, also in charge of the plant which made the gas for recharging gas lights and gas buoys when the latter came into use.” (N&O) (See our blog about Long Point Light Station here).
The Shinaults fostered/adopted three more girls. William served on the education committee for Long Point for Currituck County schools as we see on the schoolboard minutes:
He almost certainly spent time with President Grover Cleveland while at Long Point, once in 1895 and once in 1897. He was a Master in the Light-House Service, a licensed Master of inland waters and first-class pilot of inland waters, later a First Officer (promotion from Master) on a lighthouse tender and was given perfect marks on one review: “Is not a purely routine employee and manifests interest in his work and in the work of the Lighthouse Service.” A 1912 Efficiency Report asks, “Has he shown aptitude for duty of special character; and if so, for what duty?” The answer was, “Yes, in manufacture of ‘Pintsch method’ gas and in filling and tending gas buoys, beacons, and distributing tanks.”
We documented already in another article Shinault’s adoration of his wife Clara and his death on May 30th, 1913. Captain Shinault was buried in Mathews, Virginia next to his daughter Edith. His will stated: “I give and devise to my beloved wife Clara SHINAULT all the balance of my estate both real and personal to use as she pleases during her natural life should there be a remainder at the death of my wife Clara SHINAULT, I give the same to be equally divided among Dora TOPPING, Vertie GRIGGS, and my surviving sisters… Further that the property of the said Wm. SHINAULT consisting of notes, money in banks at Norfolk, Va., & open accounts, household & kitchen furniture is worth about $11000.00 so far as can be ascertained at date of this application” (Currituck Co. Will Book 5; pg. 441-443)
James “Bud” Shinault, great nephew of our keeper, and his wife Sylvia visited the Currituck Beach Lighthouse in 2018. They provided this information to us about Clara’s life after Shinault’s passing:
Clara and the Reverend Doctor Richards were married in 1915.
It was in 1923 that Richards died “after a long illness.[3]” He was buried at Cedar Grove Cemetery in Norfolk and buried, it seems, next to his first wife, Betsy, who had died in 1906. In addition to Clara, he was survived by two sons and a daughter.
Clara lived another 14 years and died in 1937 “after a short illness.” Her obituary says she had, over her last ten years, spent “the better part of her time with her foster daughter, Mrs. Walter E. Williamson, Sr.” (Vertie Griggs Williamson). Clara was also survived by three sisters, one of whom (for those of you NENC history lovers) was the wife of W.O. Saunders of Elizabeth City!
The blurb given to us by Shinault’s great-nephew says:
But it seems that she was not buried next to Dr. Richards. The newspapers at the time say she was instead buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Virginia. The website, “Find a Grave” notes that in 1954 her remains were disinterred and moved to Forest Lawn Cemetery [4] where she remains. In 1959, Vertie’s husband was also buried there and Vertie herself was buried there in 1974.
Imagine that the sharing of a graveyard prompted such curiosity in us. Let us know if you have things you’re curious about or archives/artifacts about the Currituck Beach Lighthouse Keepers you’d like to share!
[1] In 1860, Dixon was the Mate of the Wolf Trap Lightship which the Confederates sank in 1861, which we know about because he requested back pay for the early months of 1861 according to House Documents years later. Dixon was later lighthouse keeper of the old Cape Henry Light, the then keeper when the light was rebuilt as a screw pile lighthouse, and then at Too’s/Tue Marshes screwpile lighthouse at the mouth of the York River in VA as its first Principal Keeper 1875-1885. He died in 1887.
[2] Efficiency Report June 8, 1909
[3] obit
[4] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/41821275/clara-richards
