Maria Andreu


Maria Mestre de los Dolores Andreu 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. 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."

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.

Career

Andreu was the first Hispanic woman to serve in the Coast Guard and the first to command a federal shore installation. 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. 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. She would subsequently live in the nearby region, spending the rest of her life in obscurity. It is thought she moved to Georgia.