The Mystery of Billy Lee
Janet Berggren of the Washington Island Archives sent the message below about Pilot Island’s Billy Lee. Does anyone know if he was one of the assistant keepers on Pilot Island from 1920 – 1922? Please take a look at her fascinating e-mail, which contains more documented evidence about this ever-growing Island legend.-Tim Sweet
Hi, Tim,
I am answering for Dave Raup. If you will send me your mailing address, I will send along copies of newspaper articles we recently received related to Billy Lee’s death on Poverty Island and burial on Washington Island. I will also be sending copies of burial site map and census data for 1920 that counts William Lee in census as a “boarder” at Pilot Island — Levi Simondau is listed as “Head” at Pilot Island. The Sturgeon Bay News report (dated June 28, 1923) of Billy Lee’s death refers to him as having “entered the lighthouse service in 1918, being appointed assistant at Two River Point, from where he was transferred to Pilot Island and last fall was again transferred to Poverty Island.” So, perhaps William “Billy” Lee was one of the assistant keepers at Pilot 1920 – 1922? Do you have any information on this?
I have to say that this particular search was one of my most exciting (and rewarding) since starting this job in September. It was such a coincidence that Gert Young’s scrapbook showed up at the Archives shortly after I responded to a request for info. on Billy Lee’s burial site. Billy Lee was basically “unknown” to us — just a headstone and date of death. I was leafing through the scrapbook and happened to notice the very faint writing under a photo — “Billy Lee Pilot Island” — and almost dropped the book in my excitement. We didn’t know that he had been at Pilot Island, so I wasn’t sure it was the same Billy Lee. But in further correspondence, we learned more about his life. The person making the inquiry had never seen a photo of Billy Lee — so we were both pretty excited.
As soon as I have your address I’ll send you the material. These searches sure can be interesting!
Janet Berggren
Archivist, Washington Island Historical Archives
Friends of Plum and Pilot Islands,
We now have a section on the Friends of Plum and Pilot Islands Web site entitled “Historic Photos”. You can find it at the top of our home page :
http://www.plumandpilot.org
Assembled are all of the historic photos of the islands that I have received (they are currently in now particular order). A brief caption is included. If I knew who to credit the photo to, I included that. If you have more information you’d like placed beneath a picture, please let me know. Also let me know if there are corrections or additions to be made.
At the end of the Historic Photos section are the three photos that I am attaching to this e-mail that just came a couple of days ago courtesy of Ann Young, and Dave Raup from the Washington Island Archives. I am including Dave’s message about Billy Lee on Pilot Island, and also a follow-up message from Matt Foss about Billy Lee. It seems that he is a bit of a mystery. Please let me know if you have more information about this man.
Thank you for your interest.
Tim Sweet
Friends of Plum and Pilot Islands,
Ann Young asked us (at the W.I. Archives) to send you a couple of photos of the Pilot Island station. Three are attached. All were scanned from images donated to the Archives by Gertrude Young.
You will note that two of the images show one Billy Lee. By coincidence, we had been independently asked about him. Although not on lists of Pilot keepers, he is cited in some documents here. He entered the lighthouse service in 1918 and appointed assistant at Twin River Point, later transferred to Pilot and then to Poverty Island. He is buried here on Washington Island. We have more on him if you need it. Also, I think Matt Foss knows about the case.
Dave (Washington Island Archives)
Billy Lee is a mystery. Even my Great Grandmother who donated the photos (Gert Young) did not know off the top of her head who Billy Lee was, and she is still pretty sharp. There has to be some connection to the Jorgenson family, though if there are photos of this man on Pilot Island in a photo album, they would be in the possession of my grandmother. –Matt Foss
–by Tim Sweet
