Quick Order  

  My Account  

Explorer

Stores

George Herman August Burzlaff was truly a Keeper of the Lights. He was born in 1882 in Port Hope, Michigan the son of German immigrants, Otto and Agusta Burzlaff. He married the former Leontine Lawitzke on April 8, 1902 and they had seven children, Hugo, Naomi, Esther, Walter, Gertrude, Emerson, and Alice.

Mr. Burzlaff entered the United States Lighthouse Service in June of 1907 and went to serve as second assistant keeper at Raspberry Island Light, Wisconsin from July, 1907 to July 1908. From there he went to Point Irquois Light, in Michigan for 4 months and on August 13, 1909 he became Assistant Keeper at Round Island Light in Michigan were he stayed on for 3 years and 2 months. In November of 1912 he became First Assistant Keeper at Michigan's Big Bay Lighthouse, (now a lighthouse bed & breakfast) where he stayed on for 2 years. From there it was on to Tawas Point Light Station in Michigan for 1 year and 8 months and then he was transferred to the Grassy Island North Channel Range Lights station in November of 1916, staying at this post until May of 1920. On June 7, 1920 he took over as Keeper of Michigan's Alpena Light Station where he served for 25 years.

When he first started in the Lighthouse Service in 1907 his pay was $425 per year, which comes out to $8.17 per week. He worked his way up when on November 1, 1918 he received a raise to $840 per year which is $16.15 per week. On June 6th, 1939, his pay nearly doubled to $1560 per year which works out to $30 per week.

How times have changed!

When the Coast Guard took over the Lighthouse Service in 1939, he remained on as a civilian keeper, but transferred to the Coast Guard in 1941. He retired from duty as a Keeper on January 25, 1946 a week before his 64th birthday after 38 1/2 years of service. Keeper George Burzlaff passed away on March 26, 1958, ending an another era of America's lighthouse history. We are thankful to Mr. Burzlaff's granddaughter, Ann Karrow of Bridgeport, Michigan for supplying us with his photo and history of service.

This story appeared in the June 1999 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

All contents copyright © 1995 - 2006 by Lighthouse Digest®, Inc. No story, photograph, or any other item on this website may be reprinted or reproduced without the express permission of Lighthouse Digest. For contact information, click here.