TOMBSTONE TUESDAY: Arthur Bradley Barr

TOMBSTONE TUESDAY (May 20, 2025): Arthur Bradley Barr (1906-1999)

The sounds of wind, waves, and gulls calling other gulls in the skies above the bay. The sound of ship bells or horns as they announce their entry into Matagorda Bay. The feel of sand beneath one’s feet and the sting of it when the wind whips it up into the air and pelts the skin. The smell of rich salt air that fills noses and lungs with every breath, and the sight of the expansive water that takes minds to the adventures beyond. We tend to take all these things for granted in our busy lives, but they are always there when we want peace and relaxation. On Matagorda Island standing all alone, the 92ft tall Matagorda Lighthouse has been a daily witness of all these for well over a hundred and fifty years. 

For the keepers of the lighthouse life called for bravery, repetitious work, and the ability to live in an isolated existence. To be a keeper it was essential to love the island solace and understand the dangers that came with the job. That was exactly what the last lighthouse keeper Arthur Barr enjoyed, life on the island.

Arthur was born March 31, 1906 at Magnolia Beach. His parents William Matthew Duncan and Emma Kate Mendez Barr were both born and raised around Matagorda Bay. According to the 1910 Census his father William, listed his occupation as a fisherman and as a keeper at the quarantine station. In an interview with Henry Wolfe Jr. for the Victoria Advocate, Arthur said his father was a boatman at the Quarantine Station at Alligator Head before it became Port O’Connor. His mother Emma was the granddaughter of Joseph Mendez of Spain, who along with John Gonzales came to Indianola in 1856 as caretakers of camels for the purpose of carrying supplies to U.S. forts in West Texas. The experiment was not a successful one but both men stayed and made Matagorda Bay their home. 

Arthur became a lighthouse assistant at Matagorda when William Heinroth was the keeper. The Barr family and the Heinroth family were good friends for many years and the Heinroths raised their family in the keeper's house on the island. William Herman Heinroth married Ruth Elizabeth Olsen. Ruth’s father, Theodore Oscar Olsen came to Texas from Norway. He served as the lighthouse keeper before William became the keeper. Theodore Olsen is buried on the island in the keeper's cemetery. 

In his younger years Arthur spent a great many days working at the Life Saving Station on Matagorda Island so some of the men working there could have a night off. Those were also the years of prohibition, and the job included chasing down rum runners who ran the coast in schooners. 1940 Arthur joined the U.S. Coast Guard after which he took a job for Geodetic Survey Co. where he made charts. Arthur then went back into the Coast Guard to stay. In 1941 Arthur married the Heinroth’s daughter, Ruth Helen. The couple had two daughters that they raised on the island. Arthur taught them to fish and hunt and when they reached school age, Ruth would take the girls and live in Port O’Connor so they could attend school there.

Being a keeper of the lighthouse was not an easy job, but Arthur took the job seriously and was meticulous when it came to his work. To begin with he had to climb the stairs every morning 15 minutes after sunrise to cover the lens and close the curtains that protected the lens from the sun. Just before sundown the curtains were opened on the windows and the cover removed from the Fresnel then it was lit with kerosene. The light had to then be set by timing the revolution with a stopwatch. The timing of rotation flash was important because it allowed the ships at sea to learn their location. The flash was operated by a clock system that ran by weights. When the light was flashing the keeper had to climb up and hoist the weights every 3 hours to wind the clock. The weights weighed around 400-500 pounds. There are 96 steps in the spiral staircase so climbing to the top was not an easy task. Arthur’s daughters learned how to count by those same steps. Another daily task was cleaning and polishing the lenses and brass trim on the light. If this was not done the elements would ruin the light. When ladies came out for a visit, they always had to touch the light making Arthur polish the light many more times. 

In all the years that Arthur kept the light it only went out twice. Once when a raccoon got into the tower and shorted out the system, the other time was when the Air Force Base on the island was in operation. One of the young men was drunk and lost and stumbled to the lighthouse wondering through the fields and falling into some of the ponds. He was climbing the stairs taking his clothes off on the way up the stairs when at the top he fell into the lens and shorted it out. Arthur took him to the keeper's house and let him clean up and sober up. 

There were more than a few times that keepers had to be brave to ensure the lighthouse was working without interruption or destruction. Arthur was the keeper during World War II when a German submarine sank the Mexican ship “Oaxaca” just off the coast of Matagorda Peninsula. Ports are always a target during times of war, and Matagorda lighthouse has seen more than one. Then there are the storms and hurricanes that bring destructive winds and water to everything in their paths and Arthur rode out many of them. During the storm of 1942 Arthur, his father-in-law William Heinroth, and 11 guardsmen rode it out in the tower. When the water began to rise across the island, they ran lifelines from the buildings to the tower for safety. The water rose to seven feet inside the tower and the wind was so strong that the cast iron lighthouse vibrated causing the bullseye lenses to break out of the light.

In the 1950’s the light was automated, and kerosene was no longer used, the need for a full-time keeper was not needed either. Arthur Barr moved his family to Port O’Connor where life was much easier, and school was closer. He bought a couple of acres of land in town located at Hwy 185 and Adam’s Street. Back then it was a bit more secluded with trees that surrounded the property. Arthur and his friend Mr. Lane along with several other friends in Port O’Connor made many trips by boat to the island to move the wood from the keeper's house and bring it to the land that he had purchased. With all the men working at their jobs during the day, they worked to build the house in the evenings. They would use all the lumber and then make another trip to the island to bring more. It took many trips to complete the house and then move the family to town after it was completed. The keeper’s house is still standing and is a treasure to the citizens of Port O’Connor. 

Arthur transferred to the Coast Guard Station in Port O’Connor and part of his job was going out to the island and checking the tower and the light twice a month. One of the other guardsmen went with Barr to check all the other lights in and around Matagorda Bay to make sure they were working properly. He stayed with the Coast Guard until his retirement in 1966. Once in Port O’Connor, Arthur was involved in the community working in fundraisers and events including being involved in the local school. He loved fishing and fished in many tournaments. Arthur and Ruth moved to Ingleside and lived the last few years there until his death on January 30, 1999 at the age of 91. Arthur and Ruth are buried in the Port O’Connor Cemetery along with her parents and other keepers who were buried on the island and then exhumed and reburied in the cemetery. As for the Matagorda Lighthouse, it still stands tall in the isolation of the island looking out over the waters and echoing the years that the keepers that cared for it. 

Shifting Sands of Calhoun County

Lighthouses of Texas 

Indianola and Matagorda Island 1837-1887 by Linda Wolf

Dolphin Talk December 2024 Hometown Point of View by Kelly Gee

www.newspapers.com Victoria Advocate Wed, Feb 3, 1999, by Henry Wolfe Jr.

Tombstone Tuesday is written and compiled each week by Jody Weaver and Sheryl Cuellar of the Calhoun County Historical Commission, sharing the people and stories behind Calhoun County's history.