United States, New England, Women, State & Local, Women in History, History 

Ida Zoradia Lewis (1842-1911) was seeking neither fame nor fortune when she grabbed the oars and took to the choppy waters off the coast of Newport, Rhode Island.  Her goal was to rescue two drowning soldiers.  Though her father, Captain Hosea Lewis, was the lighthouse keeper of record, he had become too infirm to conduct his daily duties let alone perform a dangerous rescue in a snowstorm.  With the help of her little brother this 103-pound young woman succeeded in saving the men.  Ida had made her first rescue at the age of fifteen, but it wasn't until this save--her fifth daring rescue--that the world discovered the remarkable Ida Lewis.  When published reports and newspapers ran stories of the rescue, her life changed.  That summer alone, 9,000 visitors came to meet the heroine, including President Ulysses S. Grant, Susan B. Anthony and other luminaries. Lenore Skomal has meticulously researched and uncovered original source material, and recounts the stories of other courageous women who tended the precious Fresnel lens and saved countless lives through their steadfast work, but most of all, this is the story of a simple woman who became a hero for just doing her job. - from Amzon