by Ruth Leubecker

Fittingly born a pioneering firecracker on the Fourth of July 1895, Hazel Marion Eaton also is distinguished by being the only person born in the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse. Not the family’s living quarters, but the tower itself.

Her father, Edwin Eaton, assistant lighthouse keeper (1895-1900), was overseeing the painting of the main house when her mother became nauseous from the paint fumes. Eaton ushered his pregnant wife into the tower for some relief, where she promptly went into labor, and Hazel was soon born.