Lighthouse keeping was a family affair. Wives, daughters and sons sometimes fulfilled the duties of a light keeper without pay. The Colchester Reef Lighthouse was originally a two man station with families living ashore. The Lighthouse Board eliminated one position and moved a family out to join of the remaining keeper.
Wives and daughters filled in when the light keeper was absent or died. When Joseph Andreu fell 60 feet to his death white washing the St. Augustine Lighthouse, his wife Maria Andreu became the light keeper.