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CORPORAL EDWARD H. DORSEY
was born on March 16, 1891 in Burlington NJ to Benjamin H. and Jane
Dorsey. Besides Edward Dorsey the family had a daughter, Ethel, born in
1888. The family remained in Burlington through 1900, when they lived at
29 High Street. Benjamin Dorsey started out in business as a huckster,
his occupation in 1890, and worked his way up into the ownership
of a restaurant by 1900. By the time of the 1910 Census Benjamin
Dorsey had moved his family and business to Camden NJ. He then owned and
operated the saloon at 773 Central Avenue in the
Centerville section of Camden
NJ. During the 1910s the elder Dorsey sold the saloon and moved around
the corner to 760 Van Hook
Street, where he operated a grocery. 773 Central
Avenue
was known from the 1930s on as Bruten's
Cafe.
It
appears that Edward Dorsey registered for the draft in June of 1917 as
"Edgar Dorsey". The address he gave of 1701 South 8th Street
is the same corner property that 760
Van Hook
Street represents. He gave
his birth date as March 16, 1891 in Burlington NJ, and stated that he
helped support his mother and sister, all these being consistent with
what is known. "Edgar Dorsey" was working as porter at
Broadway and
Kaighn Avenue in Camden.
No "Edgar Dorsey"
appears in the 1920 Census in Camden. The 1920 Census stated that Jane
and Ethel Dorsey were living apart from Benjamin and had moved to 907
Central Avenue, which
gives further credence to the Edward-as-Edgar
theory.
Edward Dorsey was drafted
in November of 1917, and was sent to Camp Dix. He was assigned to
Company E, 350th Field Artillery. He died at Camp Dix of the Spanish
influenza and pneumonia. While the book
History of Camden County
in the Great War
states that Edward Dorsey died in October of 1918,
his tombstone indicates that he passed on February 17, 1918 at Camp Dix.
As the 350th Field Artillery was overseas in October of 1918, one must
conclude that the book is in error.
Edward
Dorsey was buried at Mount Peace Cemetery in what was then Center
Township NJ. Center Township was split up a few years later into several
boroughs, one of them being Lawnside, within whose borders the cemetery
is presently located.
In 1920, Benjamin Dorsey,
by then a widower, was still living at the
Van Hook
Street address, and
remained there running his grocery through April of 1930. He later moved
to 911 South 9th
Street. Benjamin Dorsey died on
December 17, 1937 at the age of 60 and was laid to rest near his son. There were, and
still are in 2002,
many Dorsey relations in the immediate area. Fred Menoken was operating
the Menoken Oil service at that address in the late 1940s and early
1950s, before most of the land between
South 7th and South 9th
Streets
from Van Hook
Street to Ferry
Avenue was taken to build the Roosevelt
Manor public housing project. |
