Introduction
Bernard Dennis, or Barnard Dennis, as he his recorded in the 1878–1879 Camden City Directory, was appointed to the Camden Fire Department on June 19, 1872. He served as an extra man with Engine Company 2. He was dismissed from duty on July 15, 1873. He was replaced by Charles Elfreth.
Bernard Dennis was born in Ireland in around 1842. He worked as a laborer. He was living at 222 Mickle Street when appointed to the Fire Department in June of 1872, and was still at that address when he was let go. The 1878–1879 City Directory shows that he was then living at 1 Fogarty Avenue. The 1880 Census shows him living with his wife Sarah and their three children, Edward, Margaret, and Thomas in Camden’s Seventh Ward, where exactly, is not known as the address is not legible on the microfilm. A daughter, Jane, was born in October of 1880.
Bernard Dennis was killed in an Industrial accident at the Browning Brothers sawmill on October 21, 1881. He and his family were then living at 1034 Line Street. When the Census was taken in 1900, Sarah Dennis and her children were living at 1043 Pine Street.
Over the River
Philadelphia Inquirer —
A LARGE FUNERAL—RESIGNATION AND APPOINTMENTS—THE TAXES—DEPREDATIONS—THE LATE HON. STEVENSON LESLIE—ORDERED INTO CAMP.
...The funeral of Joseph Bosch yesterday afternoon was attended by quite a large concourse of friends and citizens. He was one of the men drowned at Atlantic City on the 23d instant. The members of Kane Arctic Lodge, No. 115, I. O. O. F., and Mohawk Tribe of Red Men attended the funeral in a body. He was buried in the Camden Cemetery.
...John Gray, Jr., Thomas Grapevine, Henry Fray, Bernard Dennis and Elwood Cline have resigned from the Fire Department of Camden, and Daniel Sparks, Charles Elfreth, Joseph Neice, William Osler and Isaac Randolph have been appointed in their places.
...A. C. Jackson, tax collector, is making out the bills for the amount of taxes assessed against property owners in Camden for the coming year, and will have them delivered in a few days.
...Parties of half-grown boys have been in the habit, for a few days past, of depredating on the farmers along the river shore, above Camden, destroying and carrying away their truck. Application for protection has been made to Sheriff Fredericks against these raiders, as they often are sufficient in numbers to overcome the farmers who protest against their conduct.
...In honor of the late Hon. Stevenson Leslie, of the New Jersey Legislature, the members of Battery B, N. G. S. M., of Camden, have passed the following:—“Resolved, That in the death of our comrade we feel that we have lost a good and efficient member, one who was always ready and willing to advance the interests of the company, and whose place in our ranks cannot easily be supplied; That as a mark of respect the hall of the battery be draped in mourning for the space of thirty days.”
...The Second Brigade, National Guard State of New Jersey, has been ordered into camp at Cape May on the 1[?]th proximo, for one week.
Crushed to Death
Philadelphia Inquirer —
On Friday night a man named Bernard Dennis, employed in the logwood mill of Browning Brothers, on Cooper’s creek, was crushed to death by the machinery. He resided at No. 1034 Line street, and Coroner Jefferies will hold an inquest.