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GEORGE
H. HUNT was born in March of 1873, probably in
Gloucester City, New Jersey,
one of 10 children of
James H.
Hunt and his wife Mary. The family had
moved to Camden 416
Pine
Street by April of
1877, where they shared a
home with James Hunt's brother
George S.
Hunt. Both brothers served as
members of the Camden Fire Department from 1877 through
1882. By 1878 the
James H.
Hunt family moved to
819
kaighn
street, which was renamed
dauphin
street in january of
1882. James
H. Hunt in time became involved in local
politics, and over the years held
a number of positions. By 1894
James H.
Hunt, then the Fish Warden, and his
family was living at 316
Line
Street. The 1895-1896 Camden City
Directory shows George H. Hunt, who worked as a laborer
at 324
Division
Street. He had married and started a family. The
1898 City Directory
shows George Hunt and his wife Amelia at 814
South
2nd Street. They had
moved across the street to 817
South
2nd Street the following year.
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When
the 1900 Census was taken three of George Hunt's younger
siblings were then living at
his parents home, younger sisters
Theodosia
and Katherine and younger brother
Eli
Hunt. Two other siblings had moved out, sadly,
four of the Hunt children had
by then died. When the census was taken in 1900 James
Hunt was then a constable in
Camden, a political appointment not without a measure of
local
influence.
The
1900 Census shows that George H. Hunt was living at 340
Division
Street with his wife of six years, Amelia Hunt,
and their three children,
James, 4, Theodosia, 2, and the newborn Charles J.
Hunt. The
family had moved to 327
Cherry
Street by 1906, George Hunt then still
working as a laborer. The marriage, however, apparently
ended around
1909, the Hunts were not living together when the Census
was taken in
1910. He was appointed to the Camden Fire Department at
some point after
the compilation of the 1906 Directory and before May 2,
1910 when the
1910 Census was enumerated, very probably through the
political
influence of his father. His sister,
Theodosia,
was also in time politically active. As of this writing
it is unclear as
to exactly when George H. Hunt began serving with the
Camden Fire
Department. It is known however, that he began serving
with Engine
Company 1 on March 2, 1910, replacing
James
Lewis, who had resigned to join the police
department.
Theodosia
Hunt married coal
and ice merchant Joseph Henry Conaghy sometime after
1900. The 1906 City Directory shows the
Conaghys living at 246
Pine
Street, where Joseph Conaghy also conducted his
business, the Eagle
Ice & Coal Company. The
1910 Census shows that Joseph Conaghy had gone into the
tavern
business. He was then operating a bar at 601-603
Kaighn
Avenue, where he
and Theodosia made their home, they later operated a bar
known, appropriately enough,
as Conaghy's,
at 950
South
5th Street.. Younger brother Eli Hunt was then
serving in the United
States Navy, he too would join the Camden Fire
Department after his
military service had been concluded.
1911
Camden City Directories show George Hunt still living at
327
Cherry
Street. The 1914 Directory lists George Hunt at
713
South
4th
Street.
Around 1918 George Hunt remarried, his new wife being
named Louise. The
couple resided at 340
Line
Street when the Census was taken in January
of 1920, next door to Victor Biasi and family at 338.
By 1924
George and Louise Hunt had moved to 342
Line
Street, interestingly
enough by that time Victor Biasi had moved to 344
Line
Street.
George
Hunt was a junior captain at
Engine
Company 7 in the mid-1920s. He was
promoted to senior captain on April 4, 1928. On that
same date, brother
Eli Hunt,
then a driver at
Engine
Company
3, was promoted to junior
captain.
Sister
Theodosia
Hunt Conaghy
was widowed in the early 1920s. In
1923 the widowed Mrs. Conaghy was appointed to the
position of matron at
the Camden County Jail, adjacent to the courthouse at
Broadway
and
Federal
Streets. She held that position for 27
years, retiring in
1950 at the age of 75. She passed away in December of
1957.
Younger
brother Eli
Hunt was also a career Camden Fire Fighter. Both
Eli and
George Hunt had reached the rank of Captain by the
spring of 1930.
George Hunt retired from the Fire Department in late
1930 or early 1931. Eli
Hunt retired from the Department by 1942. Eli Hunt
registered for the draft in April of 1942, but he is not
listed in the
1943 Directory, he may have passed away by this time.
George
Hunt and his wife Louise were still at 342
Line
Street when the 1947
City Directory was compiled.
A
nephew,
Eli E.
Conaghy, was a longtime Camden resident, an iron
worker and
veteran of World War II, having been drafted at the age
of 42.
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