Introduction
Charles D. Hineline was born in Northampton County PA. He came to Philadelphia in his youth, and learned the printer’s trade.
Charles Hineline first came to Camden in 1842, and purchased the Tribune, a weekly newspaper. He changed the name of the paper to the American Star. After selling the paper, he went West, only to return to Camden in 1845. He then founded the Camden Democrat, which he ran successfully until 1853.
Involving himself in politics, Charles D. Hineline served as Assemblyman from Camden County in 1850 and 1851, where he involved himself in labor issues. He was elected Mayor of Camden in 1852, and served for one year.
During his term, the Camden & Atlantic Railroad Company was chartered March 19, 1852. The survey of the road was completed on June 18 and the company organized at a meeting in the Arch Street Hotel on June 24, 1852. Construction of the road was begun September 7, 1852.
At the end of his term as mayor, Charles Hineline sold his newspaper to Isaac W. Mickle, and returned to Northampton County PA. Once again he returned to Camden, in 1855, to establish yet another newspaper, The Spirit of ’76. This paper was soon merged with the Camden Democrat. Along with Henry Bonsall and William Van Nortwick, Charles Hineline established the Mechanic’s Own, a labor newspaper, in Philadelphia. He passed away a few years later.
Charles Hineline’s son, William S. Hineline, followed his father in a journalistic career. He married Elizabeth Pechmann, and to them were born two children, Frank Judson, and Carrie May. Frank Judson Hineline was a co-founder of the Camden Lime Company, and after his partners left the enterprise, became its president and made it largest supplier of masonry materials in South Jersey during the first few decades of the 20th century.
Biography
The History of Camden County New Jersey by George Reeser Prowell — 1886
Charles D. Hineline, elected in 1852, was an erratic but brilliant man. He was born in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, and learned the trade of a printer in Philadelphia. He came to Camden in 1842, and purchased the Tribune, a weekly paper, of Harrison & Ferguson; took in with him as partner Henry Curtz, now of 413 Federal Street, and changed the name to the American Star. In a few months he sold out his interest to a man named Crane, and went West. Returning in 1845, in the following year he established the Camden Democrat, which he conducted with success until 1853, when he sold it to Isaac Mickle, the lawyer and historian, and returned to his birth-place, in Northampton County, where he kept store and engaged in the liquor business. Ill success attended him, and in 1855 he again came to Camden and established a weekly paper called the Spirit of ’76, which, in a few months, was merged into the Camden Democrat. Shortly afterwards he, with Henry L. Bonsall and William Van Nortwick, established the Mechanics’ Own, a labor paper, in Philadelphia, and a few years later Charles D. Hineline died. He represented Camden County in the Assembly in 1850 and 1851, and was largely instrumental in securing the passage of the law limiting the hours of labor to ten each day. He was an earnest advocate of the rights of the workingman, and with voice and pen advocated laws calculated to lighten the exhaustiveness of labor.
Biography Excerpt
South Jersey A History 1624–1924
Charles D. Hineline, moved to Camden in 1842. He learned the printing business in Philadelphia, and became very prominent among the Journalists of that day. He first bought a paper called “The Tribune,” which under his management became known as the “Two Thousand Gratis,” from the fact that in securing advertisements, he promised that the circulation should be two thousand. To make this promise good, he was obliged to distribute many copies gratis. After a time he abandoned this enterprise, and took a trip West, but he was not happy there and returned to Camden to establish another paper, which he called “The Camden Democrat.” He was a man of fine appearance and personal charm and his paper leaped into the front rank from the start. He was a champion of the working people, opposing the store-order, shinplaster system of employers robbing their employees. He also sided with the strike for shorter hours and better working conditions of the Gloucester factory operatives. A staunch Democrat, he sat in the New Jersey State Assembly in the 1851–1852 sessions, where he was largely instrumental in getting the ten-hour bill passed, which for many years remained the law of the State. For three terms he was mayor of Camden. His son, William S. Hineline, followed his father in a journalistic career. He married Elizabeth Pechmann, and to them were born two children, Frank Judson, and Carrie May.