Introduction
Charles F. Daubman was born in November 1840 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Christian and Eva Neutze Daubman. The family name also appears as Daubmann in some sources. Charles F. Daubman had at least two older siblings, Mary Christina, born in 1835, and Jacob C. Daubman, born in 1837.
The 1870 census shows him living in Camden’s South Ward with his wife, the former Angelina Clayton, and children Annie, 5, and Warren, 9 months.
Charles F. Daubman was appointed to the Camden Fire Department on April 19, 1871 to replace William A. White as an extra man with Engine Company 1. He had previously worked as a packer. Charles F. Daubman was making his home at 1027 South 5th Street when appointed to the Fire Department. He was removed from service with the Fire Department on September 5, 1871.
Politically active, Charles F. Daubman was appointed Chief of Police in 1877 and served the City of Camden in that capacity until 1879.
The 1880 Census shows that Charles Daubman was then a widower, and son Warren also apparently had died. Charles Daubman was living at 426 Spruce Street with his mother, Eva Daubman, a native of the Duchy of Wurttemberg in what is now Germany, and his daughter Annie. Eva Daubman passed in 1892.
Charles Daubman was appointed turnkey at the Camden County Jail by then Sheriff Theodore Gibbs in November of 1881, which is to say, he was placed in charge of the jail. He stopped a jailbreak in October of 1884 when he discovered that prisoners had been sawing through iron bars.
Charles F. Daubman was working as a clerk in Philadelphia in the early 1890s. The 1893–1894 City Directory and the 1900 and 1910 Censuses both show Charles Daubman working as a toll collector at the Kaighn’s Point Ferry, which operated between Camden and Philadelphia. His home at that time was still at 426 Spruce Street, where he lived with his second wife, the former Louise E. Jacoby, and his daughter from his first marriage, Anne “Annie” Daubman.
Charles Daubmann died on December 16, 1918 at his home at 1111 Newton Avenue. Mrs. Daubmann passed away at 1119½ Newton Avenue in 1938. Anne Daubmann, still unwed, was living at 3062 Chesapeake Road at that time.
Older brother Jacob C. Daubman was Sheriff of Camden County from 1874 to 1878.
Appointed
Philadelphia Inquirer —
APPOINTED.
George V. Glover, Charles Evans, Charles Daubman, John Hart and Stephen L. Thomas have been appointed by the Fire Commissioners to the positions of extra men, made vacant by resignations from the Paid Fire Department.
Paid Fire Department
Philadelphia Inquirer —
At a recent meeting of the commissioners of the Paid Fire Department a resolution was passed declaring that, after the 8th of September next, the places of such extra men whose business requires them to be in Philadelphia during the day, to be vacant, and shall be filled with men doing business in Camden. This resolution cuts off six of the most active members:—Howard Lee, Thomas Allebone, Charles Evans, B. H. Connelly, C. Daubman and Stephen L. Thomas. The salary of these men in the department is only $50 per annum, consequently they are necessitated to follow some other occupation.
Supposed to Be a Runaway.
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Chief of Police Daubmann, of Camden, yesterday received a letter from Messrs. Peirce & Bushnell, New Bedford, Mass., stating that a lad, thirteen years of age, giving his name as Charles Smith, was in their keeping. The boy said that his father’s name was Frank Smith, formerly an insurance agent in Camden, but that he died some three years ago on Haddon Avenue, and his mother died on the 29th of last July. The gentleman having the boy in charge believes he is a runaway. Diligent search failed to find an insurance agent of that name. In 1874 Frank Smith, a shoemaker, resided at No. 1121 Broadway, where he and resided. In 1877 Frank Smith, a laborer, resided at No. 915 Reese Street, but no insurance agent of that name appears in the directories of those years. The presumption is that the boy does not belong in Camden, New Jersey.
Appointments.
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Theodore Gibbs, the newly-elected sheriff of Camden county, has appointed as his deputy Mr. Charles J. Wooster, formerly clerk for Joel P. Kirkbride, county clerk. He has also appointed Charles F. Daubman, formerly chief of police under Mayor Ayers, as turnkey, in place of Mr. Swindell. These gentlemen will go on duty to-day.
Attempt to Break Jail Foiled.
Elkhart Daily Review —
Attempt to Break Jail Foiled.
CAMDEN, N.J., Oct. 24.—A desperate but futile attempt was made late Wednesday afternoon by the prisoners in the southern corridor of the Camden county jail, which for boldness throws every previous effort of the kind far into the shade. The attempt was discovered by the turnkey, Charles Daubman, who noticed, while showing some visitors over the jail, that several heavy iron bars in the entrance door of the southern corridor, where the most desperate criminals are confined, had been nearly sawed off just above and below two cross pieces where the cutting would be most likely to escape attention. The bars were nearly severed in two and but a few moments more work would have been necessary to have effected an entrance into the outer corridors.