Introduction
GEORGE B. HECKENHORN was born in Pennsylvania to Henry and Mary Partenheimer Heckenhorn in 1869. His first cousin was William Penn Partenheimer Jr., longtime head of the YMCA in Camden. Henry Heckenhorn’s family moved to Camden when he was a young boy in the mid-1880s.
George Heckenhorn had two younger sisters, Kate and Sarah, and four younger brothers, William, Edward, Lewis, and Howard. William Heckenhorn was Camden’s first Harley-Davidson motorcycle dealer, and later went on to a long and successful career as a stockbroker. Sadly, youngest brother Howard was killed while operating a motorcycle in May of 1914.
By 1890 the Henry Heckenhorn family was living at 921 South 8th Street. George Heckenhorn worked briefly as a driver for the Camden Horse Railroad Company. When electric trolleys were introduced to Camden, George Heckenhorn, working for the Camden Suburban Trolley line, was the first operator.
By 1895 George Heckenhorn had left the streetcar line to take a job with the coffee firm of William S. Scull & Company, for whom he would work for fifty years, as a coffee blender. The Heckenhorn family moved to the 700 Block of Cherry Street around 1910, with the exception of William, Kate, and Sarah, who had married and set up their own homes. Henry Heckenhorn had a home at 764 Cherry, while George Heckenhorn lived at 772 Cherry with his wife Alice. George and Alice Heckenhorn would reside at 772 Cherry Street until George’s death in 1952.
George Heckenhorn passed away at Doctors Hospital in Philadelphia on June 27, 1952. He was survived by his wife Alice, and brothers William, Edward, and Louis. George and Alice Heckenhorn were not blessed with children but they did raise a niece, Florence, who also survived them.
Thanks to Lee Ryan for his help in creating this page.
G. B. Heckenhorn, 82, Dies in Phila.
Camden Courier-Post —
George B. Heckenhorn, 82, of 772 Cherry st., who operated the first electric trolley between Camden and Haddonfield, died Friday at Doctors Hospital, Philadelphia, after a brief illness.
A native of Roxborough, Philadelphia, Mr. Heckenhorn came to Camden as a boy and for a number of years operated horse-driven trolleys in Camden. Mr. Heckenhorn worked for a number of years with the late William S. Scull, who was an official of the Camden Suburban Trolley Lines. When Mr. Scull went into the coffee business, Mr. Heckenhorn joined him and served as a coffee blender until his retirement seven years ago.
Surviving are his widow, Alice; a niece, Mrs. Charles Webb, of Camden; three brothers, William and Edward, of Camden, and Louis, of Moorestown.
Services will be held at 2 p. m. Tuesday at the Schroeder Funeral Home, 715 Cooper st., where friends may call Monday night. Burial will be in Harleigh Cemetery.