George W. Garner

George Washington Garner was a member of the Camden Fire Department in the 1920s and 1930s. He was born in Paulsboro, New Jersey on April 28, 1902 to George Alfred Garner and his wife, the former Sadie Wilson. His father was a barber. George W. Garner had an older sister, Emma, and two younger brothers, Wilson B. Garner and Mervin Garner.

George W. Garner served with the United States Navy from March 21, 1921 to March 25, 1925. He married Farabell Piper, who worked as a clerk at Camden’s post office, in October of 1923. The Garners lived with Farabell’s parents, Charles and Farabell Piper, who had a variety shop at 2642 Federal Street in East Camden, which sold candy and patent medicines. By the end of 1924 the young couple had moved to 3402 Westfield Avenue. Upon his discharge he came back to Camden. He was appointed to the Camden Fire Department on April 4, 1928. He began his service with Engine Company 4. By January of 1930 he had been assigned to Ladder Company 3.

When the City Directory was compiled for 1929, he and wife Farabell were back at 2642 Federal Street. A daughter Joan, was born early in 1930. The family were living with Mrs. Garner’s widowed mother. They were still at that address in April of 1930. Fire Department records from 1931 show them living at 738 York Street. He was living at 410 Rand Street in December of 1932. By the summer of 1933 the Garners had moved to 235 Morse Street.

In February of 1934 George W. Garner was transferred to Ladder Company 2 at 619 Kaighn Avenue. There appear to have been some incidents on the job on February 18 and 19, and he was suspended in the first week of March, 1934. He had returned to work by March 17. On March 31 Deputy Chief Walter Mertz spoke with him about disciplinary issues. On May 1, 1934 George Garner failed to answer the alarm sounded at 2:29 AM for a fire at 319 Lansdowne Avenue. He was again suspended and was removed from service by order of Mayor Stewart on May 4, 1934. The Garners were then living at 1266 Kenwood Avenue. Mrs. Garner was in the last month of pregnancy at the time. A son, William J. Garner, was born on May 23rd.

By February of 1936 George W. and Farabell Garner had parted ways. He was then living with a relative in Woodbury, New Jersey. His wife and children appear to have moved to East Camden and by 1955 to the Locustwood section of Delaware Township (present-day Cherry Hill), New Jersey.

George W. Garner had remarried and was living near Quakertown, Pennsylvania with his wife, the former Margaret Gloeckler, and daughters Shirley and Barbara in December of 1943. On December 28 fire broke out at the Garner home and all four members died as a result of burns suffered. The family was buried at Zion Hill Cemetery, Zion Hill, Pennsylvania. There was no report of George W. Garner’s death in Camden newspapers.

Farabell Garner is listed at 205 South 36th Street in the 1940 and 1943 Directories. The Garners are not listed in the 1947 Camden City Directory. Farabell Garner was residing in Willingboro NJ when she died in December of 1973.

One Car in Two Mishaps; All Occur Within an Hour

Ten persons were injured within an hour last night in seven accidents throughout Camden.

The first accident occurred at Twenty-eighth and Thompson streets where a car driven by Mrs. Sarah A. Mole, 39, of 2903 Pleasant street, struck a five-year-old boy who ran from the sidewalk into the path of the automobile.

The boy, John Smith, 5, of 2801 Pleasant street, suffered cuts on the right arm and leg. Mrs. Mole placed him in her car, then requested Charles Johnson, 32, of 2840 Thompson street, to drive the car to Cooper Hospital. Johnson agreed and with Julius Braxton, 18, a friend, of 2933 Thompson street, Mrs. Mole and the Smith boy started for the hospital.

At Twenty-seventh street and Saunders Avenue, the second accident occurred when Mrs. Mole’s car, driven by Johnson, crashed with another car driven by H. Lem White, 43, of 730 Colford avenue, Collingswood. Johnson, Mrs. Mole and Braxton all were cut and bruised in the crash and were taken, with the Smith boy to the hospital by another motorist.

Meanwhile at Baird avenue and Marlton pike, an automobile driven by Miss Virginia M. Brickner, 18, of 27 Cuthbert Road, Westmont, was overturned in a collision with another car driven by George W. Garner, 31, of 235 Morse Street, a city fireman. Miss Brickner was treated at Cooper Hospital for shock and bruises.

Two accidents occurred at Sixteenth street and Crescent Boulevard. In the first, Charles C. Markley, 30, of 1040 Sycamore avenue, Haddon Heights, attempted to stop his car when another machine cut in front of him. Markley’s car overturned at the curbstone, and was wrecked, but Markley escaped injury.

A Palmyra mother and her four year-old daughter were injured when the shaft of a bread wagon broke two windows in their car and showered them with glass, at the same intersection.

The car was driven by Mrs. Dorothy Creager, 32, of 737 Garfield Avenue, Palmyra. She was cut, as was her daughter, Helen, 4. The driver of the wagon, Jackson Kircher, of 159 West Avenue, Westville, was not injured.

William H. Anderson, 7, of 810 Chambers avenue, Gloucester, was treated last night at Cooper Hospital for a leg fracture suffered when struck by an automobile at Brown street, near Paul, Gloucester. Mrs. Anna Hammond, of 136 Snyder Avenue, Westville, took the boy to the hospital and reported to Gloucester police.