Harry B. Maxwell
HARRY B. MAXWELL was born in Camden, New Jersey on December 7, 1888. He was the son of Joseph Maxwell and his wife, Katherine. He was the second of five children, coming after brother Warren and before siblings Elsie, Helen, and Frank. Joseph Maxwell was born in Philadelphia in 1860, and had been living and working in Camden as a teamster as early as 1878. He married around 1883 and was living at 206 Arch Street when Warren was born in 1884. The family had moved to 325 Cedar Street when the 1887 City Directory was compiled, and remained at that address through 1891. At some point after the compilation of the 1891–1892 City Directory and the 1894 City Directory Joseph Maxwell joined the Camden Fire Department and the family moved to 313 Cedar Street. Joseph Maxwell initially worked as a stoker with Engine Company 2, stationed at Fire headquarters, North 5th and Arch Streets. There he came to the attention of Samuel Elfreth, the Chief of the Camden Fire Department. By the time the 1895 Directory was compiled, Joseph Maxwell was working as Chief Elfreth’s driver, and the Maxwell family had moved to 27 North 2nd Street, where they lived through 1899. The Maxwell family moved to 205 Stevens Street in late 1899 or early 1900. By 1906 they relocated to 221 Market Street, and moved once again by the summer of 1910, to 620 North 3rd Street where they lived into the 1920s. Sadly, Kate Maxwell died in 1915, and Joseph Maxwell joined her in September of 1917, at the age of 56.
Harry Maxwell married in the early 1910s. A son, Joseph, was born around this time. He registered for the draft on June 5, 1917. He was living with wife and son Joseph at 921 Lawrence Street, and was then a driver for Davis Camden & Philadelphia Local Express Company, of 127 Federal Street. Not long after his father’s passing, Harry B. Maxwell was appointed to the Camden Fire Department, along with his brother-in-law, William Van Pfefferle, the husband of his sister Elsie.
By January of 1920 Harry Maxwell and his family moved to 537 Fulton Place where they stayed through 1927. By 1929 the family had moved to 320 Elm Street. Fire Department records from 1931 indicate that he had moved back to 537 Fulton Place. The 1940 City Directory shows him living at 721 Linden Street.
Harry B. Maxwell was still with the Fire Department as late as April of 1942. He was then still living at 721 Linden Street, and he is listed at that address in the 1943 City Directory. When the 1947 City Directory was compiled, Harry B. Maxwell had left the Fire Department. He and his wife were living at 727 Linden Street. He had moved to 605 Pearl Street by the fall of 1956 and was still living there in the spring of 1967.
Harry B. Maxwell, a lifelong Camden resident, died in April of 1967, survived by his wife, son, and four daughters.
Harry Maxwell’s brother-in-law, William Van Pfefferle, rose through the ranks of the Camden Fire Department and served as Chief of Department from 1950 to 1958. Great-nephew Private First Class Warren Walter Pfefferle was killed in a plane crash in Vietnam on August 24, 1965 while serving with the United States Marine Corps.
618–626 North 3rd Street
618, 620, 622, 624 & 626 North 3rd Street — April 2, 1912
World War I Draft Card
World War I Draft Card — Harry B. Maxwell
Shipyard Wages Lure to Firemen
Camden Post-Telegram —
Chief Presents Six Resignations at Meeting of Council Commission — Mertz Is Captain in Whitsell’s Place
Camden’s Fire Department has been hard hit by the call of the shipyards and death. The report of Fire Chief Peter B. Carter presented last night at the meeting of the Fire Committee of City Council showed six resignations, two deaths and one vacancy from the draft.
The resignations follows: Louis Neuman, No. 3 Truck Company; George H. Pursglove, No. 7 Engine Company; Roy De Haven, Julius Hubert and Harry W. Stone, No. 3 Truck Company, and Lieutenant Joseph Sparks, No. 7 Engine Company.
Deaths reported were Captain Samuel Whitzell, of No. 1 Engine Company, and William Elberson, of Headquarters. William Schucher, of No. 4, was drafted into the Army.
To take the place of Captain Whitzell, Lieutenant Walter Mertz, of the same company, was appointed captain, and Horace Kerns was made lieutenant. The following appointments were made by the Fire Committee: Robert L. Knox, 822 Division street, to fill place of Julius Hubert; Allen Palmer, 120 North Eleventh street, for vacancy of Louis Neuman; Clarence Pursglove, 751 Mt. Vernon street, taking place of his brother George; Anthony Paradise, 658 South Second street, filling place of Roy De Haven; Harry B. Maxwell, 422 North Sixth street, for vacancy of Harry W. Stone; Robert Welsh, 512 Borton street, vacancy of William Schucher, and William Vile, 570 Carman street, to fill place of Captain Whitzell.
The American La France Company was awarded the contract to furnish a new two-in-one motor apparatus for $10,000.
A petition from members of the Firemen’s Pension Fund asked that the rule of ten years’ apprenticeship be abolished in view of the wages paid men employed in other industries. The petition requests that all men in the department be placed on full salary at once. The petition will be presented to City Council.
Six Camden Firemen Quit for Better Jobs
Philadelphia Inquirer —
High wages paid at shipyards is proving a big lure to the members of the Camden Fire Department, resignations of six laddies being presented to the Fire Committee of City Council yesterday by Chief Carter. The men quitting to become shipbuilders are Louis Neuman, George H. Pursglove, Roy De Haven, Julius Hubert, Harry W. Stone and Joseph Sparks. Their places were filled by the appointment of Robert Knox, Allen Palmer, Clarence Pursglove, Anthony Paradise, Harry B. Maxwell and Robert Welsh. Lieutenant Walter Mertz was made a captain to succeed Samuel Whitzell, deceased, and Horace Kerns was made a lieutenant. A contract was awarded to the American-La France Engine Company for a new motor engine. The price is $10,000.
World War II Draft Card
World War II Draft Card — Harry B. Maxwell
Harry B. Maxwell
Camden Courier-Post —
Services for Harry B. Maxwell, 78, of 605 Pearl Street, a retired city fireman, who died Wednesday in Cooper Hospital, will be at 11 a.m. Monday in the Murray Funeral Home, 408 Cooper Street, where friends may call Sunday night. Burial will be in Bethel Memorial Park, Pennsauken. Mr. Maxwell was a member of Firemen’s Mutual Benevolent Association 5. Surviving are his wife, Marguerite; a son, Joseph J. of Collingswood; four daughters, Mrs. Irene Lindholm of Camden, Mrs. Margaret Humphries of Berlin, Mrs. Ada Harrington of Pomona, Calif., Mrs. Elizabeth Singer of Stratford; a sister; a brother; 17 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.