Jacob Leon

Jacob Leon was born in what was then Russia in 1883. He came to America in 1905. He married around 1909, and with his wife Rebecca eventually made a home in Camden, NJ. By 1920 he had moved to the Cramer Hill section, where he established a shoe repair shop in a room in front of his house, at 1006 North 27th Street, a few paces off River Road. At the time of the 1930 census the Leon family included five children, Nathan, Hyman, Tillie, Edith, and Beatrice. He was still operating his shoe repair business in 1947.

One of the few Jewish families in Cramer Hill, the Leon family resided there for over 50 years. The children attended Camden’s public schools, youngest daughter Beatrice graduating from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1940, later marrying Frank Schwartz. The Leon family sold the home at 1006 North 27th Street in the early 1960s. Son Hyman made his home at 444 Rand Street in East Camden after World War II into the 1960s.