John P. Long

JOHN P. LONG was born in Pennsylvania in February of 1851. He moved to Camden shortly before the census was taken in June of 1880 with his wife Emma and his three daughters, Sarah, 4; Annie, 2; and Maggie, one month old. All of the children had been born in Pennsylvania. The family was living at 248 Pine Street at the time of the census. John Long was then working as a laborer.

John P. Long appears in Camden’s City Directories in 1883 at 705 South 4th Street. By the summer of 1884 he moved to 1039 Kaighn Avenue, where he stayed into 1895, before moving to 1051 Kaighn Avenue.

John P. Long had worked as a bricklayer and as a brickmaker before his appointment to the Camden Fire Department in July of 1890. He served as the Driver of Engine Company 2 through at least 1914. Engine Co. No. 2 was quartered at Fire Headquarters at the northwest corner of North 5th and Arch Streets. In 1894 the personnel were as follows: Foreman Harry C. Grosscup; Engineer, William Morris; Driver, John P. Long; Stokers Albert Jones, George Wade, William Hertline, David Andrews.

The 1900 Census shows John P. Long and his wife Emma L. Long living at 1051 Kaighn Avenue with three of their four living children, Annie, 23; Jennie, 16; and Emma Louise, 13. Daughter Sarah had married Henry C. Knowles, who would serve as the houseman at Engine Company 7 in the 1910s. Four other children had died. Sadly, Emma Long died of a stroke on March 31, 1901. After services at Liberty Park Baptist Mission she was buried at New Camden Cemetery.

When the census was taken in 1910, John P. Long was a widower. He was still living at 1051 Kaighn Avenue. His daughter Sarah and her husband and five children were living with him. He retired from the Camden Fire Department in 1911. John Long was still at the Kaighn Avenue address in 1921. He then was working as a watchman in a factory. Although his daughter had died in 1920, he still lived with son-in-law Henry C. Knowles. The 1922 Directory shows John P. Long living with his son-in-law, his grand-daughter Emma, and her husband Garland Friezer on Liberty Street. The Friezers moved out of Camden the following year, settling in Somerdale, New Jersey.

John Long’s final days were lived in Somerdale. He died at the age of 76 (news accounts claim he was 80) due to chronic myocarditis on January 15, 1927. He was buried at New Camden Cemetery with his wife.

A Camden Fireman Badly Injured While Answering an Alarm.