Ralph F. Bingemann Sr.
RALPH FREDERICK BINGEMANN SR. was born on September 3, 1896 in Stockton Township, which became a part of Camden in 1899. He was the fourth of seven children born to Mary and George J. Bingemann, born after Karl (Charles), Ernest, and Frederick. The family was living at 2513 Federal Street in East Camden when the Census was taken in 1900, where George Bingemann conducted a bakery. The younger three children, George, Laura, and Arthur, were born during the 1900s. The family and the bakery business was still at 2513 Federal Street when the Census was taken in 1910. Interestingly, then living at 2511 was the Kotlikoff family, who would be in the retail business on that block until 1982, and at 2509 Federal, the Liberman family, son Lewis Liberman would become a well known lawyer and judge in Camden after World War I.
When the Census was taken in 1920 the Bingemann family was still at 2513 Federal Street. Ralph Bingemann, however, was not living with his family when the Census was taken. He had moved out and was boarding at 2202 River Road. By the time the 1924 Camden City directory had been compiled, Ralph Bingemann had married. He and his wife Emma lived at 2731 Cleveland Avenue in Cramer Hill. Between the years 1924 and 1929 Ralph Bingemann operated a business called the East End Express out of the Cleveland Avenue address. Meanwhile, the three older Bingemann brothers became involved in a bus company with Joseph Gick, of Cramer Hill. Joseph Gick had been a Camden fire fighter, as was his brother Howard Gick and father Robert Gick. Ralph Bingemann had lived a few doors away from Joseph Gick when the 1920 Census was taken.
Ralph Bingemann’s business appears to have went under by 1929. Meanwhile daughter Laura, and a son, Ralph Jr., had arrived. April of 1930 found Ralph Bingemann Sr. working as a salesman for a laundry.
Apparently his brother’s business connections to the Gick family helped, as Ralph F. Bingemann Sr. was appointed to the Camden Fire Department on December 22, 1930. He reported for duty on January 1, 1931 with Engine Company 9 at North 27th and Federal Streets in East Camden. On June 15, 1933 he was transferred to Ladder Company 1, based at Fire Headquarters, North 5th Street and Arch Street. Ralph Bingemann Sr. was promoted to Captain on April 5, 1940 and assigned to Engine Company 7 on Kaighn Avenue.
On October 12, 1942 Captain Bingemann was sent to Pennsylvania State University. This may have had something to do with the war effort. He returned to Camden on December 18, 1942 and was assigned to Ladder Company 3 in East Camden. On April 3, 1943 he was once again returned to Fire Headquarters, this time to Engine Company 2. Another assignment came on December 16, 1949, when Captain Bingemann was sent to Engine Company 11 on North 27th in Cramer Hill. This posting lasted only 6 days, for on December 22, 1949 he was once again transferred, to Engine Company 8 at 619 Kaighn Avenue, where he finished his career. Captain Bingemann retired from the Camden Fire Department on June 1, 1956. He was replaced on the fire department by Theodore Primas, which in time would rise to Chief of Department.
Ralph Bingemann Sr. made his home in Cramer Hill at 2731 Cleveland Avenue as late as 1980. He passed away in March of 1981.
World War I Draft Card
World War I Draft Registration Card — Ralph F. Bingemann Sr.
Camden Fire Department Service Record
Camden Fire Department service record — Ralph F. Bingemann Sr.
Wonsetler Hailed as Next President of State
Camden Courier-Post —
Robert Wonsetler, of the Camden Fire Department, was hailed as the next state president of the Firemen’s Mutual Benevolent Association at the 41st anniversary dinner of Camden Local, No. 5, last night. It was held in Kenney’s Cafe, with 150 members and their women folks attending.
The Camden man is now first vice president of the state association and state representative of the local. James Delaney, of Elizabeth, state president, and other state officers who were among the speakers predicted that when the local has its 42nd anniversary next year, it will have occasion to celebrate the election of Wonsetler as 1939 state president.
Other speakers were Mayor George E. Bruner, City Commissioners Mary W. Kobus and Frank J. Hartmann, Assemblyman Rocco Palese, Fire Chief John H. Lennox, Carlton W. Rowand, Bruce A. Wallace and Freeholder Edward J. Quinlan.
State officers attending, besides Delaney and Wonsetler, were Fred Bailey, Weehawken, second vice president; George Steele, Union City, recording secretary; Joseph Burke, Newark, financial secretary, and Jack Reed, Kearny, treasurer.
Surrogate Frank B. Hanna, who was toastmaster, referred to the three city commissioners present as “candidates for re-election without opposition.”
Commissioner Kobus, head of the city fire department, was applauded when she announced wash-stands and showers are being installed in local firehouses and that windbreakers and new fire nets have been ordered.
“The firehouses in Camden are in better condition than ever before,” Commissioner Hartmann said.
Officers of the Camden Local are Chester Andrus, president; W. Samuel Mountney, vice president; Nelson Andrews, recording secretary; Harrison Pike, financial secretary; Henry Zook, treasurer; Ralph Bingemann, sergeant-at-arms; William H. Harrison, chaplain, and Wonsetler, state representative.
Russell J. Anderson was chairman of the dinner committee, which included Harry Wagner, Arthur Batten, Harry Wilkers, David Humphries and Pike.
$100,000 Fire Sweeps Store of Antrim Co.
Camden Courier-Post —
SEVERAL FIREMEN HURT; OIL PLANT AND HOMES ARE MENACED
BLAZE WORST IN 18 MONTHS
Fire swept the wholesale store of Antrim Hardware Company, 1514 and 1516 Federal street last night, damaged the stock to the extent of $100,000, injured several firemen, menaced homes and the plant of the Standard Oil Company opposite. It was the first three-alarm fire in Camden since January, 1937.
One of the firemen, Ralph Bingaman, of Truck Company No. 1, was cut severely on the right hand and foot by falling glass and went to the Cooper Hospital. Another hoseman, Ray Smith, of headquarters, also was cut on the right hand but stuck to his fire fighting after his wounds were dressed.
Huge choking billows of smoke that rolled over the fighters balked them several times in their efforts to check the fire, but they remained at their posts and finally subdued the blaze after a battle of several hours.
Spread Rapidly
Chief John H. Lennox declared the fire started midway on the first floor from some unknown cause and spread so rapidly before its discovery efforts of the firemen were greatly hindered. Louis Gold, proprietor of the Federal Automobile Company, which adjoins the Antrim place, discovered the blaze and sent in an alarm at 7 p. m. He then telephoned to Councilman E. Hulings Antrim, of Merchantville, treasurer of the concern, who raced to the fire, together with his mother, Mrs. Elwood Antrim, widow of the founder of the firm. Later B. Frank Antrim, president of the firm, arrived. The members of the family conferred and decided to reopen today their other store at Twenty-sixth and Federal streets, and to secure if possible an unoccupied floor of a chain store building to carry on the business. The stock, according to Antrim, was fully insured. The firm was created on December 1, 1889, and had made arrangements to celebrate its golden anniversary. Mrs. Antrim, mother of the treasurer, stated she had half the anniversary number ready for publication “but the first fire we ever had has ruined all that now.”
Smashes Windows
When Gold, accompanied by his son, Marvin, discovered the fire, the latter smashed in two front windows on the first floor to permit the smoke to roll and and [sic] to prevent an explosion inside, he said. Meanwhile, Leroy Garrison, who lives at 50 South Twenty-fourth street, was driving past in his automobile. He saw smoke rolling upward from the first floor and ran to the rear of the structure and threw open the door to permit the smoke to roll free at the rear. Eight minutes after the first alarm was sounded Chief Lennox ordered a second, then a third at 7.33 p. m. Eight engines and two hook and ladder trucks responded and the fight began to keep the flames from spreading in the neighborhood. With the wind blowing north, the tanks of the oil company across the street seemed threatened, but the interior of the structure was bulked with two firewalls which held and gave the firemen a chance to get into action and beat down the flames.
Paint, chemicals and tar paper stored on the second floor made a dense, choking smoke that completely conceal the neighborhood and the hundreds of spectators that thronged the vicinity to watch the fire. Two tenants in nearby houses, Miss Agnes Mitchell and Mrs. Roy Dilks, 72, living in 1510 and 1508, respectively, were unaware of the fire right next door until the police sent them to safety. Miss Mitchell said she was in the shed in the rear of her home and the first she heard of the fire was when a policeman ordered her to get out.
Refused to Leave
Mrs. Dilks, alone in the house at the time, refused to leave. She told the police she didn’t want to go, because the family had lived there but a month and her relatives were away. Finally she was urged to depart and did, finding refuge with Mrs. Albert Bowne, whose husband runs a printing shop a few doors below. When Councilman Antrim arrived on the scene he attempted to rescue records of the firm which he said could never be replaced. Five times he entered the smoking building and five times he was turned back by the firemen. Finally two firemen, Andrew Ballantine, Senior Chief Lennox, and Ladderman John Strauss, of Truck Company No. 4, forged their way through the dense smoke and retrieved the records.
Antrim fixed his damages from smoke and water at $100,000 which he said was the amount of stock in the building. Mrs. Antrim, his mother, stood under an umbrella near the burning building, and refused to go in. “We’ll open tomorrow,” said the energetic woman, “and not let this bother us. This firm was created in 1889 when Hulings, my son, was four, and B. Frank Antrim, now president, and myself ran the busines and we’re not going to let this get us down, you bet.” Antrim said he was the last person to leave the building at 5 p. m. Everything appeared to be all right then. The burglar alarm with which the building is equipped did not sound, so Antrim says no one could have entered the building after he departed.
Truck in Collision
After Engine Company No. 10 was sent home the apparatus was sideswiped by a traveling sandwich wagon, owned and driven by Emido Martelli, of 1315 Thurman street, at Eleventh street and Newton avenue. Martelli’s wife and 25-months-old son were aboard the wagon at the time but none was injured. Police took Martelli to City Hall where he was asked for a statement as to the accident. According to the persons on the scene, Martelli was driving on Eleventh street when the engine came along Newton avenue, with its siren open. The wagon driver did not seem to pay attention to the screams of the whistle and continued, the front of his car grazing the side of the apparatus.
When Engine Company No. 9, at Twenty-first and Federal streets, the first engine to respond to the alarm, reached the hydrant the firemen found an automobile parked there, and locked. They had to push the car out of the way, in order to get a hose to the hydrant. Chief Lennox said the last time the department received a third alarm was when fire gutted the store of the McCrory Company at Broadway and Kaighn avenue.
Firemen Pallbearers for Lester Anderson
Camden Courier-Post —
The funeral of Lester R. Anderson, 38, a member of Engine Company No. 2, Fifth and Arch streets, who died in his sleep at the fire house Monday night, will be held today at 8.30 a. m. from his home, 2771 Constitution road.
A High Mass will be celebrated at the Roman Catholic Church of St. Joan of Arc at 9.30 a. m. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery. Pallbearers, all members of the engine company, will be John Yates, Arthur Batten, William Hopkins, Leo Tompkins, Ralph Bingemann and Henry Baumgartle.
Mr. Anderson, a member of the fire department since 1923, had not been ill. A native of this city, he is survived by his widow, Marie; two children, Marie, 15, and Lester R. Jr., 12; his father, William, Camden; a stepmother, and three brothers and three sisters; John, also a fireman; William, a Republican county committeeman in the Fourteenth ward; Charles, of Pennsauken; Mrs. Louis Letzgus, of Camden; Mrs. Kathryn Venella, of Glendora, and Madeline, Camden.
Changes Announced in Fire Department
Camden Courier-Post —
Commissioner Mary W. Kobus yesterday announced a number of changes in the fire department, including the disbanding of Truck Company No. 4; creation of a new engine company, No. 10, and the transfer of 18 officers and men, 12 of them captains.
Most of the new captains have been serving as acting captains and promotion to full rank will involve no pay increases, inasmuch as the men signed waivers foregoing the raises.
Commissioner Kobus explained most of the changes were made to conform with regulations of the National Board of Fire Underwriters. The board, Mrs. Kobus explained, made a survey of the department and advised appointments of acting captains to full rank.
The commissioner also announced she had appointed Junior Captain Raymond Smith as director of the school for firemen at Engine Company No. 10, Ninth and Morgan streets. Smith, one of the youngest at the recently appointed junior captains, will succeed the late Battalion Chief Rollo Jones.
Senior Captain Leonard Megee was appointed acting battalion chief to succeed Jones. He will continue at the Fifth and Arch streets fire headquarters.
Junior Captain William Spencer, of headquarters company, was named relief captain.
Engine Company No. 10 will use the headquarters of the old truck company, at Ninth and Morgan streets.
To the new company Mrs. Kobus assigned Senior Captain Mortica Clark and Firemen Frank Burt, Frank Esperance and Clifford Lane.
Junior Captain Frank Oberman was transferred from Engine Company No. 10 to Engine Company No. 1, at fire headquarters.
Other assignments are as follows:
Junior Captain Robert Wonsetler, Engine Company No. 11, to Engine Company No. 2.
Fireman Harry Kleinfelder, Engine Company No. 6, to Engine Company No. 2.
Junior Captain Edgar Ellender, Engine Company 2, to Engine Company No. 6.
Junior Captain Ralph Bingemann, Truck Company No. 2, to Engine Company No. 7.
Fireman David Humphries, Truck Company No. 3, to Engine Company No. 11.
Junior Captain Nelson Andrews, Engine Company No. 2, to Truck Company No. 1.
Fireman Albert Dukes, Jr., Truck Company No. 1, to Engine Company No. 2.
Junior Captain Winfield Leviseur, Truck Company No. 2, to Truck Company No. 3.
Junior Captain Edward McDowell retains assignment to Engine Company No. 3.
Junior Captain Maurice O’Brien assigned to Engine Company No. 10.
The changes were contained in notice to the Civil Service Commission, are effective as of June 1 and will appear on the June 15 payroll.
World War II Draft Card
World War II Draft Registration Card — Ralph F. Bingemann Sr.