Robert Gess
ROBERT GESS was born in Pennsylvania in 1887. He more than likely was the son of Robert and Dora Gess. The elder Gess appears in the 1890–1891 Camden City Directory as a cabinetmaker living at 1923 Fillmore Street in Camden; he was living at 417 Liberty Street when he died of liver disease in October of 1917.
Robert Gess worked for many years at the Howland Croft Sons & Co. textile mill at Broadway & Jefferson Street in Camden NJ, one block from the Fillmore Street address. He became a foreman at the plant about 1918. At the time of the 1920 Census, Robert Gess was living with wife Annie and daughters, Dorothy, Anna, and Mary at 333 Liberty Street. His widowed mother and brothers George and Frederick lived in the next block, at 427 Liberty Street. Six houses down, at 413–415 Liberty Street, lived Reyquew Hyghcock, who would gain notoriety in the 1920s as Camden’s “Voodoo Doctor.”
Annie Gess died of cancer in October of 1926, leaving her husband and three daughters. Robert Gess remarried shortly thereafter. 1932 was a bad year, as brother Frederick died of pneumonia in February and his mother Dora passed in April of kidney disease.
Robert Gess appears in the 1947 Camden City Directory as living with his wife Rhoda at 920 North 19th Street in the Cramer Hill section of Camden.
On June 28, 1950 Robert Gess suffered a fatal heart attack while at work. He was survived by his wife Rhoda, who remained at the North 19th Street address into the 1970s. She passed away in November of 1975.
Foreman for 32 Years Dies at Spinning Mill
Camden Courier-Post —
Robert Gess, 63, of 920 North Nineteenth street, became ill and died today at the plant of Howland Croft Sons & Co., spinners, Broadway and Jefferson street, where he was employed as a foreman for the last 32 years.
Dr. R. Dean Cavalli, county physician, who was summoned to the plant by police, said Gess probably died of a heart attack. He ordered the body taken to West Jersey hospital.
Howland Croft, Sons & Co. — 1928 Advertisement
HOWLAND CROFT, SONS & CO. LINDEN WORSTED MILLS ... ESTABLISHED 1880
Manufacturers of Fine Worsted Yarns In the Grey and in All Colors
OFFICES AND MILLS Broadway and Jefferson Avenue, Camden, New Jersey
Howland Croft, Sons & Co. — Linden Worsted Mills — Established 1880
Manufacturers of Fine Worsted Yarns in the Grey and in All Colors
Samuel G. Croft — Harold S. Bottomley — Gordon F. Bottomley — Howland W. Bottomley — Lewis S. Porter
Offices and Mills: Broadway and Jefferson Avenue, Camden, New Jersey
Howland Croft, Sons & Co. — 1947 Advertisement
Howland Croft, Sons & Co. — 1947 advertisement
Harold S. Bottomley — Lewis S. Porter — Howland W. Bottomley
Howland Croft, Sons & Co. — Linden Worsted Mills, Camden, N.J. — Established 1880
Manufacturers of Fine Worsted Weaving and Zephyr Knitting Yarns in White and Colors
Office and Mills: Broadway and Jefferson Ave., Camden, N.J.
Howland Croft, Sons & Co. — Painting
Painting by William M. Hoffman, Jr., Ligonier, PA — Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University