WILLIAM P. ELBERSON  was born in Camden on March 28, 1875 to Rachel and John Elberson. The family name also comes up as Elverson and in at least once source Elbertson. William P. Elberson was the oldest of five children, coming before Edith, Mamie, Theodore, and Walter. John Elberson was a veteran of the Civil War, having served with Company F, 4th New Jersey Infantry Regiment. The family, which then included William and his two younger sisters, was living at 219 Bridge Avenue at the time of the 1880 Census. By 1887 the younger brothers had been born and the family had moved to 564 Carman Street, where they remained into the 1900s.

William P. Elberson married Ella C. Gladney around 1898. He and wife Ella were living at 231 Taylor Avenue by the spring of 1900. He then was working as a day laborer. It appears that William P. Elberson was recorded twice during this census enumeration, at both his parents home and his own. At some point after that and before the 1906 Camden City Directory was compiled, William P. Elberson was appointed to the Camden Fire Department.

The 1906 City Directory and the 1910 Census show William Elberson living at 231 Taylor Avenue and working

for the Fire Department. He and his wife Ella were still childless when the 1910 Census was enumerated. Sadly, Ella Elberson died on July 11, 1912. William Elberson soon remarried, and his wife Bessie bore him four children- Albert, Mary, William, and Earl. 

William P. Elberson  was serving with  Engine Company 2 in 1913. The 1914 City Directory shows that William P. Elberson and his family had moved to 307 Federal Street. William P. Elberson died in October of 1918, during the influenza epidemic, leaving his then pregnant wife and three children. His son Earl was born a few months after his father's death.