Camden People - William Madison

WILLIAM A. MADISON was born in Pennsylvania on October 8, 1867 to Edward Woods Madison and the former Susan Stevenson. By June of 1870 the family had moved to the town of Stockton, in Camden County, New Jersey. Edwin Madison then worked in a brickyard. Stockton was annexed to Camden in 1899, bringing what is now known as East Camden and Cramer Hill into the city.

William A. Madison married around 1891. His wife Lizzie gave birth to a daughter, Susie Madison, the following year. The Madison were living in what was then the town of Stockton in the 1890s. In 1895 he was working as a Stockton policeman. The 1898 City Directory shows William A. Madison living at 6 Church Street, working as a motorman for the C & S Railway, a trolley car line. The Directory shows his younger brother, Edward Madison Jr., at 8 Church Street, and his parents at 2930 Westfield Avenue. Uncles Robert and Nathan Madison also lived in the neighborhood.

On November 27, 1899 William Madison was appointed to the Camden Fire Department, as part of a five company expansion.

The Census taken in June of 1900 shows William Madison working as a fireman. He and his wife and daughter were still living at 6 Church Street in East Camden when the Census was taken. By 1906 William Madison had moved to 10 Church Street, where he would live for at least the next 40 years. The 1906 City Directory indicates that his brother Edward Jr. had moved into the house at 6 Church Street, and it is likely that another relation had moved into 8 Church Street.

The 1910 Census shows William Madison living in a house he owned at 10 Church Street in East Camden with his wife Lizzie and daughter Susie. He was still working as member of the Camden Fire Department. The Madisons were still at that address when the 1920 Census was taken. Susie Madison had married James R. Donnelly, and a son James R. Donnelly Jr. was born in 1918. William Madison was still working for the Camden Fire Department at that time.

By the end of 1923 William A. Madison had left the Fire Department. He worked as a laborer in the mid-1920s. By April of 1930 he was working as a watchman at the Campbell Soup factory in Camden.

Camden Fire Department records from 1931 show William Madison still residing at 10 Church Street in East Camden. He had by this time retired and was collecting a pension. William A. Madison was still living at 10 Church Street as late as 1946. He passed away after a long illness on May 3, 1950.

Philadelphia Inquirer - November 26, 1899 Right Click on Images to Download PDF of Article

Cooper B. Hatch - George W. Whyte - Edgar Boulton - John W. Vanhart - W. Scott Franklin Robert Gick - Joseph Till - Edward Kelly - Christian Stark - Frank Powell - Lewis H. Sasse Samuel Collins - William Madison - John F. Renner - Josiah Pedigree