Camden People - Harry Borton Maxwell

HARRY B. MAXWELL was born in Camden, New Jersey on December 7, 1888. He was the son of Joseph Maxwell and his wife, Katherine. He was the second of five children, coming after brother Warren and before siblings Elsie, Helen, and Frank. Joseph Maxwell was born in Philadelphia in 1860, and had been living and working in Camden as a teamster as early as 1878. He married around 1883 and was living at 206 Arch Street when Warren was born in 1884. The family had moved to 325 Cedar Street when the 1887 City Directory was compiled, and remained at that address through 1891. At some point after the compilation of the 1891-1892 City Directory and the 1894 City Directory Joseph Maxwell joined the Camden Fire Department and the family moved to 313 Cedar Street. Joseph Maxwell initially worked as a stoker with Engine Company 2, stationed at Fire headquarters, North 5th and Arch Streets. There he came to the attention of Samuel Elfreth, the Chief of the Camden Fire Department. By the time the 1895 Directory was compiled, Joseph Maxwell was working as Chief Elfreth's driver, and the Maxwell family had move to 27 North 2nd Street, where they lived through 1899. The Maxwell family moved to 205 Stevens Street in late 1899 or early 1900. By 1906 they relocated to 221 Market Street, and moved once again by the summer of 1910, to 620 North 3rd Street where they lived into the 1920s. Sadly, Kate Maxwell died in 1915, and Joseph Maxwell joined her in September of 1917, at the age of 56.

Harry Maxwell married in the early 1910s. A son, Joseph, was born around this time. He registered for the draft on June 5, 1917. He was living with wife and son Joseph at 921 Lawrence Street, and was then a driver for Davis Camden & Philadelphia Local Express Company, of 127 Federal Street. Not long after his father's passing, Harry B. Maxwell was appointed to the Camden Fire Department, along with his brother-in-law, William Van Pfefferle, the husband of his sister Elsie.

By January of 1920 Harry Maxwell and his family moved to 537 Fulton Place where they stayed though 1927. By 1929 the family had moved to 320 Elm Street. Fire Department records from 1931 indicate that he had moved back to 537 Fulton Place. The 1940 City Directory shows him living at 721 Linden Street.

Harry B. Maxwell was still with the Fire Department as late as April of 1942. He was then still living at 721 Linden Street, and he is listed at that address in the 1943 City Directory. When the 1947 City Directory was compiled, Harry B. Maxwell had left the Fire Department. He and his wife were living at 727 Linden Street. He had moved to 605 Pearl Street by the fall of 1956 and was still living when in the spring of 1967

Harry B. Maxwell, a lifelong Camden resident, died in April of 1967, survived by his wife, son, and four daughters..

Harry Maxwell's brother-in-law, William Van Pfefferle, rose through the ranks of the Camden Fire Department and served as Chief of Department from 1950 to 1958. Great-nephew Private First Class Warren Walter Pfefferle was killed in a plane crash in Vietnam on August 24, 1965 while serving with the United States Marine Corps.

Philadelphia Inquirer - March 23, 1918

Peter B. Carter - Harry B. Maxwell - Allen Palmer - Louis Neumann - George H. Pursglove Roy DeHaven - Julius Herbert - Harry W. Stone - Joseph Sparks - Robert Knox - Clarence Pursglove Anthony Paradise - Robert Welsh - Walter Mertz - Horace Cairns - Samuel Whitzell

World War II Draft Card

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World War II Draft Card

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