William
G.
Kairer Sr.


 

WILLIAM G. KAIRER SR. was a well-known and respected businessman in Camden in the 1880s and 1890s. He was born around 1839, and was in the bakery business in Camden as early as 1869.

The 1869 City Directory shows him at 616 South 5th Street. By 1872 he had moved to 703 Federal Street, and was still there when the 1874 Directory was compiled. William G. Kairer Sr. married twice and was widowed twice. His first wife, Margaret W. "Maggie" Godshall, gave him two sons, sons William G. Kairer Jr. and Charles Kairer, before dying of tuberculosis on May 9, 1872 in Camden. His second marriage, to Ella Hopper, sadly also ended when she died in 1886 at the age of 34, but not before bearing at least three children, Frank Granville Kairer, and daughters Elizabeth Gertrude Kairer and Adda Kairer. Sadly, but not all that uncommon in those days, daughter Adda also died before reaching adulthood.

By 1877 WIlliam G. Kairer had moved to South Camden, setting up home and business at 416-418 Line Street. This address was residence when the census was taken in 1880. Late in 1892 or in 1893 he moved to a recently built home 429 Beckett Street, the corner of Beckett and Avon Streets, in South Camden with his son, William G. Kairer Jr., his daughter-in-law Frances "Fannie" Fithian Kairer, grandson Howard Kairer, and a servant, Annie McCuen. On December 4, 1893 William G. Kairer Sr. was murdered by Nicholas Theodore "Theodore" Lambert, who had broken into his home with the intent of robbing it.

William G. Kairer Sr. was buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Camden after services held at his home. Theodore Lambert was arrested, tried, and after numerous appeals, on December 19, 1895 executed at the Camden County Jail for murdering Mr. Kairer. 

After settling the estate, William G. Kairer Jr. remained in business at 416-418 Line Street until 1900, when the building was badly damaged by fire. Camden Courier-Post reporter Benjamin W. Courter wrote in 1928 that it was later rented to use as a warehouse for the Gately & Hurley department store, known after 1904 simply as Hurley's Department Store, after its owner, William Leonard Hurley.


Philadelphia Inquirer - May 13, 1872


Left: 429 Beckett Street
Below: 429 & 431 Becket Street

Photo taken March 14, 2012



Philadelphia Inquirer - December 5, 1893

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...continued...
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William G. Kairer Sr. - William G. Kairer Jr. - William H. Upton - Annie McCuen - Lemuel R. Weldy 
William H. Davis - Patrick M. Gallagher -
John S. Smith
Charles Kairer - Frank G. Kairer - Elizabeth Kairer White - Thomas Warren White -
First Methodist Episcopal Church
Improved Order of Red Men - Ancient Order of United Workmen - Odd Fellows - Legion of the Red Cross
Theodore Lambert - Louis Riley - Joseph B. Stevenson

New York Herald
December 5, 1893

...continued...

...continued...

William G. Kairer Sr. - William G. Kairer Jr. - William J. Hopper - William A. Gilbert - William Snyder - Dr. Maximilian West
J. Scott Veasey -
North 8th Street - First Methodist Episcopal Church
Improved Order of Red Men - Ancient Order of United Workmen - Odd Fellows - Theodore Lambert

Philadelphia Inquirer - December 6, 1893

...continued...
William G. Kairer Sr. - Dr. WIlliam H. Iszard - Beckett Street - Mickle Street - South 9th Street
Ellis Silberstein -
Theodore Lambert - Levin Riley - Joseph B. Stevenson - George Greenleaf

Philadelphia Inquirer - December 6, 1893


Washington D.C. Evening Star - December 6, 1893


Bridgeton Evening News - December 7, 1893


Philadelphia Inquirer - December 8, 1893

...continued...
William G. Kairer Sr. - William J. Hopper - Flora Upton - William G. Kairer Jr. 
Rev. J.B. Graw -
First Methodist Episcopal Church - Beckett Street - John A. Smith - Isaac Cox
A.E. Davies - Charles Parker - N.C. Stowell - C.T. Pierce - William H. Davis
Ellis Silberstein -
Theodore Lambert - Levin Riley - Joseph B. Stevenson - George Greenleaf
Improved Order of Red Men - Ancient Order of United Workmen - Legion of the Red Cross

Philadelphia Inquirer
December 10, 1893

Harry B. Paul
Theodore Lambert
William J. Kairer Sr.
Mrs. Mary Manlove
Broadway
Mrs. Frances Hutt
Jefferson Avenue

 


Philadelphia Inquirer - December 11, 1893

William G. Kairer Sr. - George Harris - Ellis Siberstein - Henry Hanson
Sycamore Street - William H. Davis - Patrick M. Gallagher - John S. Smith

Shenandoah PA Evening Herald - December 11, 1893


Trenton Evening Times - December 11, 1893


Washington PA Semiweekly Observer
December 11, 1893


Philadelphia Inquirer - December 19, 1893

Wilson Jenkins

Click HERE to Continue Reading about the investigation into the murder of William G. Kairer Sr.,
and of the trial and execution of his murderer, Theodore Lambert

Philadelphia Inquirer
November 20, 1894

William G. Kairer Sr.
William G. Kairer Jr.
Charles Kairer
Frank Kairer
Elizabeth Kairer White
Zimre West
Theodore Lambert


Philadelphia Inquirer
December 18, 1894

William G. Kairer Sr.
William G. Kairer Jr.
Charles Kairer
Frank Kairer
Elizabeth Kairer White
Zimre West
Theodore Lambert

 

Philadelphia Inquirer
November 20, 1894

William G. Kairer Jr.
Line Street
Engine Company 1
Edward Osmond - Elizabeth Byrne
William G. Kairer Sr. - Theodore Lambert

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