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ANDREW
MILLER was born in New Jersey in July of 1860 to Charles and
Dora Miller. His parents were both born in Germany, and Andrew
Miller was known to friends as Fritz. When
the Census was taken in 1880 he was living with his widowed
mother Dora and older brother John at 330 Sycamore
Street. He
married shortly after the Census was taken. By the middle of
1881 the Millers were at 624 Mount Vernon
Street. Andrew Miller
was then working as an oilcloth printer, working for Richard C.
and Benjamin H. Reeve at their factory on the corner of Pine
Street and Haddon Avenue. The 1882 Camden City Directory shows
Andrew Miller living at 731 Mount Vernon
Street. By 1884 the
family had relocated to 756 Cherry Street and he was working as
a dyer. The 1885 City Directory shows Andrew Miller working as a
laborer and living at 937 South 7th
Street. The 1900 Census shows that he had married, and
that his wife Cassie had bore seven children, all of them still living, Andrew
Jr., Anna, John, George, Dora, Harry, Katy.
Andrew
Miller was appointed to the Camden Fire Department in 1885, and,
according to Census records, was still with Department as late
as April of 1930. His first assignment was to serve with Engine
Company Number 1. His obituary states that he served 27
years as a member of the Camden Fire Department.
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In
1886 the Camden Steam Fire Engine
Company Number 1 was located at 409
Pine Street in a three story 20 by 90 foot brick building (the
old Independence Fire Company No. 3 engine house). The company's
apparatus was an Amoskeag second class steamer (maker's plate
6318) drawn by two horses and one Silsby two wheel hose cart
drawn by a single horse. The company was equipped with 1000 feet
of good hose, axes, lamps, etc. The company roster included John
Stockton, Foreman; G. Rudolph
Tenner, Engineer; William
Deno,
driver; William W.
Laird, stoker; Wilson Bromley and
Jacob F Nessen, hosemen. Call Men were William
Deith, Andrew Miller and
William Bogia. Bromley and Bogia would later suffer line of duty
deaths. Andrew
Miller and his family had moved to 742 Walnut Street by 1887.
City Directories show that they stayed at that address until
1892. The 1892-1893 Directory lists Andrew Miller at 728 South
9th Street, and he was still at that address in the 1895-1896
edition. The 1896 City Directory has listings for Andrew Miller
at both 704 and 706 Walnut Street. By 1897 Andrew Miller had
moved to 707 Walnut Street. They were still at that address when the
census was taken in 1900. City Directories from 1906 to 1914
show at 703 Walnut Street. Sadly Andrew Miller Jr. died of
tuberculosis in May of 1908 of pulmonary tuberculosis. The
1918 Camden City Directory and the 1920 Census show Andrew
Miller at 724 Mount Vernon
Street. His neighbor at 714 Mount
Vernon Street was brother firefighter Seth Monnell. By 1924
Andrew Miller had moved to 1255 Sheridan
Street. The Directory
for 1927 says that he had moved to 1123 Liberty
Street. The 1929
Directory and 1930 Census state that Andrew Miller was living at
1345 Princess Avenue in Camden's Parkside
district with his wife Catherine, and as
indicated above, was still employed by the Camden Fire
Department. While
it may seem improbable that Andrew Miller was still with the
Fire Department in his seventieth year, it should be noted that
mandatory retirements from the Fire and Police Departments did
not go into effect until 1950. When they did, Camden had a 75
year-old firefighter, John
"Shorty" Prucella, and a policeman who was past
seventy, Samuel E.
Johnson.
City
Directories indicate that Andrew and Catherine Miller were
living at 1441 Princess Avenue
when the 1940 and 1943 City Directories were compiled. Andrew
Miller passed away in 1948 and was buried at New Camden
Cemetery. He last resided at 4020
Westfield Avenue in Camden with daughter Alice, her husband
Edward McMaster, and their son James McMaster. Andrew Miller's
grandson, James McMaster, served with the Camden Fire Department
for 26 years, retiring as Deputy Chief on 1989. Andrew
Miller's oldest daughter, Annie, married a member of the Camden
Fire Department, Harry
Haines Sr., who retired as a Captain with Engine Company 3.
Harry Haines son from a previous marriage, Harry
Haines Jr., also served with the Camden Fire Department,
mostly with Ladder companies over the course of a 29 year
career. Between the four of them, there was a total of 140 years
of service.
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