Camden People - Augustus V. Kester

AUGUSTUS V. KESTER was born in Pennsylvania in April of 1862, according to the 1900 Census. He married around 1883, and lived in Pennsylvania for a few years before coming to Camden. He was living at 1836 South 8th Street when the 1888-1889 City Directory was compiled, working in Philadelphia as a ballmaker. His whereabouts between 1888 and 1895 are uncertain. The 1896 and 1897 City Directories shows him at 520 Borton Street, working as a grocer. The 1898 Camden City Directory shows him running a grocery and living at 941 Pearl Street.

Augustus V. Kester was appointed to the Camden Fire Department on November 23, 1899. He served as a Camden firefighter into at least 1905.

By the summer of 1900 his wife Mary had bore eight children, four of whom were then living, John, Harry, Emma, and Willie. The Kesters were then living in North Camden at 574 Borton Street. 14 year-old John Kester had by then gone to work in the nearby woolen mill at North 10th and State Streets. The 1906 City Directory shows the family at 916 Elm Street. Augustus V. Kester was still working as a Camden firefighter. Older son John worked as a huckster.

By 1910 Augustus V. Kester had left Camden and moved to Somers Point, New Jersey, where he operated a poultry farm. His wife and three younger children were living with him when the census was taken. Augustus V. Kester was still raising chickens in Somers Point as late as 1931.