ISAAC FERRIS JR. was the son of Isaac Ferris, a shoemaker who came to New Jersey, settling in the neighborhood of Broadway and Ferry Avenue in what was then Newton Township, and after 1871, was the Eighth Ward if the City of Camden.

Isaac Ferris Sr. was born in December of 1827 at Easton, Pennsylvania. He wed Dorothea Laird around 1850. A daughter Emma, was born in 1850 in Pennsylvania. When the Census was taken in 1850, Isaac Ferris and family lived in Philadelphia, in the New Market Ward in the area around South 2nd and Lombard Streets. A son, Isaac Ferris Jr. was born October 4, 1854 in Philadelphia and a daughter,  Dorothea Ferris was born in Pennsylvania around 1858. Isaac Ferris Sr. and family came to New Jersey soon afterwards. Six more children would be born after the move across the river. A son, Jacob C. Ferris was born in New Jersey on March 10, 1859, and it is probable that he was born in Newton Township. The Ferris family lived there when the Census was taken in 1860. Son John L Ferris was born on January 15, 1861 in Camden County. Daughter Kathryn M. “Kattie” Ferris was born in 1863, most likely in Burlington  Township, as it is known from Civil War draft records that on July 1, 1863 Isaac Ferris Sr. was living there, following his trade as a shoemaker. A son, Washington Ferris was born around 1866, and the Ferris family was still in Burlington when daughter

Cora arrived on February 3, 1868. Soon after her birth, Isaac Ferris and his clan returned to Newton Township, and Isaac Ferris established a shoemaking enterprise. The Ferris family is listed there in the 1870 Census. In 1871 Newton Township dissolved and the Ferris family became residents of the City of Camden. The 1872 City Directory shows Isaac Ferris Sr. and Isaac Ferris Jr. at Ferry Road and Webster Street,, the 1874 Directory indicates that they were still there.

Isaac Ferris Sr. was interested in politics as a Democrat. He was a Democrat leader in the Eighth Ward if Camden altogether for almost forty years. He served as a Camden police officer from 1874 until the spring of 1877, during the mayoralties of John H. Jones and John Morgan. The family was blessed with two more children in the 1870s, daughters Adelaid “Addie” Ferris on June 21, 1871 and son Harry Laird Ferris on December 25, 1875. Sadly, there was loss, as John L. died on November 6, 1876. Shoemaking was a family business and at one time or another most of the Ferris children worked in the trade, and 1876 was also the year that son Isaac Ferris Jr. went into business with a shoemaking factory of his own, the beginning of a business career that would take him into banking. 

By 1876 Isaac Ferris Sr. and family had moved to 1702 Fillmore Street. The 1880 Census shows the Ferris family consisting of Isaac and Dorothea Ferris and eight children, Isaac Ferris Jr., Dorothea Ferris, Jacob Ferris, Kathryn Ferris, Washington Ferris, Cora Ferris, Adalaid Ferris, and Harry Ferris. Isaac Ferris Jr. married Sarah J. Yeager shortly after the 1880 Census was enumerated.

Isaac Ferris Jr. operated his shoe factory at 1700 Fillmore Street for about six years. The 1883 City Directory shows Isaac Ferris Jr.'s shoe factory at 1548 Broadway. The 1884 Directory shows Isaac Ferris Jr. living at 1700 Fillmore Street and conducting a retail shoe store there as well, in addition to the shoe factory on Broadway. He moved his residence to 556 Spruce Street prior to the compilation of the 1885 City Directory. By 1887 he had returned to familiar haunts, residing at 1616 Broadway where he stayed in to at least 1888. The 1890 City Directory indicates that he had a home in Merchantville, New Jersey. In that year Isaac Ferris Jr. erected a new factory building at 1548 Broadway.  He was also by this time a member of the Camden Board of Trade. By 1892 Isaac Ferris Jr. had moved to 519 Broadway, where he stayed into 1899.

In 1900 Isaac Ferris moved his shoe manufacturing operation to 50 North 2nd Street. By the time the 1900 Census was taken, he and wife Sarah had moved to a mansion at 100 West Maple Avenue in Merchantville, New Jersey. Brother Jacob C. Ferris served as vice-president of the company until his death in 1904. Charles W. Helmbold, a long-time associate and secretary of the company, became vice-president. The shoe business incorporated in 1916, and Isaac Ferris turned day-to-day operations of the firm over to new managers. The Isaac Ferris Jr. Company had grown to the point of having another factory in Cleveland, Ohio and one in Philadelphia. In November of 1920 the building at 50 North 2nd Street was sold to the Campbell Soup Company, with shoe manufacturing operations shifted to the Philadelphia plant. Isaac Ferris retired from the shoe business in 1923. He had concentrated on banking for quite some time, serving as director of the Camden National Bank and its successor, the First Camden National Bank and Trust, and the Security Trust Company. He also served on the Delaware River Bridge Joint Commission, the predecessor of the modern-day Delaware Rive Port Authority, when it shepherded through construction of what today is known as the Ben Franklin Bridge.

After an illness of three weeks, Sarah Yeager Ferris died in October 14, 1933. Isaac Ferris Jr. remarried in 1934. He died at home on December 9, 1940. His second wife, the former Mrs. Mary Haun, joined him on February 8, 1942.

Camden National Bank
Camden, N. J.

FRANCIS C. HOWELL, President
HERBERT C. FELTON, Vice President
ELIAS DAVIS Cashier

Directors:

Francis C. Rowell        

John D. Glover 

Herbert C. Felton         

James W. Halley

Rudolph W. Birdsell         

John C. Danenhower 

Howard M. Cooper         

Dr. John W. Donges

Isaac Ferris     

Elias Davis

Philadelphia Office, Southeast corner 2nd and Walnut Streets
Discount Day, Wednesday 

Condition of Bank - March 7, 1916

Security Trust Company
301 Market Street, Camden, N. J.

JOSHUA E. BORTON, President
HENRY D. MOORE, Vice President.
C. H. POLHEMUS, Secretary and Treasurer 
WALTER T. PRATT, Assistant Treasurer
HOWARD M. POTTER, Trust Officer
THOMAS E. FRENCH, General Counsel

Directors:

Joshua E. Borton        

Henry D. Moore 

David Baird Sr.         

Harry Reeves

Howard Carrow 

Thomas W. Synnott

John F. Harned 

Isaac Ferris Jr.

Cooper B. Hatch

Dr. Paul Mecray

Francis C. Howell

Townsend Stites

S. Stanger Iszard

J. Spicer Leaming

Valentine Kissling

Anthony Kuser

Condition of Bank - March 7, 1916