Camden People - John F. Kerby

JOHN F. KERBY was born in 1897 to John and Kate S. Kerby. At the time of the 1920 census, he lived with his parents and brothers William and George at 322 Federal Street in Camden. The elder Kerby ran a bicycle shop there, and John F. and William were working there at that time. John F. Kerby later went out on his own, business wise, and started his own bicycle shop, at Broadway and Pine Street, which unfortunately did not prosper, and the business failed. At the time of the 1930 census he was living with his wife Ruth, in a house they owned at 925 North 5th Street in Camden. The family, which included children John, Mary, and Elizabeth, later moved to 549 Bailey Street, where John F. Kerby ran a small bicycle business out of his home.

John F. Kerby was drowned in the Schuylkill River on January 7, 1938, an apparent suicide. He was survived by his wife, children, and his father, who at that time had a bicycle shop of his own at 322 Federal Street. He was also survived by his brothers George and William, who remained in the bicycle business in Camden at 322-324 Federal Street as late as the mid-1960s.

Camden Courier-Post - January 8, 1938