James
P.
McEvoy

JAMES P. McEVOY was born in Camden on August 24, 1934 to Joseph P. McEvoy and his wife, the former Laura V. Hamilton. The 1940 Camden City Directory shows the family at 330 Warren Avenue. By 1943 they had moved to 1127 North 20th Street in Cramer Hill. The 1947 City Directory shows the family living at 453 Beideman Avenue in the Westfield Acres public housing project. The 1956 and 1959 New Jersey Bell Telephone Directories show the McEvoy family living at 931 North 20th Street in Cramer Hill.  

A Navy veteran of the Korean War, James P. McEvoy was appointed to the Camden Fire Department on November 3, 1969. He convinced his boyhood friend Don Detwiler to apply to the Fire Department, and in September of 1973 Detwiler joined the department.

James P. McAvoy resigned from the Camden Fire Department on April 23, 1982. He passed away on March 22, 1998 and was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

James McEvoy was the grandson of Camden minstrel show and vaudeville performer Joe Hamilton. His maternal aunt, Kay Hamilton, was a popular vocalist and stage performer on the East and West Coasts for many years. His great-grandfather, Garrett Cowls, was well known in Camden as a baseball player, manager, and promoter in the late 1800s.