Camden People - James Slomkowski

JAMES J. SLOMKOWSKI served for a short period of time as a member of the Camden Police Department in the 1920s.

James Slomkowski was born in Stockton, win what is now the Cramer Hill section of Camden, New Jersey on February 19, 1892 to Theophile and Walery Slomkowski. His mother Theophile passed away around 1903. Walery is also recorded in Directories and Censuses as Walter and Warren.

Prior to 1900 Street names in Stockton were fifferent than what they would be after the merger with Camden, and house numbers were not often given in the directories. It appears that the Slomkowski family was living on what is now North 25th Street as early as 1892. The 1900 and 1901 Directories give an address of 1242 North 25th Street. The 1902 City Directory indicates the family had moved to 1240 North 25th Street, where they maintained a presence until at least 1923.

The 1910 Census shows James Slomkowski living with his widowed father, Warren Slomkowski, at 1240 North 25th Street in Cramer Hill. He was the fifth of the six children living at home, coming after Lizzie, Joseph, Albert, Anthony, and before Stephen. Warren Slomkowski them worked as a garden laborer, the four sons worked in factories, with James and Stephen working at one of the nearby woolen mills.

When he registered for the draft, on June 5, 1917 James Slomkowski was living at 1240 North 25th Street in Cramer Hill. He was then working as a bartender for William E. Banks, who was then operating a saloon at 1251 North 27th Street. James Slomkowski served in the United States armed forces during World War I. He returned to his family in 1919 and was working as a boilermaker in a shipyard when the census was taken in January of 1920.

Camden appointed a number of veterans to the police and fire department is the early 1920s, and James Slomkowski was one of these appointments. He had been appointed to the Police Department by the time the 1921 City Directory was compiled.

In 1920 James Slomkowski married a widow, Katherine Banks, of 2922 Buren Avenue. She was the widow of Willim E. Banks, for whom James Slomkowski had worked for prior to going off to war. Katherine Banks was eighteen years his senior. They stayed at that address through 1928. James Slomkowski did not remain long with the police force. He had returned to work in the shipyards by the late 1920s.

The 1930 Census shows James Slomkowski working as a shipyard laborer and living at 1044 North 24th Street with his wife and step-granddaughter Catherine Ulrich, aged 5.

The 1940 Census shows James and Katherine Slomkowski at 1518 North 29th Street. Neither were working at the time the Census was taken. According to the Census he was disabled and unable to work.

James J. Slomkowski passed away shortly after the 1940 Camden City Directory was compiled. He did not register for the draft in the spring of 1942, and the 1943 City Directory lists his wife, then living at 1520 North 29th Street, as a widow.

World War I Draft Card