An e-mail conversation sparked this page, about an interesting Jewish family who came to Camden in the 1920s. Enjoy, and please feel free to correct or add to what you see here.

Phil Cohen
September 14, 2008

The 1920 Census  shows  Max and Yetta Bush on Appletree Street in Philadelphia with their children- Joseph, Pauline, Samuel, Simon, Celia, and Naomi. Another daughter, Rose, had been a nurse, but apparently had died in the influenza epidemic that hit the Philadelphia and Camden area late in 1918.

Max Bush had come to the United States from Russia in 1891. He worked, saved his money, and in 1895 for Yetta and and son Joseph. The other Bush children were all born in New York, which indicates that the family did not move to Philadelphia before that time.

Shortly after the 1920 Census Max Bush brought his family to Camden. The 1924 City Directory shows that he operated a grocery store at 1017 Chestnut Street. The family lived on premises. Max Bush and family lived about two blocks from Congregation Sons of Israel, led by Rabbi Naftali Riff, and were active members of the synagogue. During the 1920s Joseph, Ruth, and Naomi all married and went into the world; by April of 1930 only Samuel, Simon, and Celia were still at home. Unfortunately, Samuel Bush, who had been working at one of Camden's shipyards, was badly injured and spent the rest of his days in a sanitarium. Celia soon married, leaving Simon at home with his parents. 

The grocery business had prospered, and in time Max Bush bought a fine home at 1503 Wildwood Avenue in the Parkside section of Camden. This was a pretty interesting block at the time. Next door at 1501 was Cantor Mickleman from Beth El. Other neighbors of note included Federal Judge Thomas Madden lived at 1509, Jacob Denbo at 1510, and William Barnett, who would head the Housing Authority of the City of Camden lived at 1511.

Simon Bush never married, he remained by his mother side until her passing. He was still living at 1503 Wildwood Avenue as late as the fall of 1959. By October of 1970 he had moved to Collingswood, New Jersey.

The other Bush children, Joseph, Pauline, Naomi, and Celia all remained in Camden and its environs.

The 1947 City Directory shows Joseph Bush and his wife Hattie living at 1415 Haddon Avenue, where he conducted a paperhanging business. This marriage produced three children.

Pauline Bush had married William Tapper Jr. in Philadelphia prior to the family's coming to Camden. There was one daughter from this marriage, which ended before the 1920s were over, named Ruth. Pauline was later in the women's clothing business.

Celia Bush married Meyer R. Vogelson. The Vogelsons lived briefly at 501 Beideman Avenue in the Westfield Acres homes in the late 1940s. There was one child of this marriage, M. Alan Vogelson, who became a lawyer and for 16 years a judge in New Jersey and for whom the M. Allan Vogelson Regional Branch of the Camden County Library System, located in Voorhees Township, is named.

Naomi "Nellie" Bush married Camden businessman George Schatz, who owned George's Auto Repair and later the Embers Restauraunt. There were two children, Kenneth, who died at three from mastoiditis, and Elaine, who married Sidney Sussman.