George
Getley

GEORGE E. GETLEY was the son of George Thomas Getley and his wife, the former Laura Zane. An only child,  he was born September 29, 1906 in Camden, New Jersey.  The 1906 City Directory shows Geoge Getley, a machinist, living at 629 Line Street in South Camden.

The 1910 Census shows George E. Getley and his parents living at 611 South 7th Street., near the corner of South 7th & Line Streets. He lived much of his life near this intersection. The Getleys were still at that adress as late as 1913. By the end of 1913 the family had moved to 653 Line Street.

George Thomas Getley registered for the draft on September 12, 1918. He was woring as a steamfitter and living at 653 Line Street when he registered for the draft that day. Sadly, he died shortly thereafter, very possibly in the world-wide influenza pandemic that ravaged Camden in the fall of 1918. The 1918-1919 Camden City Directory shows Laura Getley, the widow of George T. Getley, still residing at 653 Line Street in South Camden. Laura Getley and her son were still at that address when the Census was taken in January of 1920.

On March 1, 1928 George Getley was appointed to the Camden Police Department along with the following men, Francis Guetherman, August Riehm, William Schriver, Edward Shapiro, John V. Wilkie, Earl Wright, Edward Cahill, Marshall Thompson, Stanley Bobiak, Paul Edwards, Leon Feltz, Walter Vecander, Joseph Lack, Thomas Stanton, Otto Toperzer, and Frank Wilmot.  

The 1930 Census shows George Getley and his mother living at 610 Roberts Street.

By the spring of 1933 Officer George Getley was assigned to motorcycle duty. He spent the bulk of his career in law enforcement in this capacity.

In 1934 George Getley married Leah Mae Mattison, the daughter of Camden policeman Walter S. Mattison.  

The April 1940 Federal Census and the City Directory both show George and Leah Getley living at 337  North 38th Street in East Camden. His widowed mother was living at 705 Blaine Street and working at laundress at nearby Cooper Hospital. The census shows that two children had been born, Janet L., 4 and George E. Getley Jr., eight months.

George & Leah Getley's marriage foundered shortly before the compilation of the 1943 City Directory. The had been living at 3272 Remington Street in East Camden at that time. Leah Mattison Getley remarried after 1946, moved to Pennsauken by 1954, and later moved to Texas.

The 1947 Camden City Directory shows George Getley had remarried and was living at 572 Raritan Street in East Camden with his second wife, the former Anna Mae Jamison.

George and Anna Getley returned to South Camden in the late 1950s and 1960s, making there home at 649 Line Street. Christine Hickman, who grew up on the block recalls the following:  

He and his wife Ann lived at 649 Line Street and he used to come home with his motorcycle and sidecar, I guess on breaks or for lunch. I was about 12 or 13. I had heard he was sick when they moved and that is the year.  My family moved in 1969.  I loved them both and always thought of them when we moved away.

By the fall of 1969 they left Camden. The Getleys had moved to Cape May, New Jersey shortly before his death in November of 1972. Anna Mae Getley, last a resident of Berlin, New Jersey, passed away in October of 2003 at the age of 94. 

Camden Courier-Post - June 5, 1933

Jobless Men Aid Police to Trap Suspects 
Surround House in East Camden and Prevent Escape of Two

 Surrounding a vacant house at 331 Boyd Street which two alleged thieves had entered, a group of unemployed men yesterday cut off every avenue of escape until police arrived. 

The men, who were found hiding in a second floor closet, police said, gave their names as Barney Runyon, 26, and William Newcomb, 22, both of 2301 Mickle Street. 

A telephone call to the home of Patrolman Earl Stopfer, of 226 Boyd Street, by a resident in the vicinity of the vacant house, informed Mrs. Stopfer that two men were in the house. With her husband on desk duty at city hall, Mrs. Stopfer went to the home of Lieutenant Nathan Petit, 320 Boyd Street, but he was out. She then sent a group of unemployed men working on community gardens in the rear of her home to the scene and telephoned police. 

The unemployed men were circled about the house when a patrol crew, under Patrolman George Getley arrived. The two men already had dismantled plumbing fixtures, Getley said. They were committed in default of $500 bail each for a hearing in police court this morning. 

M.F. Middleton Felled by Gas In House Here
Former City Commissioner Found Unconscious in Old Home

With gas flowing from a pipe detached from a gas range, former City Commissioner Melbourne F. Middleton, Jr., was found unconscious in the kitchen of his former home at 538 Cooper street early Saturday night.

Middleton was reported last night to still be in a critical condition at West Jersey Hospital, where he was taken. The Camden Fire Department First Aid Squad worked over him for an hour at the house in a vain effort to revive him.

Middleton, a former president of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, and one time city councilman, was found by a son, C. Barry Middleton, and a friend, John Williams Rossell, who lives with the Middletons on Laurel road, Moorestown. Middleton was clad in overalls and two large pipe wrenches were lying on the kitchen floor near him.

Young Middleton said his father told his family he intended to take up some linoleum in the kitchen of his former home. Middleton first went to his office Saturday and then to St. Paul's Episcopal Church to a service. From there he was traced to his former home, which is owned by him.

When Middleton failed to return home for dinner at the usual time Saturday his son and Rossell decided to search for him. When young Middleton discovered his father's plight he notified police. Patrolmen Frank Cavallo, Henry Lutz, Walter Vecander and George Getley responded in radio cars and gave first aid until the fire department squad arrived.

The firemen worked on the former commissioner one hour with an inhalator before ordering his removal to the hospital, where they continued to work on Middleton for another hour but were unable to revive him. Hospital physicians continued working on him without success. They said his condition was critical.

Gas Man Called

At 4 p. m. Saturday the family living next to Middlemen's home telephoned Public Service that gas was coming from the house. Public Service sent a man to investi­gate but he was unable to get into the house.

Young Middleton and Rossell said they reached the house at 6.17 p. m.

While he was a member of the first city commission Middleton was director of finance but never missed responding to all alarms of fire. He was a member of the fire committee while serving in City Council as a member from the Second ward. In that capacity he also answered all alarms.

Members of the Firemen's First Aid Squad responding to the call were Deputy Chief William R. Harring, Hosemen Christopher Moll, William Spencer, Harry Haines, Russell Anderson, William Harry Deitz and Nelson Andrews.

City Detectives Benjamin Simon, Joseph Mardino and William Marter are investigating the cause.  

Many Thanks to Chris Hickman for her help in creating this page.