Camden People - James Halsey Hunt

JAMES HALSEY HUNT served with the Camden Fire Department in the late 1870s and 1880s, as an extra man with Engine Company 1. He was the older brother of George Sawyer Hunt, who served as stoker and as the hose cart driver for Engine Company 1 in the same years as James Hunt served.

James H. Hunt was born in New Jersey around July of 1849 to Isaac and Sarah Hunt. His father passed during the 1850s. Sarah Hunt and her sons James and George were living in Trenton at the time of the 1860 Census. George Hunt appears in Camden's South Ward in the 1870 Census, living with his mother Sarah Hunt at the home of his uncle, Jason Sawyer. James H. Hunt, however, does not appear to have been living in Camden in 1870. He may have been living in Washington Township. James and Mary Hunt lived in Gloucester City for a few years in the mid 1870s before coming to Camden. By the spring of 1877 James H. Hunt and family were living with his brother George Hunt at 416 Pine Street.

James H. Hunt was working as a carpenter and George S. Hunt was working as a laborer when they were appointed to the Camden Fire Department in April of 1877. When the Hunt brothers were reappointed in 1878, brother fire fighter Edmund Shaw also was living at 416 Pine Street. By April of 1879 James H. Hunt had moved to 819 Kaighn Street, a small street that was renamed Dauphin Street in January of 1882. The Hunts stayed at this address into at least 1883. At the time of the 1880 census the family included children Isabella Hunt, George H. Hunt, Theodosia Hunt, Sarah E. Hunt, and Anna Hunt. Another son Eli Morgan Hunt, was born in 1882, and a daughter, Catherine, came in April of 1885. The City Directory for that year gives an address of 255 Pine Street.

James H. Hunt in time became involved in local politics, and over the years held a number of positions. By 1887 James H. Hunt, then the constable, and his family was living at 316 Line Street. He also served as the Fish Warden in 1894.

James H. Hunt and family were still at 316 Line Street when he passed away on March 21, 1910.

James H. Hunt's sons George H. Hunt and Eli M. Hunt, and his nephew, brother George S. Hunt's son, John Albert Stockton Hunt, all had careers with the Camden Fire Department. James H. Hunt's daughter Theodosia Hunt Conaghy was also politically active and was the matron at the Camden County Jail from 1923 until her retirement in 1950. Another nephew, George S. Hunt's son, David Hunt, was a member of the Camden Police Department in the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s. He served as a detective for much of his career.

Camden Post
May 14, 1890

Benjamin Braker - Annie Eckert
James H. Hunt - Pavonia Street

Back in the 19th century, bottling and canning was in its infancy. If you wanted to drink, you did so at a tavern. That was all well and good for afternoons and evenings out, but less ideal for those hoping for a take-away option. Enter: the growler. In those days, the technology was less refined. Growlers consisted of metal pails that were slopped out of side windows and toted away for at-home or lunchtime drinking. And the bizarre name? The story goes that day laborers would pay neighborhood kids a few cents to run and grab a bucket of beer for them whilst on their lunch breaks, a process that came to be called "running the growler" because of the workers' rumbling stomachs.