Jesse
Seybold

JESSE D. SEYBOLD was born in New Jersey in February of 1892 to Charles and Lizzie Seybold. The exact date is unclear, records show him being born alternately on February 2, February 7, and February 8. His grandfather, John D. Seybold, had come to Camden before 1850 and had conducted a bakery at 303 Market Street into the 1880s. The bakery and the adjacent home of Dr. Alexander Mecray at 305 Market Street were both razed to make way for the Security Trust Building, built in 1886. Jesse Seybold's father, Charles Seybold, was also a baker. He was living at 562 Clinton Street by 1880. Jesse Seybold's older brother George, was born in 1875. When the Census was taken in June of 1900, Jesse Seybold and his sister Ellen were living at 706 Clinton Street with his older brother, who then was working as a milkman.

By 1910 Jesse Seybold had gone out into the world. The Census of that years shows that he was working as a railroad fireman and boarding at the house of a young widow, Mrs. Viola Miller, at 920 South 6th Street. In the early 1910s his brother George V. Seybold or a relative, George B. Seybold, opened a business at 426 Mount Vernon Street which was known as Seybold's Horse Exchange. Jesse Seybold had gone to work there by June of 1917, when he registered for the draft. He joined he United States Navy, reaching the rank of Seaman Second Class before leaving the service.

After serving in World War I he returned to Camden NJ, and by the time of the 1920 was renting a home at 923 St. John Street. Living with, and listed in the census as a housekeeper, was 27 year-old Jennie Buzine. She would reside with Jesse Seybold through at least 1947, and they eventually did marry. In January of 1928 he also had a boarder, former boxing referee Newton Blanchard. They would remain friends long after Blanchard wed and moved to Collingswood a short time afterwards.

The 1920 Census reveals that Jesse Seybold was working as a foreman at a stable. He remained in this trade through 1930, at which time he had become the proprietor, and was also engaged in buying and selling horses. He also operated a saloon at 818 Broadway from 1924 through 1929, according to the Camden City Directories for those years. By 1930 this bar was known as the Peek In Inn, but it is unclear as of this writing whether Jesse Seybold had an interest in the business. He was living on St. John Street and stated for the Census that his occupation was horse dealer.

Jesse Seybold came to the attention of the public twice in 1936. On March 8 he was held up and robbed of $18.00 by Harvey Arnold, who was captured after a short chase in which Jesse Seybold took part. Jesse Seybold turned up in the newspapers again when on August 5 he was arrested for operating a speakeasy out of his home on St. John Street. His old friend Newton Blanchard posted his bail. Jesse Seybold was fined $200 for this offense on August 8, 1936. He apparently had been involved in speakeasies as far back as 1924, according to the arresting officer, John V. Wilkie.

When he registered for the draft in the spring of 1942, Jesse Seybold was working for the Works Progress Administration. The days of the horse in Camden apparently were pretty much over. By 1947 horses and stables no longer rated a category in the "yellow pages" of the City Directory. Former political leader Mikey Brown was operating one on Van Buren Street in the Centerville neighborhood of Camden which may well have been the last one left in the city.

Jesse Seybold appears in the 1947 Camden City Directory, still living at 923 St. John Street. At that time he was working for the Camden City Fire Department.

Jesse D. Seybold died on June 6, 1955. He was buried at Beverly National Cemetery in Beverly, New Jersey three days later. Mrs. Jennie Buzine Seybold passed away on July 20, 1963 and was buried next to her husband.

World War I Draft Card

Camden Evening Courier - December 11, 1930