Dateline: Camden, New Jersey – June 1895

 

1201 Liberty St, Camden, NJ Today – Home and Business of Bernhard and Mary (Lenhard) Oberst in the late 1800’s – [1]Google Maps Streetview – Jan 15, 2017

Following my quest to clean, expand, and document the tree, late last year I worked a strategy to just pick one branch and work solely along those leaves. I am first to admit that I get sidetracked easily (Squirrel!)  This month I am working back from my Mother’s Maternal Grandparents and I wanted to share a quick story on why I enjoy Discovering the Past.

My Mother’s, Mother’s, Mother’s Parents – Bernhard and Mary Oberst owned a small liquor store in Camden, NJ. In looking for obituaries in Philadelphia Newspapers last night on GenealogyBank.com I stumbled upon these three short notices in the following order.

Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)[2]Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Vol 132, Issue 156, 159 and 155, 1895; GenealogyBank.com
 
Wednesday, June 5, 1895
‘Over in Camden’
Bernard Oberst, of Louis and Liberty streets, was held in bail yesterday by Mayor Westcott for trial next Friday on the charge of selling liquor on Sunday.
 
Saturday, June 8, 1895
‘Over in Camden’
Saloonkeeper Bernard Oberst was acquitted yesterday before Mayor Westcott of a charge of selling liquor on Sunday.
 
Tuesday, June 4, 1895
George Jordan was fined $8.67 yesterday by Mayor Westcott for kicking in the door of Saloonkeeper Oberst, of Liberty Park, when the latter refused to sell him beer on Sunday.
 
It can be hard sometimes to find ‘free’ newspaper archives, they are out there.  Local libraries usually also have subscriptions to sites as do the LDS Family History Centers (I believe.)  Google keeps a newspaper archive [Link] as do some of the actual newspapers themselves.  I am trying to keep a list as I come across them on the Toolkit Page of this site.
The search functions on these papers can be somewhat sketchy though depending on the quality of the scan.  I believe most of these are indexed using Optical Character Recognition and I have spent time flipping day to day looking for a particular obituary.
It is these types of stories that make our ancestor’s real people and not just another date or place. If you are not looking in newspapers for these types of stories, I can not begin to tell you how rewarding it can be.

Notes   [ + ]

1. Google Maps Streetview – Jan 15, 2017
2. Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Vol 132, Issue 156, 159 and 155, 1895; GenealogyBank.com