Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Mary Van Meter - $6.00 per Week

Her paycheck for the week was about $6.00. Or would have been had she lived in Philadelphia and worked at a blanket factory but she lived and worked in Camden, New Jersey. There were at least 80 factories in Camden in 1860 several of those were woolen Mills. Maybe she spun wool at Henry Bottomley's Camden Wool Mills,  maybe she spun cotton, flax, or silk at a different Mill. She is Mary Van Meter, born 30 May 1835 in Pittsgrove, Salem, New Jersey she is 25 and living in Union Township, Camden County, New Jersey with her parents and siblings. She is my 1st Cousin 4x removed. 

Union Township has since been dissolved. It was formed 15 November 1831 and was established in Gloucester County but in 1844 it became one of the first towns in the newly formed Camden County. On 6 March 1855  Centre Township was formed from some of Union Township and in 1868 Union disappeared into what became Gloucester City

In 1870 Mary Van Meter is now Mary Reese and the mother of Lillie who is 4 and step-mother to Annie who is 10. She is no longer working at the mill but is still living in the home of her parents. 

202 Market Street in Gloucester, New Jersey is the address where Mary Reese her husband William Reese and 3 children live in 1880.
Mary is keeping house and William works at as a Stone Cutter. She now has a son named William who is 12. Both Anne and Lillie work at a print works shop.

According to the family Bible Mary Reese dies 5 May 1884.

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