Amanda Alloway

MRS. AMANDA ALLOWAY was born in New Jersey in November of 1843, according to the 1900 Census. By 1863 she had married Joseph Alloway. A son, Charles Alloway, was born in December of 1863. Another son, Joseph came November 22, 1865, and there was also a daughter, Ida May, was born around 1867. By the time the Census was taken in 1870 the Alloways had moved to Gloucester City, New Jersey. The 1872 City Directory shows the family at 901 North Front Street in North Camden. The 1878 City Directory shows them at 8 Pine Avenue in South Camden. The 1880 Census shows Joseph and Amanda Alloway and their three children still living on Pine Avenue, which was renamed Clare Street shortly thereafter. This street is one block long, running from Pine Street south to Division Street between South 3rd and South 4th Streets. Joseph Alloway worked as a carpenter. The 1890 and 1896 City Directories show Joseph and Amanda Alloway living at 510 Division Street. The 1898 City Directory shows that Amanda Alloway was now a widow.

Upon the death of her husband, Amanda Alloway had to find a way in which to support herself, and she did so by becoming the housekeeper to Charles H. Ellis Jr., who had a grocery store at South 5th and Berkley Streets, and advanced from a seat on the Board of Education to a seat on City Council, then to a full-time job as Deputy Collector of Taxes for the City of Camden. By the time the 1898 City Directory was compiled she had taken up residence at the Ellis home at 915 South 5th Street, Camden, New Jersey, and resided there until at least 1914. Charles H. Ellis Jr. had remarried on April 30, 1909, and by 1914 the youngest of the Ellis children was in her early 20s.

The 1918-1919 Camden City Directory shows Amanda Alloway residing at 1456 Mount Ephraim Avenue with her daughter Ida May and her son-in-law Archibald Beckett, a railroad brakeman. She was still living with the Becketts as late as January, 1920. It is not known at this point when Amanda Alloway passed. Her daughter and son-in-law had moved from Camden by the end of 1923, and were in Gloucester City by the spring of 1930. Archibald Beckett was still in Gloucester City when he passed in 1937, Ida May Alloway Beckett was a Camden resident when she died in January of 1942.