Carl F. Kellman
Carl F. Kellman was born in 1894 to parents Louise D." Lulu" and Carl L. Kellman. He was the eldest among his siblings, Helen, Frederick, and Alma. Carl L. Kellman, originally from Germany, immigrated to the United States in 1891, where he met and married Louise, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1870.
The Kellman family relocated to Camden around late 1899 or early 1900. Although they are not listed in the 1899 Camden City Directory, the 1900 census shows them residing at 2919 High Street in East Camden. Carl L. Kellman worked as a maker of surgical instruments, and his younger son Fred would later become a toolmaker.
Carl Kellman attended the public schools in Camden, with the James A. Garfield School being the closest one to his home on North 29th Street and Cramer Street. The family actively participated in Grace Presbyterian Church, located on North 27th Street and Garfield Avenue in Cramer Hill, just beyond the railroad tracks. Carl attended Sunday School and later joined the Young Men's Bible class there. It was likely through the church that he became friends with the Skillen sisters, Bessie and Bertha. Bessie Skillen served as a Sunday School teacher at Grace Presbyterian in the early 1910s, and their mother maintained a long-standing friendship with Lulu Kellman.
Demonstrating artistic talent, as shown in the accompanying drawing, Carl Kellman found employment in the Art Department of the Ketterlinus Lithographing Company in Philadelphia. The company specialized in publishing posters and art prints, examples of which can be seen on The Philadelphia Print Shop, Ltd. website.
Tragically, Carl Kellman was shot and fatally injured during a robbery a few blocks away from his home while returning from a church carnival on October 13, 1912. He passed away the following morning. Three individuals were arrested in connection with the crime, and two of them were tried, convicted, and sentenced to prison for the murder.
The Kellman family continued to reside on High Street for a considerable period. Mrs. Lulu Kellman remained there until the early 1940s, while her husband, Carl L. Kellman, had passed away in 1936. Helen, Carl's sister, married Captain Howard Meyer, an esteemed aviator who served with the United States Army in France during World War I. Carl's younger brother Frederick married and lived for many years in Pennsauken, not far from their childhood home.
