Charles T. Humes, Jr.
Charles Taylor Humes Jr. was born in Camden, New Jersey, to parents Charles T. and Mary Humes. At the age of four during the 1880 Census, he was the eldest child in the family, with his younger brother George born in 1879. His father worked as a spar maker, a profession tied to the thriving lumber and shipbuilding industries in Camden. The Humes family resided at 907 Front Street during this period and remained there until at least 1889. In the late 1880s, Charles Sr. worked as a ship's carpenter for Rufus G. Wilkins, whose boat hire business was located near their residence, at the foot of York Street. The 1890-1891 Camden City Directory indicates that Charles T. Humes Sr. transitioned to become a ship's pilot, and the family relocated to 90 Erie Street.
Following in his father's maritime footsteps, Charles T. Humes Jr. eventually joined the Camden police force. By 1920, he had risen to the rank of Captain. During this time, he lived with his wife Lydia and son Charles L. Humes at 907 North 3rd Street, situated in the same North Camden neighborhood where he grew up. His brother George and his family resided nearby at 908 North 2nd Street.
In the 1920s, Captain Humes served in the Camden Police Department's traffic bureau. In the spring of 1928, he fell ill and spent a month at West Jersey Hospital. After a two-month recuperation, he returned to the police force.
When the census was taken in April of 1930, Captain Charles T. Humes had become a widower. His son, Charles L. Humes, had married, was working as a reporter, and resided with his in-laws at 203 Byron Street. Captain Humes, then 54, continued working as an inspector with the traffic bureau. Brother George, now the father of thirteen children, still lived at 918 North 2nd Street. By May of 1934, he had retired from the police force.
Captain Charles T. Humes passed away on November 4, 1937, while living at 4115 Myrtle Avenue in East Camden. In the 1947 Camden City Directory, his son Charles L. Humes, a journalist, was listed as residing at 2924 North Constitution Road in the Yorkship Square neighborhood of Camden. Daughter-in-law Nina Humes was then the secretary to Camden's Chief of Police. George and Ivy Humes remained at 908 North 2nd Street, continuing the family's longstanding connection to the area where the Humes brothers were born in the 1870s.
Charles L. Humes enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a reporter and columnist for the Camden Courier-Post.
