Willard Foster Babcock who for 56 years conducted a woodworking and lumbering business here, passed away Tuesday at Rome City Hospital where he had been a patient since September 3 after suffering a stroke. He was 84 years old. Born August 20, 1859, at the Babcock Mill on Little River, Camden, he was the eldest of three sons of Ogden E. and Charlotte Foster Babcock. He learned surveying from his grandfather, who came to this locality to establish a lumber business, and followed this profession during his active life.
While attending school in the Lambie district of Hillsboro, Mr. Babcock met Minnie Ann Fox, whom he married November 10, 1880. She passed away January 15, 1942. He was a student also of Camden Union School, as the High School was then known, and afterward taught at the old Lambie School. After learning the surveying profession from his grandfather, he later bought the instruments from him, paying for them with wood which he cut and delivered. During his active life he did considerable survey work in the Townships of Camden, Amboy, Florence and Vienna.
Mr. Babcock was a member of the Methodist Church since 1886. He taught a class in Sunday School, and served as a member of the official board.
Funeral services will be held at the home of his son, Clarence, Second Street, Friday afternoon at 2:30, in charge of J. Floyd Smith the Rev. W. H. Bradley officiating. Interment will be in Forest Park Cemetery, with Charles Fox, Clarence Moses, T. Thomas Smith, Dr. J. T. Prichard, Howard A. Herrman and H. Roy Orton serving as bearers.
Surviving are two sons, Erwin E., East Schodack, N.Y., Clarence, Camden; and one daughter, Mrs. Erwin J. Brown, 116 Malcolm St., Syracuse; five grandchildren, three great- grandchildren, and several cousins.
Mr. Babcock's ancestors came from England to Westerly R.I. , in 1640, Willard being of the ninth generation of the Babcock family living in this country. His mother was a daughter of Adin H. Foster, a school teacher and surveyor who came from Schaghticoke, N.Y., to settle in Amboy early in the 19th century.
In 1885 Mr. Babcock purchased in Camden village the plot of land on the sought side of Mexico Street extending from what is now Voorhees Avenue to the Churchill property, and south about half a mile to the Sanford property. At that time there were two houses at the top of the hill on the south side of Mexico Street, but no houses between these and the stone house now the Bosshart property. the E.C. & N.R.R., afterward the Lehigh Valley, had not yet come to Camden and all that are now reached by Voorhees Avenue was pasture and wood land.
After purchasing the plot Mr. Babcock Built and occupied the house which is the second west of Voorhees Avenue on Mexico St. Soon after locating in the village Mr. Babcock entered into a partnership with Charles Wilson, a cooper of Taberg, to manufacture butter tubs. The factory was the erected and machinery installed.
The only entrance to this business place at the time was through the yard of the new house on Mexico Street and across a swamp on a narrow causeway just east of the old spring house under the elms.
In 1890 and 1891, Voorhees Ave. was graded and lots on the west side sold off from the Babcock property. After several months the firm of Wilson and Babcock was dissolved, Babcock becoming the sole owner of the business in 1890.
The coming of the cheese factories and the shipping of milk to the cities took away the demand for tubs and other wood working was taken up. For several years thousands of corn boxes were made for the packing concerns of Camden and vicinity. Soon after the turn of the century a saw mill was added and quite an extensive business in lumber and general mill work has since been carried on. In the nineties Mr. Babcock built four houses, one on Mexico Street and three south of the factory on Voorhees Avenue.
A house was built in Syracuse by him and his son in 1916 and two in recent years on upper Second Street. From this record it would seem that W.F. Babcock has conducted business on this same site continuously, the longest of any business in Camden.
Throughout his long life he was actively interested in the Methodist Church. As a young man he was a member of a congregation which held religious services in the Lambie school house. From there his membership was transferred to the First Methodist Church of Camden where he has been a regular attendant for over 58 years. He never countenanced the use of alcohol in any form and for many years was a staunch supporter of the Prohibition Party.
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