William Grum

Reverend William Grum was born July 14, 1878 in Camden NJ to Benjamin and Caroline "Carrie" Grum. His early years were spent at 215 Market Street, where his father had a confectionary. The family had moved to 544 Vine Street by 1900, Benjamin Grum worked then as a letter carrier, a position he would hold until his retirement in the 1920s. William Grum married in the early 1900s. His wife, the former Lena Purdy, bore him two children, daughters Lena and Beatrice. Benjamin and Carrie Grum. were still living at 544 Vine Street in April of 1930 when the Census was enumerated. Mrs. Grum remained at the address after her husband passed, and was still living there in the fall of 1933.

By 1920 William Grum had entered the ministry. He pastored at the Kaighn Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church in Camden, and at the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Gloucester City NJ, where he was stationed when the Census was taken in January of 1920. The family home was at 335 Main Street. When daughter Beatrice Crum graduated from Camden High School in 1923, the family was back in North Camden, living at 547 Vine Street.

By 1930 Rev. Grum had been sent to serve at the Woodlynne Methodist Episcopal Church in Woodlynne NJ. The Grum family made their home in April of 1930 at 2220 Woodlynne Avenue, the corner of Woodlynne Avenue and Linden Street, in Woodlynne. Sadly, Reverend Grum died suddenly while visiting his mother at the family home at 544 Vine Street in 1931.

A talented musician, singer, and composer of religious music, his best known composition perhaps is the hymn "Victory Ahead", written in 1905. Reverend William Grum also had talent as a painter. He had completed a large painting, "The Old Rugged Cross", which stood 15 feet wide by 18 feet tall, shortly before his death. The painting was presented to the Bible class at the Kemble Methodist Episcopal Church in Woodbury NJ in the spring of 1932.

--www.dvrbs.com/People/CamdenPeople