Local History: The Tragedies of the Gentzels

Census records and other artifacts at the Millburn-Short Hills Historical Society tell the tale of the Gentzels, who were grocers in Millburn.

The 1870 federal census for Millburn Township records the family of William E. and Mary Gentzel among the residents. German-born William was 36 years old, had a son also named William, and his occupation was "Grocer."

In the 1880 Millburn census William was still a "Retail Grocer," and he and Mary now had a son named John and a daughter Minnie.

A scrapbook in the collection of the Millburn-Short Hills Historical Society tells us more about the tragedies that beset the hardworking Gentzels. A circa 1902 news clipping notes, "John E. Gentzel, a grocer, of Millburn, thirty-two years old, died this morning at his residence on Millburn Avenue, after an illness of a year and a half. He was the son of the late William E. Gentzel, who four years ago was run over and fatally injured by his own wagon while delivering goods."

The Gentzels' grocery store was on Taylor Street before it moved to the corner of Millburn Avenue and Spring Street. The building is vacant now, but was most recently home to a dancewear store. The original and current building can be seen here in a composite photo from the society's archives.

On the windows of the original store we can see the words "Fine Groceries" and from an ad in the digitized 1886 newspaper, the Budget, online at the Millburn library Web site, we know that William E. Gentzel's store sold such sundry items as grain, straw and hay, crockery, paints, wines, cigars and window glass.

In addition to these bits of Gentzel memorabilia, the historical society has in its collection an 1893 ledger from Gentzel's, through which we can better understand the diet of our early Millburn ancestors.