Way Before There Was Uber, There Was… Jitney Alice
Alice in 1910 at the age of 19.
On almost any busy summer weekend night here, it would not be unusual to see more than 20 Uber or Lyft vehicles scurrying around, taking riders to destinations both on and off the island. Now, imagine Seven Mile Beach more than 80 years ago. This, at a time when many visitors still arrived by train from Philadelphia or Camden. Most streets were unpaved, simply covered with oiled dirt or sand. Personal automobiles were considered a luxury.
Despite the lack of automobiles on the island, seeing a 1912 Ford Model T zipping around the island at all hours of the day or night only 11 years after the first car was manufactured in the United States would have been a normal sight. Piloted by a single mother of three, she would gladly take you to your desired destination. Avalon, Stone Harbor, Wildwood, Cape May Court House – she was game for wherever you wanted to go.
Perhaps one of the earliest versions of Uber? No, this was 85 years before the worldwide leader in ride sharing ever accepted its first pickup. No, this was not Uber, nor an early version of Lyft. This was Avalon’s very own Jitney Alice. A hardworking single mother, pioneer and savvy businesswoman.
She was born Alice Hamil Emerson at 42nd Street and Landis Avenue in Sea Isle City on Saturday, April 25, 1891. Alice was the second child of Walter and Alice Emerson, two thirty-somethings building their family as early pioneers at the Jersey Shore. Her father was a barber by trade, born and raised in Pennsylvania. Her mother, a native of Ireland, was a homemaker and naturalized citizen who emigrated to the United States in 1873.
Not much is known of Jitney Alice’s younger years. At 19, according to a family history, she met a railroad fireman vacationing in Atlantic City by the name of Alexander Klinshaw. They were married in 1910 in Klinshaw’s hometown of Pittsburgh. They appeared for a marriage license, and as was the custom, advertised their intent in the Pittsburgh Post on Oct. 21, 1910. Alice and Alexander had three children: Alexander, born in August 1911, and Walter, born in July 1913, both in Atlantic City; and finally, John, born in November 1915 in Pittsburgh.
The Klinshaws spent at least four years living at several addresses in Atlantic City. Alice made sure that that the family attended church and had the boys baptized in St. Paul’s Methodist Church in Atlantic City. Again, according to a family history, shortly after John’s birth, Alexander abandoned Alice and the boys. He even resorted to placing a disposition legal advertisement in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette discharging all debts except those he personally contracted. It appears there were issues in the Klinshaw household. It’s not known how often, if ever, Klinshaw saw his sons after leaving. He died in 1936 in Buffalo, N.Y., apparently without Alice or his family.
Now a single mom, Alice moved her boys, first back to her parents’ home in Camden County and eventually to Avalon, where her father had a house that included a barber shop at 7th Street and Second Avenue in 1920. In order to support her boys, in addition to being a “female” barber herself (a designation used at that time), Alice worked as a domestic throughout Camden County, where there was much greater opportunity than at the Shore – especially in the winter months. Alice returned to Avalon every Sunday by train to see her mother and three sons. She often brought baskets of food left over from people whose homes she cared for. She would also bring cloth and made clothes and underwear for her boys, who like most locals, went barefoot from April through October. It is said that the bottoms of the boys’ feet became like shoe leather.
When Alex was 7 in 1918, Alice enrolled him in the Avalon School on 26th Street. With no bus, Alex would walk the 19 blocks to and from school, regardless of weather. Avalon Corson and Mrs. Peterson were the teachers in the two-room schoolhouse.
Needing to be more creative in supporting her family, Alice purchased her 1912 Ford Model T in 1923. It was a “touring car” complete with running boards, calcium carbide lamps, a crank starter, brass radiator, and leather curtains. Alice started her car service and became known as “Jitney Alice.” Although we can’t be sure, Alice might have gotten the idea for a jitney service while residing in Atlantic City, where the world-famous jitney service was already in place. It would be another 75-plus years before the Atlantic City jitneys that might have provided Jitney Alice with her inspiration would begin to serve her hometown and the Seven Mile Beach.
Alice realized that there was a need for a jitney service, especially in the summer season, and she risked a great deal financially in order to seize an opportunity to further support her family. You must give her a lot of credit. Keep in mind that Alice was a 32-year-old single mother of three in a town where the permanent population was probably less than 200. This was only three years after women’s suffrage was passed and on the cusp of the Great Depression. Not the easiest time for anyone, let alone a woman, to make it on their own. Alice never asked for help. Instead, she drove her jitney, worked as a barber, and cleaned homes as a domestic. Essentially, she did whatever was necessary to survive and support her family. Not an easy task ever – but especially in Cape May County in 1923.
Several years later, Alice’s father Walter, with assistance from a friend from Avalon, built Alice a home in Mount Ephraim, Camden County. Alex finished his schooling in the seventh and eighth grades in the Runnemede School.
Alice became widely known in Avalon and Stone Harbor as Jitney Alice. Her boys, too, became part of the thread of the island. Retired Avalon pharmacist Dan Keen remembers Walter as quiet and strong, “And quite a good ballplayer. We all wanted him on our team,” he related recently. Alice retained the family home in Avalon until her mother died in 1937. Now, the boys were growing up. Walter enlisted in the Army, and John and Alex both married. Sadly, things got no easier for Alice.
On Aug. 10, 1939, Alice remarried. She and Richard Maddock were wed in a church ceremony in Avalon. Shortly after they married, her new husband – who was employed as a hospital orderly at Cooper Hospital in Camden and Johns Hopkins in Baltimore – was taken ill.
While visiting Richard at a Philadelphia hospital, Alice took notice of a Philadelphia “home” address on a name card outside of his room. Before heading back to Avalon, Alice decided to pay a visit to the Philadelphia address. Imagine her surprise when she met the former Margaret Donaldson, now known as Margaret Maddock – at least since Oct. 31, 1936 – at the house. Three years before Richard married Alice while she was summering in Avalon, Richard had married Margaret in Philadelphia.
Alice wasted no time having Maddock arrested and charged with bigamy. He was arrested in Baltimore, where he waived extradition back to Cape May County and he was housed in the county jail until his hearing. Maddock pleaded guilty. Alice was granted an annulment after the conviction was presented as evidence in Superior Court in Bridgeton.
Difficult times continued. In 1945 Alice would lose her home in Mount Ephraim because of a false debt filed against her by an automobile dealer from Haddon Heights. Sadly, from that point Alice would lead what was described as a nomadic lifestyle for the rest of her life. As she demonstrated earlier in her life, Alice was always independent and never asked for help from her family. Alice did receive small financial aid from the government on behalf of her son Walter, who was “shellshocked” in the war and spent the rest of his life in veterans hospitals.
Alice’s death is no less mysterious than other parts of her life. Her family biography states that “She died on the street in Trenton in her late 90’s.” The State of New Jersey lists Alice’s death as March 23, 1988 in Barrington. Strangely, Barrington has no record of her death. And finally, there’s a federal Social Security Index that shows Alice’s death as taking place in 1988 in Audubon.
Although she was sometimes described as eccentric, Alice Klinshaw lived an amazing, independent life – accepting responsibility for her family and working hard to support it. Later in life, she would visit her sons and grandchildren weekly. She also faithfully made the weekly 180-mile round-trip trek to visit Walter in the hospital in North Jersey. “Courageous” is another word that was used by those who knew Alice. She displayed great courage throughout her life. Alice was also remembered as well-read, intelligent, and a shrewd businesswoman.
It’s said that when Alice passed away, that she had several hundred dollars in her petticoat, of which she wore many, and a possessed a healthy bank account.
Not to be forgotten, Alice Hamil Klinshaw, or Jitney Alice, is just one of the many diverse individuals who were early pioneers and contributed to the DNA of the Seven Mile Beach communities that we know today.
Editor’s note: In addition to new research, this article also includes facts from a life story of Jitney Alice by Alex Klinshaw given to the Avalon Historical Society in 1998. Research assistance also contributed by Mark Cavallo.