Landowner list of Sq 551

Property Owners of Truxton Circle- The Brungers

I’ve jumped around and I think I have all the multi-lot owners and the surnames that appear several times. Now we come to William C. and Annie C. Brunger, owners of lot 844 on Square 551, 210 R Street NW.

Since the Ancestry search (available via the awesome DC Public Library) gave me the right info straight out of the gate, I’ll start there first. Ancestry has these family tree things and the Brungers show up in the Reynolds-Smith family tree. The English born carpenter (later foreman), William Charles Brunger (1865- 1928) was married to Annie Caroline Wright (1865-1926), and they had 3 children (Berton William Brunger was born 1889 in DC – died in 1970 in FL; Lillian R Brunger – Leonberger 1893–1967 – also in FL; and Charles A Brunger 1894–1921). In his will he left his daughter Lillian (aka Mrs. F.J. Leonberger) 11 Kennedy Street NE. Berton was bequeathed 210 R St NW, in Truxton Circle. His son Charles was already dead and apparently childless, so nothing for him.

The 1900 Census has the Brunger family living on Sq. 551, but not at 210 R St NW. They are at 1637 3rd St NW in 1910 and 1920. I have discovered they are not on the TruxtonCircle.org Excel sheet for 1900. According to a city directory he lived at 11 Kennedy Street NE in 1926.

Image not foundSo on to the land records which go as far back to 1921. There we see the Brunger family owning lots H (later the Saunder’s house) and 17 (which includes lots 844 and 845). And despite thinking I figured out the land records and I’m back to being confused. A 1922 document has William and Annie selling lot 17 to George and Ethel Urciolo. Maybe that was lot 845. In 1933, Burton and his wife Hazel took out a loan from the Perpetual Building Association for $1,300 with lot 17 (maybe lot 844) and then sold lot 17 to Nora K. Zell in March 1934. Ms. Zell, later that month, turned around and sold the property to Charles B. Bowles (in paperwork as C.B. Bowles), husband to Sarah Edna Bowles.

In 1924 it appears the Brungers sell Lot H to Ethel Louise Thomas. Ms. Thomas, an African-American woman, took out loans of $2,500 and $3,000 to purchase the home. As far as I can tell, it appears these loans were from individuals and not a bank or lending institution.

Useless Addendum– I poked around the family tree and saw a bit more about Annie C. Brunger (nee Wright). She was born in England in 1865. Her mother died in 1866. Her father died a few years later in 1869 in Kent, England. Six year old Annie appears in the 1871 English Census as the orphaned niece to a London relative, James Cannan. At 15 years old she was at the Royal Patriotic School for Girls.