Property Owners of Truxton Circle- Ernst Hauser

Image not foundOkay, now that figured out the deeds and trusts and other property document stuff let’s dive in with Ernst Hauser, owner of lots C, D, & E. In 1939, the survivors of Ernest/Ernst Hauser sold the lots to E.M. Aiken Inc.

The lots C-E appear to be what is now Mt. Sinai’s rear parking lot. On the Baist map shown here, the addresses appear to be 233-237 Q Street NW.


The deed has helpful information. The first person mentioned is William E. Hauser (aka William Hauser) and we are told he’s single. After Ernest F. Hauser (who is married to Lottie E. Hauser) we get another single guy Harry Louis Hauser. Then we learn Ernest Hauser is dead. And Sophia E. Hauser, a life tenant, died March 26, 1935.

With that death date I can find Sophia or Sophie. Sophia Elizabeth (nee ) Hauser was born 3/23/1861 in DC . She was the mother of Harry Louis, Ernest Frederick, and William Ernest Hauser, the other people mentioned in the deed. According to the 1930 Census, her last census, she lived with her son Ernest and his wife their children (her grand kids) at 510 Central Avenue NE. It appears that address no longer exists. A WWII draft card for Ernest Jr. has them at 510 Edgewood St NE. In 1910 the Hausers (sons and in-laws) lived at 237 Q Street NW, which is on square  0551. In 1920 it was just Sophie and Ernest (the father and her husband) on Q St NW.

Ernst or Ernest Hauser , was born to German parents Lisette (nee Hosner) and Jacob Hauser 9/21/1862 and died November 14, 1928 in Washington DC.  He married Sophie Elizabeth Dahler May 3rd, 1885 at Concordia Lutheran Evangelical Church in DC. Looking at the census we can see that his family were old-timers as 237 Q Street NW was his and his parents home in 1880. He was a 17 year old gardener then. Move up to 1900 and Ernest is still at 237 Q St NW, and still a gardener but we now know he works for the Department of Agriculture. He lived there with his widowed mother, his wife and their three kids, Ernest, Harry and William.

Because of Ernest Jr.’s draft card and the sale of the property in 1939 we know the family moved to NE DC. The family had been in Truxton Circle for over 50 years. By the time this ethnically German family moved Truxton Circle had changed from a racially and ethnically diverse neighborhood to a more African American neighborhood.