Next on the list, as I go down it, is Sq. 551 and lot 850. Sigh, lot 850 is part of old lot 19, so this is going to be confusing. I’m just going to start with the land records and see where that takes me.
Searching for just lot 850, only two documents appear. The first is from 1947 between a Charles F. Wilson, trustee in Civil Action case file 38-115, and Embassy Dairy. The other is in 1948 for an easement/ right of way between the DC government and the Office of the Surveyor.
Another search with lot 0019 drags up the Leviovs, and Ms. Carrie Walker. The first document regarding the Kaysers is a deed from 1927 regarding the execution of the will of Esther A. Kayser by Caroline E.T. Knox and Elhanan Winchester Keyser. There are other relatives such as Harriet Esther Kayser Crowell, mentioned in the deed but it is oh so confusing with Kaysers and Keysers. To Ancestry!In Ancestry I find the will for Esther A. Kayser, executed by her sister Caroline E.T. Knox and son, Elhanan Winchester Keyser. She also names her two daughters Elizabeth Irving Kayser and Gertrude Alice Kayser. The probate date was in 1922. In the 1920 Census Esther A, Kayser was a 83 year old white widowed woman living at 1753 Q St NW in Dupont Circle. Her husband Benjamin Keyser/Kayser had died. They are both found in the 1860 Census where he was a clerk and a farmer. She also appears in the 1900 census at 2013 O St NW. So she has not lived in Truxton Circle.
I am very thankful for her son Elhanan a decorator turned architect, His unusual name and his continuing, in the 20th century, to live with his mother makes me certain I have the right woman. There was a moment in the 1880 census a 16 year old Elhanan is living with his grandmother Elizabeth G. Todd, at 224 C St NW. But then he leads me to another variation of his mother’s name, Esther Ann Todd (1836-1926). Under this other name I found her in the 1880 census living with her husband Benjamin U. Keyser, a bank examiner and their other children.
As a side note another child of Benjamin and Esther was William B. T. Kayser/Keyser (1862-1911), pictured here. He married Harriet Arathusa Murphey (1871-1920) and had one daughter Harriet Esther Keyser- Crowell (1896-1985), who is the Harriet E K Crowell in the very top image of this list of property owners. Harriet Crowell was a resident of New York, so she never resided in the TC.
The other owner mentioned in the top image, which is the 1933-34 General Assessment, Alice Gertrude Kayser/Keyser (1875-1964) in the 1940 census lived alone with her maid at 2900 Connecticut Avenue NW. She never married. Alice’s sister and other owner listed, Elizabeth “Bessie” Irving Keyser (1875-1945) also died single.
Going back to the land records the Kaysers only show up once, and that was for the 1927 deed. With the confusion that is Lot 19, heavens knows what happened. Maybe the civil case files for 1938 have a clue. If I were to guess, I’d say something happened so that the Kayers lost the small lot and Charles Wilson (or his employer) got control over it and sold it to Embassy Dairy.