When we last left 1645 New Jersey Ave NW it was owned by Dr. Peter Murray and his wife Charlotte. They lost the house in 1932 to foreclosure. But on the upside, by relocating to New York City Dr. Murray’s career skyrocketed. As they say, if you can make it there….
So by a decade or so later, in April 1946 Charles, Sidney and Thomas Dyson became the new owners of 1645 NJ Av NW, buying it from the Washington Housing Corporation. By the 1950 census only Sidney Charles Dyson shows up as the sole resident of the house. It’s a short story so lets look into that.
When the three men purchased the property it appears they took out a loan with the institution that sold the property to them for $13,250 at 6% interest. In 1951 Charles Sidney Dyson sold his interest in the property to Sidney Dyson, his father. I’ll get into the family tree later. Right now I’m doing the land records. In 1954 there was another loan, $1,088.39 at 6% interest, from the Washington Housing Corporation where the three Dyson men all signed for it. Then it appears they defaulted on the debt from 1946 and in 1955 there was a trustees deed and the Washington Housing Corporation reclaimed the property.
Despite losing the house it appears it was still Sidney A. Dyson’s home after the foreclosure. 1645 New Jersey was listed as his home address when he died December 19, 1958.
The Dyson Family
Sidney Artis/Artic Dyson was born in Charles County, Maryland on October 4, 1883 to Sydney T. Dyson and Sophia Gillum. In the 1900 census he was one of nine children living in Nanjemoy, MD and working as a 16 year old laborer. In the 1910 census he was living in Piscataway, MD in PG county working in a saw mill with his wife Ella (nee Bowman) Dyson. They had three young sons, two of them were Charles Sidney and (Thomas) Roland.
On May 29, 1915, he was supposedly a widow and married Ms. Cenie/ Cenia Thomas. I couldn’t locate the family in the 1920 census.
In the 1930 he was a roomer living at 1848 5th St NW working as a taxi driver. He was married but not living with his wife.
He didn’t live with his wife as captured by the 1940 census. But he was living with his son Charles at 1645 New Jersey, as renters. They shared the property with the Edwards family. He was still a cab driver. His other son, Thomas R. Dyson was also working as a cab driver during the 1940 census. Thomas was living at 320 Maryland Ave SW with his wife Katherine, their son and a cousin. Earlier, in 1936 when he married (Katherine?) Lucille M. Robinson, he was living at 1511 Marion St (NW?), working as a truck driver. As far as I can tell, Thomas did not live on New Jersey Ave.
In Sidney A. Dyson’s obituary it read that he was the father of Mrs. Rhodis Owens, Mrs. Annitia Blair, Charles A. and Thomas R. Dyson. So two daughters I did not find in the record. He had a sister, Mrs. Sophie Green and a surviving brother George A. Dyson.