I’ve been updating the blog and uploading posts from 2010. It’s slow work because I can’t figure out how to turn old Movable Type html files into a file the importer can read. Luckily I found what I was looking for in another spot.
I was looking for Mrs. Flynn. In 1920, Mrs. Rosa Lee Smith Flynn rented 1735 New Jersey Avenue NW, living there with her three adult daughters, Ethel, Edna (Florence?) and Frances and two sons, George and Charles.
She was a widow at the time (1920), as her husband Zachariah Taylor Flynn died in 1907. They had twelve children. Roley (1879-1905); George (1880-1929); Jane; Henry (1883-1969); Zachariah (1885-1961); Daisy (1887-1951); Benjamin (1888-1953/1962?); Ethel (1890-1924); Florence Edna (1892-1922); Frances (1890-1961); William (1898-??); and Charles (1899-1984).
Prior to living in the District of Columbia and Zack’s death, they were on a farm in the town of Scott in Fauquier County, VA. In 1910, she lived at 112 P St NW, in Truxton Circle. Son George, aged 29 worked as a bookkeeper for a dairy. Maybe the dairy on the 1600 block of 1st St NW? George (bookkeeper), Daisy (a dressmaker), and Edna (clerk in dry goods shop) appear to have supported their mother and younger siblings, Frances and Charles.
When we arrive at 1920, with the exception of Francis, her adult children are all working and supporting her.
I asked myself the question of why was there a 100% racial change on that stretch of New Jersey Ave from 1920 to 1930 and the Flynns provide a mundane answer. Life went on.
The African American Keasleys, who appear as Krasley in the 1930 census, had a loan with trustees W. Wallace Chiswell and Harry A. Kite in October 1920. So I am lead to believe that not too long after the census, Milton C., a dining car steward, and wife Mary S. Keasley purchased the home for themselves and their family.
In 1930 the Black Americans who lived at 1701-1709, 1713-1719, 1725-1729, 1733-1739 New Jersey Ave NW were owners. Just sampling a few it appears they bought around 1920. I’ll have to investigate this at a later date. Right now I want to focus on 1735 NJ Ave NW (there’s a gas station there currently).
According to a 1934 deed, Milton C. Keasley died April 28, 1932. In the deed Mary transferred the property via Phoebe E. Tyrrell (who has appeared on other TC docs) to herself and Maggie L. Christian (formerly Johnson). In a later trust (loan doc) with the Washington Loan and Trust Company, Mary Keasley is also identified as Mary Keasley Nichols. In a 1945 set of deeds, Mary Keasley Nichols died May 29, 1943 and Ms. Christian replaced Nichols on the property with her niece, Doris J. Coles (later Doris J. Beasley).
Doris Jaunita Coles Beasley (1922-1996) was the daughter of James L. Coles and Estelle Keasley. Estelle was Mary and Milton’s daughter. In 1910, 26 year old dressmaker Maggie Lewis, Milton’s sister-in-law lived with the family, along with his brother in law, a cousin and a couple of lodgers. It is highly likely that Maggie Lewis is also Maggie L. Christian, as a 36 year old Maggie Lewis married a 64 year old widow, Thomas Christian in 1919. From a 1901 marriage certificate Mary S. Lewis married Milton Keasley, thus confirming that Mary and Maggie were sisters. Maggie’s 1961 obituary in the Evening Star also confirms it.
Returning to the question of why the Flynns were no longer on New Jersey Ave in 1930, it seems a little obvious. Well besides most of them being dead in 1930 (Rosa Lee d. 1929, Ethel d. 1924, Edna Florence d. 1922, and George d. 1929), the surviving NJ Ave Flynns moved on. Charles Flynn in 1930 was a US government lawyer living in Atlanta Georgia, with his wife who was working as a secretary for a taxi company. Frances was caring for Edna’s 7 year old daughter (?), Louise Virginia Stanger (later Dyer Poehler) in 1930. A stronger reason appears that the Keasleys purchased 1735 NJ Ave in 1920.
Life went on. The Flynn family were renters, and renters move around. In addition to dying. The Keasleys had the opportunity to buy a house and took it. And the house stayed in the family for many decades. The only trend it is pointing to is that of opportunity. The opportunity for Black families to own a home.
End note:
Florence Edna is recorded as dying in mid-December 1922 at 5526 13th St. The one mention of Earl Stanger in DC has him at 5526 13th St NW in the city directory. On Louise Virginia Stanger Dyer Poehler‘s death certificate, Earl Stanger and Edna Flynn are her parents. A mention of her death in the Evening Star has Edna as Edna Flynn Stanger. Florence Edna left in her will everything to Frances and there is a mention of an Earl S. Stanger as an absent witness. It is possible they moved from NJ Ave to the 5500 blk of 13th St NW.