This is the last post for this square. I thought I had several posts for the even side of the 1700 block of 4th Street NW. I suspect some may be in the Moveable Type black hole of off-line posts. I won’t say they are missing. They are hibernating. I don’t have anything historical about the 400 blocks of Rhode Island or Florida Ave NW.
1700 block of 4th St NW. Taken Dec 14, 2005
I thought I had written about the homes on 4th St owned by Dr. Euphemia Lofton Haynes. But I can’t find those. So that’s another future post for another day.
I do have a untitled random post listing vacant houses on the block and neighboring block from 2003. And there’s an edgy post, regarding Cindy the Crackho. 4th St isn’t mentioned, but that was her general hangout block. She was very friendly.
I need to move on to other blocks. This is a good realization of the thin parts of my research, the parts I’ve ignored.
January 1952 Chapin B. Bauman and John R. Fletcher, trustees for Louise Gordon, “surviving” tenant after the death of John H. Gordon (d. 2/13/1914) sold the property to Sophie Comert who immediately sold the property to Robert H. and Marguerite Ellis.
November 1959 Robert H. and wife Marguerite T. Ellis sold/transferred the property to Eftehia and John Swagart, who immediately sold the property to A. Samuel Feldman.
March 1978 A. Samuel and wife Sara Feldman sold the property to Connie and his wife Gertrude A. Mason.
I was feeling lazy and was going to let Ancestry tell me who Louisa Gordon was. She was born in Germany June 1856. And then I discovered a mystery and I couldn’t pass up a good detective adventure.
I discovered that John H. Gordon was her third husband. Their 1902 marriage license had a 33 year old John with no previous marriages and a 45 year old Louise Voegler with two previous marriages. Prior to John H. Gordon, she was married to German born John A. Voegler. Prior to him, she (nee Steinmann??) was married to Frank York in 1885, who died at the age of 45 on September 6, 1890. Francis York was a bartender/ restaurateur. June 1892, Widow L. York married John Adam Voegler. Mr. Voegler died at the age of 44 on October 19, 1900 at his home at 407 Q St NW. John Gordon died in 1914 at the age of 45. The funeral was held at his home at 1601 New Jersey Ave NW.
I think I see a pattern. The three husbands die at the age of 44 or 45 and two years later she remarries (except after Gordon’s death). They all seemed to be in the saloon/ bar/ restaurant business. Was she a black widow? It is a little suspicious that in John Gordon’s will, which he wrote in 1902, he leaves everything to his wife.
Just briefly on Eftehia and John Swagart. Efethia was born Efethia Mary Basiliko. Yes, her brother was George Basiliko.
Property in DC is identified by SSL (Square, Suffix & Lot). The block is the square and in the case of this post, I am going to look at Square 507, the topmost block in the NW triangle called Truxton Circle. It is bounded by Rhode Island Ave NW, Florida Ave NW, 4th St NW, R St NW, and New Jersey Ave. Inside of it contains Richardson Pl. NW.
Property in DC is identified by SSL (Square, Suffix & Lot). The block is the square and in the case of this post, I am going to look at Square 507, the topmost block in the NW triangle called Truxton Circle. It is bounded by Rhode Island Ave NW, Florida Ave NW, 4th St NW, R St NW, and New Jersey Ave. Inside of it contains Richardson Pl. NW.
Realizing I have not done any house history for anything on Richardson Place, I decided I will try. Try.
So going to the DC Recorder of Deeds website I threw in an address, which I think still has a house on it, 408 Richardson Pl which is Square 507 lot 66.
October 1931 John H. and wife Mary E. Jeffries sell/ transfer the property to Herbert A . and his wife Beulah Simon.
January 1933 the Simons sell/transfer the property to the Washington Housing Corporation.
May 1933 the Washington Housing Corporation sell/transfer the property to M and S Company Inc.
April 1935 there was a foreclosure on the October 1931 loan to the Simons. Long story short the property is transferred to Arms and Drury Incorporated.
September 1939 Arms and Drury Inc sell lots 66 and 67 to Arthur E. and his wife Eunice G. Seitzinger.
January 1962 widower Arthur Seitzinger sells/transfers the property (along with lots 52-55, 67, and 805-808) to Virginia S. Collison and her sister Evelyn S. Gingell.
The Seitzinger family seems to be the more stable group of owners from 1939 past the 1960s as the sisters Virginia and Evelyn were Arthur and Eunice’s daughters. The Simons and the Drurys were part of the Washington Housing Corporation, so I am going to skip them. Then if possible, look at the Jeffries.
Arthur Edward Seitzinger was born April 26, 1895 in Philadelphia, PA son of William Michael Seitzinger, a factory machinist, and British born Mary Janenette Morse. He had one brother Harold. He served in World War I, in the Navy. Prior to being drafted, he worked as a druggist in Hudson Falls, NY. He was at an Navy Hospital in 1917 in Philadelphia and later transferred to the Marine Barracks at Quanitco from 1918-1919. In 1919 he separated from the US Navy (Pharmacist Mate 1) and in the District of Columbia, he married Eunice A. Gotwald.
Eunice Gotwald was born 1893/1898? in Washington, DC to government clerk Luther M. Gotwald and May/ Mae Harner. In the 1900 census, when she was 1, her parents were living with her father’s aunt Eunice Rider in DC. Eunice Gotwald got a license for her Crow (a car) in 1917. By the 1920 census her parents had divorced and she was living with her mother and two renters. Eunice worked as a typist for the government. Her mother owned 1860 Ingleside Terrace NW free and clear. Her mother died in that home in 1937.
The Seitzinger family were living at 1860 Ingleside Terr NW in the 1930 census. At that time Arthur, aged 34, was working as a Pharmacist at a drug store and Eunice, aged 31, was at home with their two daughters Virginia (4) and Evelyn (7) and her mother Mae (54). According to the 1931 city directory Arthur was a manager at People’s Drug Store. In the 1940 census the family was still at 1860 Ingleside and Arthur was still working at a drug store.
It is not until World War II that Arthur identifies as a real estate investor and how this pharmacist is connected to Richardson Pl NW. In his WW2 draft card he listed his occupation. By 1950, the Arthur and Eunice moved to Anne Arundel County, MD and he was retired. Real estate investments were a form of retirement income.
There’s no good place to put this, but the Seitzingers were White and nominally Christian. When Eunice died, her religion was listed as Protestant. Protestant is not a denomination. Also they were landlords and never lived in Truxton Circle.
Arthur Seitzinger owned a lot of property from 1936 until his death in 1962. I will just look at what was in Truxton Circle. On square 507 he owned lots, 52-55, 66, 67, 805-808, and Sq. W553, lot 0026.
Sq 507 in 1924
Lot 52 is also lot 805 and 405 Richardson Place NW
Lot 53 is also lot 806 and 407 Richardson Place NW
Lot 54 is also lot 807 and 409 Richardson Place NW
Lot 55 is also lot 808 and 411 Richardson Place NW
Lot 66 is 408 Richardson Place NW and
Lot 67 is 406 Richardson Place NW
Over on Square 553W, lot 26 is 306 P St NW.
Eunice died in 1960 and Arthur died in 1962, but not before he transferred the properties to his daughters.
So the Jeffries. They were in Baltimore, MD and this may have been an investment property for them as well. I did find a Rev. John Henry Jeffries married to Mary E. Jefferies living at 412 10th St SW, WDC during the draft for World War I. Rev. Jeffries was a preacher for the Methodist Church.
John Henry Jeffries was born August 21, 1875 in Monmouthshire, Wales/England to Welshman and coal businessman Joshua Jefferies and Elizabeth Jones. He had a younger brother Benjamin and sister Amy in the 1891 Wales Census. In the 1920 US Census he lived on 10th St SW, Washington, DC with his wife and their two sons, Irvin and Franklin, working as a minister to a nearby Methodist Church. However in 1923, for their passports, they claimed Baltimore as their place of residence.
Rev. & Mrs. Jeffries. Passport photo, 1923.
Rev. Jeffries was naturalized in Baltimore County in 1905. In 1903 he married Anna Mary Ely, daughter of James E. Ely of Appleton St in Baltimore at the Fulton Avenue Baptist Church. At the time Rev. Jeffries was a junior pastor of the Great Falls Circuit of the Methodist Episcopal Church. It appears Anna Mary died in 1904 and I don’t know when he married Mary Ellen Cloman. In 1939 he retired as the pastor of St. Paul’s Fifth Reformed Church at 200 S Broadway in Baltimore, MD. After a long illness he died in 1942 at John Hopkins.
It dawned on me that when I refer to the squares of Truxton Circle, the reader, you, might not have any clue as to what I am talking about. Home owners might be more aware of the squares but renters….. not so much.
Property in DC is identified by SSL (Square, Suffix & Lot). The block is the square and in the case of this post, I am going to look at Square 507, the topmost block in the NW triangle called Truxton Circle. It is bounded by Rhode Island Ave NW, Florida Ave NW, 4th St NW, R St NW, and New Jersey Ave. But inside of it contains Richardson Pl. NW.
I figure I’d throw down a sampling of what I may have written about each of the NW squares (I’m totally ignoring the NE / Non-Shaw portion of the TC).
I haven’t done a home or property owner post for Richardson Pl. That is something I need to remedy. And the only historical post I have is 1900 Census: 414 Richardson Court NW.
My very outdated website- TruxtonCircle.org has the 1880-1940 census info on it. The 1950 census came out in 2022 and I did not update it, because in 2002 I had a grant and was single. Now I have a family and no grant.
But I do need to get the 1950 census in a spreadsheet and use the data to write more stories about the history of the neighborhood. This will be slow plodding as a 1 woman show.
Although Truxton Circle is in Census Tract 46, it is made up of several enumeration districts and that is what I have to pay attention to when gathering data. Looking at the 1950 Census Map :
ED 63 covers squares 614 and 615
ED 64 covers squares 550 and 551
ED 65 covers squares 507 and 519
ED 66 covers squares E 509 and 520
ED 67 covers squares E 510, 521 and 552
ED 68 covers squares W 553 and 553
ED 69 covers square 616
ED 70 covers squares 617 and 618
ED 71 covers squares W 554, 554, and 555
I should do this for the other censuses ….censi? Because I swear I’m missing a street here and there.
I was thinking about house churches. One was the Phanelson Memorial True Church of God Apostolic at 244 P St NW. In the realm of Protestantism, they are in the Pentecostal neighborhood. Pentecostals are the more energetic version of the body of Christ.
244 P St NW.
This blog noted when the property was for sale in 2008. However, looking at Redfin and the Recorder of Deeds, it did not sell until 2021. Normally, I like to end my house/people histories in the 1970s and 1980s, because I’d rather not write about living people. But the Bishop for this church passed away in 2020.
In my last house history for 244 P St NW was for Frederick B. Turner, who sold the house to Ernest Clinton Winfield in 1947. Ernest Winfield sold the house in 1961 through Margaret Hartung who sold it to Efteia and John M. Swagart. In 1962 the Swagarts sold it to the Progressive Investors Corporation. In December 1973, the president of the Progressive Investors Corporation, James C. Brown and its secretary, Raymond K. Brown, transferred the property to James C. Brown. The next year, 1974 James and wife Mary sold the property to Verda Belle Braxton and daughter Elverda LaVerne Braxton-Thomas.
The Braxtons borrowed $19,950 from HUD, via Lawrence A. Epter & Associates. In 1978, via Lawrence Mitchell, the property was taken out of Verda Braxton’s name and placed solely in Elverda Braxton-Thomas’ name. In 2000 Elverda borrowed $78,000 from America’s Wholesale Lender (yes, that’s the name) which she satisfied in 2016. June 11, 2020 Elverda disclaimed her interest in the property as the surviving joint tenant, since the death of her mother that same year. It seems her mother willed the property to the Phanelson Memorial Apostolic Church Inc. No big deal, because Elverda represented the church when it sold the property to the current owners in 2021. Elverda died October 2022.
So who was Bishop Verda B.P. Braxton? She was born Verda Belle Phanelson May 18, 1927 in Powhatan, West Virginia to Alfred Phanelson and Bishop Esther Phanelson. I am reminded that Pentecostals are very open to female leadership and running churches can be a family business for non-hierarchical denominations. When she married Alphonso James Braxton in Roanoke, VA in 1949, she was working as a hospital maid and he a laborer.
In 1950, according to the census, she was living with her widowed mother in Roanoke with her newborn son Alphonso (aka Phanelson A. Braxton, died 2021). She had her 2nd child Elverda in 1953 in Washington, DC. According to a February 16, 1957 Washington Afro-American article she was a clerk-typist for the Walker-Thomas Furniture Co. when the company integrated its staff. Skipping a few years, public records have her address as 244 P St NW in the late 1980s and mid 1990s. So she qualifies to be a Black Home Owner of Truxton Circle. In her obituary, it reads “She served as Bishop and head of the church for over 38 years.”
