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.
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.”