Month: June 2026

Truxton Resident- Benjamin Freeman 1893-1977- 1st, 3rd, R Sts NW.

Thousands of people have lived in the Truxton Circle neighborhood for over 100 years and they have thousands of stories.

Benjamin Wesley Freeman (January 8, 1893 – September 1977) was a lifelong Washington, D.C. resident and professional chauffeur who moved around the Truxton Circle and surrounding neighborhoods.
Born in DC on January 8, 1893, Benjamin was the son of Charles G. Freeman and Ella Wheeler. In the 1910 census, the 19-year-old lived with his parents at 1609 4th Street NW. He was listed as unemployed at the time but was probably busy with studies as he graduated from Cardozo Vocational School in 1913.

He married Emma Jackson in Washington, D.C., in 1914.

By his World War I draft registration, Benjamin had moved a short distance to 1609 3rd Street NW (consistent with the 1923 city directory).  The 1920 census recorded the couple, both age 27, living at 220 R Street NW with their three-year-old daughter, Dorothy. Benjamin worked as a chauffeur, an occupation he would maintain for decades. 

Afterwards, something, happened. In 1940 he was no longer with his wife and child. By 1940, he was a married lodger at 1407 1st Street NW, still working as a private-family chauffeur. Later, during the draft for World War II,  he lived on the 1600 block of 6th Street NW and listed his father at 131 T Street NW as his contact.
In 1950, at age 57 and widowed, Benjamin lived with his father at 18 Q Street NE. He continued full-time work as a chauffeur, reporting 48 hours the week prior to the census.
Benjamin’s father, Charles G. Freeman, had a notable public career. He worked for the District of Columbia courts for 49 years and earlier in his life had been employed by Alexander “Boss” Shepherd, the powerful 19th-century D.C. governor and public works leader who dramatically reshaped the city’s infrastructure. At the time of his death in 1951, Charles was recognized as the oldest Black mason in Washington, DC. Dorothy died at Casualty Hospital in Washington, DC on July 13th 1953, according to a family tree.
Benjamin outlived both his wife, daughter and his father. Social Security records indicate his last known residence was in Rockville, MD.

 

The goal of the Truxton Circle History Project is to find every man, woman, and child who lived in the neighborhood using every available source. The Project uses the 1880-1950 censuses, the power of Ancestry and every other online resource to discover and uncover neighborhood history.

Truxton Resident- Myra May Boteler Goodman (1878-1959) FL Ave, Bates, R, and Q Sts

Thousands of people have lived in the Truxton Circle neighborhood for over 100 years and they have thousands of stories.

Myra’s husband Alfred B. Goodman was featured in an earlier post. This one will focus on Myra as her own person.

Myra/Elmira May Boteler was born on June 15, 1878 to Florence Westbrook and Wilton W. Boteler in Washington, DC.  She first appeared in the census in 1880. She was described as a 2 year old White female who was the niece of the head of household. She apparently was left in the care of her uncle Orlando Robertson Boteler and his wife Mary. She lived with her cousins, Mary and Sarah, who were four and two years old, perfect playmates. Uncle Orlando worked as a carpenter, and apparently did very well for himself as the family had a White live in servant, Belle Taylor, at 1218 U St NW. Her parents seem to have skipped the 1880 census.

They did manage to give her a brother, Wilton Westbrook Boteler who was born in 1890.

By the next available census, 1900, Myra had already married Alfred in 1897 and were living together as husband and wife at 409 R St NW. She kept house while her husband worked. They had no children at the time.

But the children came later. The 1910 census revealed two of her surviving 4 children. First came Margaret Mae Goodman in 1902. A year later Mildred Grace was born in 1903, followed by Dorothy Louise in 1906. A few months after her sister’s birth, little Mildred died of a whooping cough and was buried at Glenwood cemetery. It should be noted the family lived at 116 Florida Avenue NW at the time of her death. And it is the residence where the family resided for the 1910 census.

In 1909 Myra gave birth to George W. Goodman, but he only managed to live a few months before joining Mildred in death. Despite these tragedies Myra managed to become a mother again in 1916 at the age of 37 to daughter Ruth Maxine.

A year later, Myra’s father, Wilton W. Boteler died. His last address was 133 Bates Street NW, at a Washington Sanitary Improvement Co (WSIC) home.

The 1920 census had the family still in Truxton Circle, but this time at 80 Q St NW. Her eldest was 18 and working while Myra continued keeping house with a 3 year old underfoot. Later she would be a half a block over at 76A Bates St NW in WSIC housing in 1930. In the WSIC unit, she lived with her husband, her 14 year old daughter and her bachelor brother Wilton.  It was more than likely they were all sharing a 2 bedroom unit.

From Kober, George “The history and development of the housing movement in the city of Washington, D.C” 1907

The unit got more cramped and crowded in 1940 as Myra had to live with her husband, her daughter Ruth, her son in law, Frederick Rudy, her 1 year old grandson, and her brother Wilton. Her husband Alfred died in 1941. Wilton vacated the small unit with his death in 1948.

By 1950 76A Bates Street was just the surviving women. Myra was a 76 year old widow with Alfred gone. Ruth was divorced raising 9 year old daughter Myra L. Rudy, while working at a soda fountain. Freddy Sr. and Jr. were elsewhere. Alive, but not at 76A Bates. As regular readers know, later that year the WSIC homes were up for sale to African American buyers and the Goodmans would need to vacate.

Myra finally died March 30, 1959. Her obituary appeared in the Evening Star:

Mrs. Goodman Lifelong Resident. Mrs. Myra Boteler Goodman, 80, a lifelong resident of the Washington area, died yesterday at her home in Kentland, Md.
Mrs. Goodman attended Maunday Thursday services at Epiphany Church, where she had been a member for 50 years.
The widow of a District painting contractor, Mrs. Goodman lived in Northwest Washington until she moved to Kentland nine years ago.
She leaves three daughters, Mrs. Ruth Rudy of 7602 Hawthorne street Kentland: Mrs. Margaret Lakin, 6400 Bells Mill road, Bethesda, and Mrs. F.C. Payne, Atlanta, Ga.

The goal of the Truxton Circle History Project is to find every man, woman, and child who lived in the neighborhood using every available source. The Project uses the 1880-1950 censuses, the power of Ancestry and every other online resource to discover and uncover neighborhood history.

Black Home Owners of Truxton Circle: Edmonia Brown-15 Q St NW

Just to stay in practice, I’m doing another property related history. And I am reminded why. In the 1930 census the address was 17 Q St NW (Square 614 lot 50), but the land records have Edmonia Brown at lot 49, which is 15 Q St NW.

On July 2, 1929 Martha F. Buckley of Virginia, and Maggie Polwarth of DC, both unmarried, flipped a foreclosed property they’d purchased for $1000, sold the home to Edmonia Brown for $2750. Mrs. Brown borrowed $2,900 from trustees. But then in July 1938 there was a foreclosure based on a 1923 loan taken out by a previous owner.

Edmonia Brown shows up once in the census in Truxton Circle and is difficult to locate in other areas. In 1930 she was a 38 year old widow living with her 50 year old mother Jennie Carter and her 7 year old niece Edmonia (Edmonica) Ireland. I did the math and it appears her mother was 12 when she bore Edmonia, if they were reporting their ages correctly.

Being that the house was foreclosed upon, Mrs. Brown was not at the address in 1940. But tracing her other family members I found her in Jersey City, NJ. The 17 year old Edmonia/Edmonica was in high school living with uncle and aunt, Joseph L. and Mary Rogers. There were also lodgers in the NJ home, including a 51 year old DC native Edmonia Brown.

The age and the birthplace is inconsistent, but I believe it is the same person. But this is where the trail goes cold. I dislike looking up women because we change our names. It is worse with common names like Brown. There were several Edmonia Browns.

Lastly, I don’t understand why the home was foreclosed upon in 1938. Today, title insurance companies are there to make sure you don’t lose your home because the previous owner didn’t pay their mortgage. I guess be benefit from the errors of the past.

Truxton Resident- Alfred B. Goodman (1870-1941) 116 FL Ave, 409 R, 80 Q and 76A Bates St NW

Thousands of people have lived in the Truxton Circle neighborhood for over 100 years and they have thousands of stories.

Alfred Goodman shows up at different addresses in Truxton Circle but was bounced around Shaw (which includes Truxton Circle). I don’t know if this was a regular example of the life of the White Washington tenant working class.

Alfred was born in Washington, DC to DC native Caroline “Carrie” Rawlings and Hobson Charles Goodman around 1870-1871. In the 1880 census his family lived at 1715 8th St NW, in what is now the Shaw neighborhood. An apartment building sit there now. His father Charles was a carpenter and his mother a homemaker/ housewife.

As a side note, because I can’t help myself, one of the Goodman’s neighbors at 1703 or 1723 8th Street NW, had an interesting entry that popped out at me. Forty year old servant woman widow Anne Blair lived with her 13 year old daughter Catherine, who was home due to a miscarriage. Which means this 13 year old girl was pregnant, and then she wasn’t. Moving on, back to Alfred.

When we jump to the 1900 census, because the 1890 census went up in smoke, Alfred was 29 years old, living at 409 R St NW in Truxton Circle with his wife Myra May Boteler Goodman. They had married in 1897 in DC. He was some sort of painter’s assistant at the time.

Ten years later in 1910, the Goodmans were in another location, this time a few blocks over at 116 Florida Ave NW. This would place them over where the Florida Avenue park sits. His wife, Myra, was a homemaker in 1900 and remained so in 1910, especially with several children at home. At that time they had two daughters, Margaret M. (7) and Dorothy (4). Alfred worked as a bronzer.

In the 1920s the family lived at 80 Que Street NW with their newest infant daughter, Rose. Alfred was still a bronzer, but he worked for himself. His wife remained at home and his eldest daughter, who was 18 at the time, worked as a typist.

The family moved into Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) housing, in the section for White low-income workers in unit 76A Bates Street NW. He was once again in the painting occupation, as a building painter. By 1930 he was getting up in years, 59 at this point, and this location feels like a step down. He lived with his wife, who was still a homemaker, 14 year old daughter Ruth, and brother in law Walter Boteler, Myra’s brother. Walter (Wilton West) worked as a plate painter for the federal government.

In his last census, 1940, 76A Bates was probably a little cramped and crowded. Daughter Ruth remained at the house, but with her husband, Frederick O. Rudy and their 1 year old Frederick. Also the brother in law remained. The elder Frederick O. and WW Boteler were the only ones in the household working, as apparently the 69 year old Alfred had retired.

Then, “suddenly” if the death notice is to be taken literally, Alfred died April 19,1941. He was survived by his wife, daughters Ruth Rudy, Margaret Lakin, both of DC, and Dorothy Payne of Atlanta, GA. He is buried in Glenwood Cemetery.

The goal of the Truxton Circle History Project is to find every man, woman, and child who lived in the neighborhood using every available source. The Project uses the 1880-1950 censuses, the power of Ancestry and every other online resource to discover and uncover neighborhood history.

Truxton Resident- Grace J. Alsop (1900-1977) 30A Bates St NW

Grace J. Alsop appeared in three Truxton Circle censuses, 1920-1940. So let’s take a look at this TC resident from the past.

Grace was born a White female in Washington, DC on October 26, 1900 to Carrie V. McDonald and Lawrence H. Alsop Sr. Her father worked as a brewer. When she first appeared in the US census in 1910, she lived at 1143 5th St with her widowed father, her grandmother, and her two brothers and sister.

By 1920 she was living in a Washington Sanitary Improvement Co. unit at 30A Bates Street NW. She and her brother Lawrence Jr. were living with her sister Ida and Ida’s husband Andrew H. Smith and their 1 year old daughter. She was listed as working as a supervisor. Her brother worked as a driver and her brother in law was a shoe store salesman.

In the next census, 1930, Grace was still at 30A Bates living with her in-laws. Her brother had died in 1920 when his motorcycle was hit by a fire truck. He is buried at Arlington. Her sister and her husband gained a son, Richard. Grace still worked as a supervisor for the telephone company.

Lastly, in 1940, her occupation remained unchanged. As the same for her address and who she lived with.

In 1950 she was a lodger, living in an apartment with Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Hauphurst at 1231 Simms Pl NE in the Trinidad neighborhood. She was a service assistant for the telephone company.

Afterwards, at some point, she moved to Hyattsville, MD where she died in 1977. She never married.

Truxton Resident- James Adams (1883-1948) 1421 New Jersey Ave NW

Thousands of people have lived in the Truxton Circle neighborhood for over 100 years and they have thousands of stories. James Adams was just one of many. He was an African American man born in Charles County, MD. He shows up in the 1930 and 1940 census in Truxton Circle.

James Adams WWII Registration Card

James Adams was either born April 23, 1882 or 1883. His World War I draft documentation has 1882. He was the son of Amelia Matthews and John Adams, a farmer. In 1910 he was still on a farm when he was 27.  In the next census he was 37, married to Matilda Florence Gray, and still on a Charles County farm.

As many have done before, he left the country and moved into the city and worked as a porter. In 1925 the Adams purchased 1421 NJ Ave NW ( W0553 lot 000S) from Laura Lee Beck. The money to purchase the home, may have come from Matilda’s inheritance. In 1924 she was listed as one of many heirs of John A. and Maria Gray in a legal matter. When the 1930 census came around the Adams were listed as the homeowners.

In his fifties, James still worked as a porter, handling baggage at Union Station, which is a fair walk from the 1400 block of New Jersey.

When he died at Gallinger Hospital after 33 days on June 9, 1948. On his death certificate his home was listed as 1421 New Jersey Ave NW.  In the 1950 census, his widow, Matilda/ Florence lived as a widow (keeping house) with her 43 year old son Charles and an unemployed 75 year old woman lodger. Charles was separated from his wife (Maudestine Mitchell) and working as a baggage tender.

The goal of the Truxton Circle History Project is to find every man, woman, and child who lived in the neighborhood using every available source. The Project uses the 1880-1950 censuses, the power of Ancestry and every other online resource to discover and uncover neighborhood history.

Truxton Resident- Mary Twine Adams (1893-1970)- 135 P St NW

Looking back at the 1880-1940 census (I’m still working on 1950), I’m looking for multi-census residents. Mary Twine Adams appears in Truxton Circle in the 1920-1950 censuses. Mary was an African American woman who lived at 135 P St NW with her husband Harry R. Adams. Her brother Charles A. Twine lived at 31 Q St NW.

Mary “Mamie” Anne Twine was born February 6, 1893 to Andrew Twine and Carrie Thomas Twine in Washington, DC. She had a brother, Charles, and half-sister Ida Twine Upshaw Ponton.

In 1913 she married Harry R. Adams. He was 38 and she was 20 years old. They purchased their home 135 P St NW in 1917. Logically, she appears in the 1920 census as Mary Adams. In all four censuses, she was a wife and homemaker. No children appear in any census to the couple. She remained married to Harry until his death in 1958.

According to the Social Security Death Index she passed away September 15, 1970. Looking at the land records, 135 P St NW was sold by her estate’s executrix Gertrude Farrar.

Truxton Resident-Thomas A. Cover 1904-1957- 1502 North Capitol NW

I enjoy looking up people and doing quickie genealogies. So I am getting back to that starting with Thomas A. Cover. Why him? He shows up in Truxton Circle in the census at least 3 times.

Born in 1905, he first appeared in the 1910 census. He was a five year old White male living at 1502 North Capitol Street NW. At that time he was living with his widowed father Charles Cover, a sister and two brothers, along with his aunt and uncle.

I should note he also shows up in Front Royal, VA in the 1910 census. It isn’t too unusual for people show up twice in different places. In Front Royal he was staying with his maternal grandparents, John and Mary Baublitz, on their farm.

He was born in Washington, DC to Charles Cover and Anna Iola Baublitz in June 27, 1904. His mother died in 1908 leaving his father to care for four minor children, two under the age of 6. Which might explain why Thomas A.’s maternal aunt and uncle,  Minerva S. and Thomas A Baublitz lived with the family. His father worked as a clerk for the post office, and the uncle worked for a grocery store.

Thomas’ father married Aunt Minerva. It doesn’t seem she was really married to the other Thomas, as the record of a previous marriage is hard to find. In the 1920 census, Charles is married to Minerva and working as an accountant. Thomas is 15 years old and living at 1502 N. Capitol St. NW with adult sister, Cotta, and his two brothers Robert and Frank. He and older brother Robert worked as messengers for the Interior Department. The family had two roomers under their roof.

1930, the family is still at 1502 North Capitol. Charles was still the head with Minerva at his side. Thomas was 25 years old and worked as a clerk for the federal government. His younger brother, Frank, also worked for the federal government as a machinist.  Frank was married to an Anna, and they had an infant son, Richard.

By 1940, Thomas had left Truxton Circle but still remained in Washington, DC. He was married and living at 2715 Cortland Pl NW in Woodley Park. He and his wife, Harriett, were both clerks for the Treasury Department, he an examining clerk and she a review clerk. They had an infant son and a White live in servant who was from the same state as Harriett.

They were still on Cortland Place in the 1950 census. By then Harriett had given up her government career for housewifery and they had a daughter. Thomas was an accountant working for the Reclamation Bureau.

Sticky Marriage Situation

Thomas was married twice and his first marriage wound up in the paper, but not in the wedding announcement section. In 1932, Thomas married Georgia V. Foster Mattingly, a woman who was previously married and two years his senior. Georgia’s marriage to Louis R. Mattingly was dissolved with a Mexican divorce, with their separation in 1932.

Apparently, Mexican divorces were not considered valid by the District Supreme court. A judge annulled the Mattingly and Cover marriage in 1934 and the matter made the newspapers. According to the reporting, Cover had paid for the divorce between Georgia and Louis in December 1932, and married her that same month. Exactly a year later, Thomas requested an annulment claiming the marriage invalid. The Evening Star, December 6, 1934 referred to it as a mail order divorce. The problem seemed to have been that no one had actually went to Mexico for the divorce.

The incident did not scare him away from marriage as he married Harriett Cecelia Mary Esse in 1936.

Thomas Austin Cover’s life ended in a Montgomery County driveway in 1957. He died of a heart attack in his car in his driveway at 4527 Rosedale Avenue, Bethesda, MD in the morning. He had nearly 40 years with the federal government. His first job, according to the Evening Star, was a messenger for Bureau of Mines.

The Truxton Circle Census Database

I’ve been working, according to my notes, since 2011 on this spreadsheet. It started in Excel, which is a superior spreadsheet. But between computer updates and other things, I figured Google Sheets would give more flexibility regardless of how ancient my computer was.

The beginnings are on the TruxtonCircle.org site for each individual square.

Here is the link for the Census for Truxton Circle 1880-1950. 1950 isn’t on it yet. I am still working on that data. It’s linked to the spreadsheet I am actively working on, so hopefully I won’t leave a filter on.