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.