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.