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.
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.