Albert Chew was born September 14, 1890 in Washington, DC to Daniel Chew and Rebecca/Betty Parker. If his middle name was Ivan or Irving is a mystery as he used both. Chew lived on Hanover St in Truxton Circle from circa 1920 to 1945.
In his pre-Truxton census info, Albert was a Black/mullato and lived with his widowed mother. When he was about nine in 1900, his mother worked as a servant and his brothers, Daniel and James, worked as a bell boy and porter. He was still living with his mother and siblings in 1910. He worked as a driver for a department store.
By 1917 Albert was married with a child and living at 46 Hanover St NW. He had married Cecelia Mae Corbin and their first child, Irene/Aretha, was born in 1915.
He was still a driver in the 1920 census, but for a private family. But he was in a different house, 40 Hanover St NW. The property may have been a two flat house as there was another household at the address. He supported his wife, young son and daughter with his work.
Still a driver in 1930, his family moved a few doors down to 38 1/2 Hanover St NW. He was still supporting his family being the only employed adult in a family of six.
He was across the street from where he started in Truxton Circle, 45 Hanover St NW, by the 1940 census. This would be his last census. He was 49 and was a driver by trade, working for the federal government. The WWII draft revealed it was for the War Department, specifically, Ft. Meyer. The house must have been a bi crowded. Along with his wife Cecila, they lived with eldest daughter Aretha and her husband Bobby Williams, son William (20), and minor daughters Thelma (14) and Audrey (8). The son-in-law worked as a carrier. William was a new worker.
May 16, 1945 Albert Chew died. According to his obituary, his wife had already passed away. He was survived by daughters Thelma and Audrey Chew, Aretha Williams, Helen Beason and son William. Seeing that Audrey was a minor orphan with both parents dead, she was taken in by her sister Aretha and her husband on Rock Creek Church Rd NW.
Albert was a renter and we can see this in his movements. There must have been something about Hanover that kept him on that street. And why he bounced around from one house to the next is also a mystery.
Thousands of people have lived in the Truxton Circle neighborhood for over 100 years and they have thousands of stories. 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.