James F. Saffell claimed to have owned 217 Q St NW on the 1920 census. This requires investigation. A quick look shows that an Ellen M. Saffell owned lot 0008 on square 551. There was another James Saffell running around DC at the time, but his parents were Irish. Truxton James Saffell’s parents were locals.
Strangely there were two Franks, that’s the middle name of James, Francis, or Frank, Saffells whose dads were named Charles. They were born around 1866-1867. So we’ll just jump to his obit in 1935 and work our way backward.
This J. Frank Saffell died in 1935, his wife was Ellen M. Dee Saffell, he was Catholic, being that his mass was at St. Martin’s, and he lived at 217 Q St NW in Truxton Circle.
Going to the 1930 census, James F. Saffell was the 63 year old head of household at 217 Q St NW. He lived with his wife Ellen, 59, and their son Frederick, 29. James claimed to own the home and worked as a tailor.
Similarly in 1920, the family is at 217 Q St NW, James is a tailor, but in addition to son Frederick, daughter Margaret A., 24, lived at home. James was 10 years younger, 53, as was his son, Frederick, 19. There were three adults working in the home. Son Frederick was a machinist and Margaret worked as a telephone operator.
Margaret was not in the home in 1930 because she had gotten married and was raising twin boys, aged 3. She had married Walter F. Carter.
Falling back 10 more years, the house is fairly full. Living with James Frank the tailor, his wife and children was James Dee, wife Ellen’s brother. James Dee worked as a roper hanger in a shop.
In the 1900 census James F. Saffell was a 32 year old White Tailor. He lived with his wife Ellen, their 4 year old daughter, and two brothers in law, Maurice and David F. Dee. The census tells us he was a DC native and his parents were too. He was born August 1867. His wife and brothers in law were also DC born with Irish parents.
James is assumed to be the owner of the property. When looking at the land records, Ellen sold the property in 1941. There are no mortgage papers or anything else and that is where this story ends.
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.