Not the third POTUS and founding father. Just a Black man who lived in Truxton Circle. With a name like his there is a limit concerning information with high certainty it is the same guy.
Thomas Jefferson, like the famous one, was born in Virginia. More specifically, he was born September 17, 1887 in Gordonsville, VA. His parents might have been John and Kate Jefferson. It appears he was one of over half a dozen children.
There’s another Thomas Jefferson born around the same time from Pennsylvania who confuses things. In 1910 Thomas Jefferson may have been in Pittsburgh, PA as a 25 year old laborer working in a car barn. He was living with his aunt and uncle. Or in January 1910 a 22 year old Thom Jefferson married a 19 year old Emma Tucker in Washington, DC. The TJ who married Emma was the Truxton TJ.
A 1917 World War I registration card has Thomas Jefferson living at 20 O St NW. He was 29 years old and was captain of the bell-boys at the Cosmos Club. In the 1920 census Thomas and Emma Jefferson lived at 20 O St with their niece Lillie Mae Morgan. TJ was working as a messenger for the Treasury Department. Emma did not work outside of the home. Their 20 year old niece worked as a waitress at a candy store.
In 1930 he was still a messenger for the Treasury Department. He and wife Emma were still on the unit block of O Street, but the census has them at 14A O St NW. It was just them, Lillie Mae moved on. They may have still been at 14A O Street NW in 1940 but the census sheet makes it look like they were at 14A Hanover Pl. Thomas was 52 and still working as a messenger. A few years later, at the age of 54, when filling out his registration card for WW2, he was at 14A O St NW.
The 1950 census and a cryptic notation on the World War II registration card marked a change in vocations. He went from being a messenger to file clerk for the Public Buildings Administration. He and Emma were still in the upstairs unit of 14 O St NW.
Thomas Jefferson was always a renter on O St NW. But looking for him and his wife there’s a record around 1951 of the couple owning part of Square 3025 lot 43, 4122 8th St NW with another couple. According to the Social Security Death Index his last known zip code was 20011 when he died in September 1977.
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.