Once again, I really like the Recorder of Deed Records. In 1933-1934 Charles M. Nash owned lot 853 on Square 551. But Charles Nash is a common enough name so I am thankful in a 1947 Deed his wife Doris H. Nash (1905-1975) is named when they sold the property to a Ms. Rosi H. Scott.
I also discovered he owned another lot on Square 551, lot 848 (144 R St NW).
Charles Matthews Nash Sr (1896-1967) was a native Washingtonian, He received a law degree from Georgetown Law School in 1917. The family lived in the Chevy Chase/ Bethesda/ Silver Spring area from 1930 onward. So never a resident of Truxton Circle.
In 1938 it appears that his mother Lucy Belle Matthews Nash (1860-1938) granted the lot to him. But there was some question and a year later there is a judgement where Pauline Needle was the plaintiff and Nash was the defendant. In the final judgement various people, including Nash’s wife, his brother Raymond Nash and Lillard B. Fields (from the Edward Coleman post) were ordered to quitclaim various DC properties to Charles M. Nash. Apparently Ms. Needle had a judgement lien. Anyway, there were a lot of lawyers involved. Charles had a lawyer. Lillard Fields had a lawyer. A bunch of other people had lawyers, and of course, Pauline Needles had a lawyer. Lawyers for everybody!
I thought I could wrap my head around some of the property documents but Nash did a lot of things with this and other properties around DC. I think he put the properties in a Trust. And then in 1941 I think they used the properties as collateral taking a loan from the Washington Loan and Trust Company….. I think. I’m not 100% sure.
The problem with lot 853 is that it is an alley property with no useful house number I can link to using the Library of Congress map. But in 1940 pretty much everyone in Reeves Alley was a Black renter.
I had better luck with their other property on lot 848, 144 R St NW. It appears he purchased the property from a Ms. Marie F. Diebitsch in 1937. It was a rental property and in 1940 the residents were the African American Stroy family. Pastor David Stroy, 43, lived with his wife Mary, 38, their 2 sons, daughter and his brother John and his wife Mary L. and their 1 year old son, John.