Category: History

Normally, I pick the name of a Black home owner from the 1920 census who lived in Truxton Circle, and try to find something interesting, or semi-interesting.

Thankfully George Robert Brown had a Family Tree description done in Ancestry.com because Brown and George are very common names. His tenure on 4th St goes back to the 1900 census, but he, a day laborer and his wife Ella Elizabeth (nee Wright), a dressmaker, and their 18 year old daughter Lulu/Lula/Lucinda lived at 1119 4th St NW. Besides the houses on that side of the 1600 block of 4th St NW, weren’t built until around 1900.

The Brown family does not appear at 1639 4th St NW until the 1910 census. Then George Brown is listed as a hotel waiter, Ella was still a dressmaker and Lulu was 2 years younger than what she should have been (26 years old as opposed to 28) and working as a public school teacher. The family had lodgers living with them, Charles E. Fuller, a picture hanger, and Patience Willis, a domestic.

In 1920, the family was still at 1639 4th St NW with some small differences. Ella E. Brown was still a dressmaker, but George was a GPO messenger, and Lulu, still a teacher, but had married. She married William Miner in 1917 and they had a 1 year old son George W. Miner. The family retained one of the lodgers from 1910, Patience Willis.

The family had moved to 1433 R St NW where government clerk William Minor was the home owner by the 1930 census. Lucinda/Lulu was still a public school teacher and her father George Brown was a widow. According to an Ancestry family tree Ella E. Brown died August 31, 1928.

Ella E. Brown’s death is confirmed in the DC Recorder of Deeds’ records. The on-line records provided go back to 1921.  A deed from May 8, 1929 stated that George R. Brown was a widow. There are two deeds for that date, and two deeds for February 14, 1950. I know they are serving the purpose to do something, but I don’t know what. What I do know is that one of the 1950 deeds tells us George R. Brown died October 10, 1936.

The Miners, which includes Lucinda, William, their son George and his wife Charlotte Bell Miner held on to the property until June 2000. George and Charlotte sold the property to Adeola and Mufutau Sanni. For the time the property belonged to the Browns it wasn’t mortgaged. The Miners took out a loan with Riggs Bank (for Jefferson Federal Savings and Loan Assoc.) in 1978 for $20,000. This time I’m sure it was for actually that much.

Normally, I pick the name of a Black home owner from the 1920 census who lived in Truxton Circle, and try to track their life in this DC neighborhood. Sometimes, if there is something interesting, I’ll

look at what happened after they moved and where they went.

Sometimes looking for the one person works, but sometimes things are so muddy I have to look at his or her surrounding family members. Wallace J. and Madge V. Broadus had a son named Arvid (sometime Arvide)… it was easier to find him in the following 1930 census. The 1930 census had the family still at 1607 New Jersey Ave NW, but Madge was missing and Wallace was a widower and working as an elevator operator for the US government.

I had to search for Wallace Broadus’ daughter Evelyn to locate the family in the 1940. Wallace J. was working as a skilled laborer for a printing office. He also remarried. Maybe the Government Printing Office? A number of Truxton Circle residents worked there. I found Arvid W. Broadus’ World War II draft card showing him at 1607 NJ Ave NW. But the events of World War II would have this son leaving home, marrying a gal named Mary Louise Jackson, then divorcing her in 1950 in Walton, Florida, where she remained.

Unfortunately for me, there is another Wallace Broadus or Broaddus floating around Washington, DC around the same time. So I’m not clear when he passed away. But like so many, it appears that he left the house to more than one family member. People. In your wills, leave a single piece of property to one relative. You want to leave more property to another relative, than go on and get yourself another property.  sigh.

So it appears according to Wallace J. Broadas’ will, (probate in US District Court admin # 115,960) the property was left to Arvid Wallace Broadus, who was then not married. It says unmarried, but he’s divorced at this point and it doesn’t seem like he remarried. AND Evelyn Louise Shears (nee Broadus) and her husband Harry J. Shears, and Wallace’s sister Bessie Elizabeth Mack (nee Broadus), her husband William Mack and someone Bernice Occulane (aka Oculaine) Mynatt, who I believe might be his sister or other relative. Mynatt’s maiden name was Bernice O. Broadus before she married Bernard Ross Mynatt in DC in 1938.

Anyway, in 1966 the family sold 1607 New Jersey Ave NW to SOVEREIGN INC . Before there were plenty of trusts (borrowing money) and releases (paying it back) between 1922 and 1954 and I just don’t feel like covering it.

UPDATE 11/14/2022: The family owned 1607 New Jersey NW for longer than Wallace’s lifetime. Arvid owned it up until his death in 2009.

Normally, I pick the name of a Black home owner from the 1920 census who lived in Truxton Circle, and try to track their life in this DC neighborhood. Sometimes, if there is something interesting, I’ll look at what happened after they moved and where they went.

William H. Rose was a professional driver with many years of experience. In 1900 he lived at 113 Pierce St NW with Annie, working as a coachman, for a government insane asylum. In 1910, he and Annie had moved to 7 Hanover and he was working as a driver. According to the 1911 city directory he was a coachman.

He probably died around 1927, as his will was probated (is that a word?) that year. According to the will, his wife Annie had died, leaving him a widower. The will was signed in April 1924, he directed that the 7 Hanover St home be sold and monies to be distributed to people and institutions. His brothers Abraham G. Rose, living in Richmond, brother George S. Rose were supposed to get $500 each. His sister in law Julia E? Scott, was to inherit $400 from the sale, and nephew William Robinson $300.  Should any of those person should have died before him, then money would have been directed to Mount Carmel Baptist Church, where he was a member to create a fund. According to land records, Frank K. Boggin was the executor of his will and sold the home in September of 1927 to Mabel and William Robinson, who then lost the house in 1936.

His will stated that he owned lots in the Takoma neighborhood and Douglas Park, VA .  The his brothers, Abraham and George would get one lot each in Virginia. His sister in law was to remain in the house, where she was living on 22 Spring Place, which no longer exists.

Today’s Black home owner from the 1920 census who lived in Truxton Circle is William E. Davis Jr of 1605 NJ Ave NW.  DC native William E. Davis was the son of William A. Davis, and later the husband of Annie M. Henderson, it is with these two people, and his sister Nannie Bellows, I am hoping that I have the right William Davis out of the couple of dozen William Davis living in DC at the time.

Because his name was so common, it is hard to piece together a history and be sure it is him. But here is what I think I know.

In 1908 William E. Davis married Annie M. Henderson at St. Augustine’s rectory. In the 1910 census he and Annie lived with his father William A. Davis home owner of 1605 New Jersey Avenue NW, along with his sister Nannie Bellows, his niece Pauline Bellows. The younger William was working as a coffee roaster. Moving on to the 1920 census, William Sr. is assumed dead and William Jr is the head and owner of 1605 NJ Ave NW, living with wife Annie, sister Nannie Bellows and his niece Pauline. He moved from coffee roasting to being a houseman for a hotel. And then he seems to disappear from the record.

So let us turn to the land records which are available after 1921. Sadly they don’t provide much insight about William Davis. The earliest record is from 1937 trust where Nannie Bellows borrows $1800 through the Northern Liberty Building Association. This is followed by a release for a debt taken on in January 1917 by William Davis (the senior), William Davis, Annie Davis, and Nannie Bellows. This is followed by a March 1949 deed labeled as a trust, which informs us that Nannie Bellows was deceased and Pauline borrows $500 from trustees. There was a release for this debt the following year and we are alerted to another property under Pauline’s control, 654 E St SE.

There are many more trusts and releases, but I will focus on the last two transactions involving Pauline Bellows, the sole owner of 1605 NJ Ave NW, borrowed $700 at 6% interest from trustees on February 4, 1958. A year later in March 1959, a trustees deed was issued to Cora Mae Pope, because Pauline had defaulted on her loan and lost the house.

I don’t know what happened with Pauline. I looked her up in Ancestry and discovered she made a social security claim in 1966. Her father’s name was Thaddeus Bellows. Like the other family members, she faded into obscurity.

Normally, I pick the name of a Black home owner from the 1920 census who lived in Truxton Circle, and try to track their life in this DC neighborhood. This assumes the person at the house when the census enumerator came by was telling the truth or gave correct information. In this case I can’t confirm ownership or even if Ida Becher existed.

The land records for 1625 4th St NW start in 1938 and the owners are Edwin H. Silver and Ida Phelps Silver. I checked the 1933-1934 General Assessment, and it still had the Silvers were the owners. Then I checked the 1902-1903 General Assessment, and William Ruppert was the owner.

The city directory for 1921 has JW Stauback as the resident there. I’m not going to hunt the other city directories. I’m going to call this a dead end and a day.