This is a short biography of former Truxton Circle resident, William C. Chew.
William Corbin Chew was born December 7, 1918 to Albert I. Chew, an African American chauffeur and Cecelia Mae Corbin in Washington, DC. In 1920 he lived at 40 Hanover St NW. He lived there with his older sister Irene, who was 4 in 1920.
They had moved over to 38 1/2 Hanover by the 1930 census, His father was still a driver, but working for the Ft. Meyer Laundry. The family had expanded and William was the one son among three daughters.
In the last census where we find William C. Chew he resided at 45 Hanover St NW in 1940. He was 21, single, living with his parents and three sisters, along with a brother in law. His father was still a driver, aged 49 and working for the US government. William was a “new worker”. When he registered for the draft for WWII he worked at the Palais Royal Department Store.
At some point in time he married Nelline Elizabeth McPherson. She was born in 1923 in Gainesville, VA with an unknown father on her birth certificate. She is located at 51 1/2 Hanover St as Nelline Chew, living with her aunt and uncle Ethel and Percy H. Nichens, their adult children, minor child, and granddaughter. William is nowhere to be found.
Everything else until his death is a mystery. He died in March 1987 and his last known address was in Silver Spring, MD. Hopefully that is the correct Bill Chew, as a William B. Chew also died in March 1987 but he lived near/in Baltimore and had a different set of parents.
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.
There’s a new tag on the InShaw blog, “women”. There are hundreds of stories of women who have lived, worked or owned property in Truxton Circle. The tag hopefully will make their stories easier to locate.
When looking at Margaret Holloran Killmeyer (1900-1953) there was an aunt who appeared in the Holloran house when Margaret’s mother died. Aunt Mary did not have a listed occupation, so one could assume she was there to care for the children and assist her brother Tom. Because of Maggie’s Uncle John, who lived with her in 1930, a little background check showed that he lived with Aunt Mary who had an occupation and may have been a female Truxton Circle homeowner.
It’s hard to pin down when Mary Holloran was born. A 1900 census has her birth month and year as August 1960. But other documents place her birth year around 1857 or 1859. Whatever year she was born, she was born in Washington, DC to Irish immigrants, Margaret Sullivan and John Holloran. She appeared in the 1870 census as a 14 year old domestic servant living with her parents and siblings, Annie (16), Thomas(12) and John Joseph (10). Her older sister Annie was also a domestic servant.
Mary’s father died and in the 1880 census the adult Holloran children lived with their widowed mother. They resided in what became the family home 224 O St NW in Truxton Circle. Annie had married in 1874 so it was Mary and the others. Mary did not have a listed job and kept house with her 44 year old mother. Her brother Thomas was a 22 year old brick mason and brother John, 19, was a messenger.
In the 1895 city directory, Mary G. Holloran, the first time a middle name had been hinted at, lived at 224 O Street NW. Her brother Thomas the brick layer wasn’t far, over in the NE section of Truxton Circle at 35 P St NE. She did not have a job listed with her name.
According to the 1900 census Mary was 39 and owned 224 O Street free and clear. Her father John had purchased the house in 1863. Unfortunately, he was illiterate and his named was misspelled on the paperwork. So the family just maintained their tenancy after his death in 1881. Mary worked as a seamstress and lived with her brother John, 34, and their niece, 17 year old Madge E. Luckett. The Luckett family lived over in PG County with four boys ranging from 21 to 6 years old in the house. One can take guesses as to why the young lady chose to live with her maternal aunt and uncle. Possibly to be closer to her job, or job opportunities in general.
However, Mary’s sister in law died in 1906 and it seems by 1908 her widower brother Thomas and his four children moved into 224 O St NW. Their residence in the Holloran family home appeared in the 1910 census.
On November 30, 1919, at the age of 60, Mary died after a battle with cancer. According to the Washington Times Herald, she died at her sister Anne’s house at 646 6th St NE. Her niece Mrs. Margaret Luckett Diggory provided the information for her death certificate. She was buried at Mt. Olivet cemetery.
After her death the family home was sold in 1923 with the Lucketts laying claim to it. The family sold it to the District of Columbia, which eventually used it for the Dunbar High School campus.
As an observer, it appears the Hollorans were a very close knit family. They stayed together. If not in the same house, a few blocks away.
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.
Thousands of people have lived in the Truxton Circle neighborhood for over 100 years and they have thousands of stories.
Margaret Mary Holloran was born in January 5, 1900 in Washington, DC, to Thomas Holloran, aged 39, and Ellen O’Conner, 29. She appeared in the 1900 census in the NE part of Truxton Circle that I typically ignore, 7 P St NE. Her father was a Irish-American bricklayer born in DC and her mother, was of a similar background, having Irish parents and being a DC native. So a White family.
Her mother died in 1906 so in the 1910 census, Tom Holloran was a widower raising four minor children between the ages of 16 and 10, with the help of his spinster sister, 31 year old Mary. They lived in the part of the TC I don’t ignore, 224 O St NW. The house was owned by Mary, so not only was she helping her brother with her nieces and nephews, she provided them a place to live.
In 1919, at the age of 19, Margaret married Leopold John Killmeyer in Baltimore. But for reasons (?), she was living with her father and adult siblings at 210A Bates Street NW in 1920. The family had been at 210A Bates for a few years, at least since the draft for World War I. Eventually she was reunited with her husband and they lived at 63 Bates Street NW in unit A in 1930.
Currently, 210 Bates is one single house. The renovated home, according to Redfin is 2118 square feet. In 1920 it was two separate units, about 2 bedrooms per unit, around 1000 square feet, so pretty cramped for 5 adults. But that was where she lived.
From Kober, George “The history and development of the housing movement in the city of Washington, D.C” 1907
When her father Thomas died in 1933, 63 Bates was listed as her residence. She was the only family member mentioned in the very brief death notice.
In 1930 the Killmeyer household consisted of Leo, aged 31, a painter by trade, Margaret a homemaker, their 10 year old daughter Blanche and “lodger” John J. Holloran, her uncle. Uncle John was living with his sister, Mary Hollaran, the spinster aunt who helped out Tom in 1910. In 1900, the Hollaran siblings lived at 224 O St NW with their 17 year old niece Madge Luckett. Mary was a seamstress, John a plasterer, and Madge a government clerk. Anyway, back to Maggie H. Killmeyer.
Margaret was still keeping house in 1940, as her husband Leo still worked as a painter, and her then 20 year old daughter worked as a physician’s receptionist. They were still at 63A Bates up until 1950. The last time they appeared in the census in Truxton Circle, her husband had retired and it was just the two of them. Later that year, their unit would be sold.
The couple relocated to 1110 Kingwood Drive in Tacoma Park, MD. Margaret died April 22, 1953. Leo joined her in death November 1956.
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.
Charles Henry Aldridge was born in New York City December 14, 1891 to William Frederick Aldridge and Mary Ellen Daly, to English and Irish-American parents. In 1900 his father was a painter and Charles as an 8 year old he lived with older sister Lucy (10) and baby brother William (1).
He had relocated to Truxton Circle at 214 Q St NW by 1917 when he filled out his WWI draft card. He was living with his wife and child and worked as a clerk for the War Department. He had married German-American Margaretha Geider in 1914 in New York City. In the 1920 census he was a government stenographer supporting his wife and two boys, Ralph (4) and Frank (1).
214 Q St NW. Taken 6/28/2004
They remained in 214 Q St NW, a Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) home, through to the 1930 census. Since there is not a letter behind the number, they may have rented the whole property and it was not divided into two units. Charles died in 1938. He was the victim of a car accident three years prior and developed health problems as a result. He was the a section chief in the Adjutant General’s Office.
His widow remained at 214 Q St NW until it was sold off.
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.
Thousands of people have lived in the Truxton Circle neighborhood for over 100 years and they have thousands of stories.
John Johnson. I don’t have much hope with a name that common, but let’s see what pops up. A John Johnson shows up in my Truxton Circle Census spreadsheet.
The first John Johnson shows up in the 1900 census as a boarder of Warner Snowden at 113 Reeves Street, which was an alley where the Co-op exists today. He was a 24 year old Black male born January 1876 in Virginia and worked as a day laborer. This John Johnson possibly died on October 6, 1911. The 1911 John Johnson was 35, so about the right age.
He couldn’t have been the John Johnson who lived at 6 P Street NW in 1920, because 1920 John Johnson was White and a DC native. 1920 John Johnson was a married journeyman carpenter who lived with his widowed mother. His parents were immigrants. His father was from Holland and his mother from Germany. His mother Rosa B. Johnson previously was listed as a homeowner in the 1910 census.
The last John Johnson, 1940s John Johnson is the ghost of 1900 John Johnson because he’s living on Reeves Court, on the same block where the Northwest Co-op sits. 1940 John Johnson was a Black 64 year old Virginian lodger who worked as a laborer for the W.P.A. making about $640 a year. The 1940 John Johnson was married to a 38 year old Mabel.
I don’t think these are the same guys, but I could be wrong about 1900 and 1940 John Johnsons.
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.
Thousands of people have lived in the Truxton Circle neighborhood for over 100 years and they have thousands of stories.
Benjamin Wesley Freeman (January 8, 1893 – September 1977) was a lifelong Washington, D.C. resident and professional chauffeur who moved around the Truxton Circle and surrounding neighborhoods.
Born in DC on January 8, 1893, Benjamin was the son of Charles G. Freeman and Ella Wheeler. In the 1910 census, the 19-year-old lived with his parents at 1609 4th Street NW. He was listed as unemployed at the time but was probably busy with studies as he graduated from Cardozo Vocational School in 1913.
He married Emma Jackson in Washington, D.C., in 1914.
By his World War I draft registration, Benjamin had moved a short distance to 1609 3rd Street NW (consistent with the 1923 city directory). The 1920 census recorded the couple, both age 27, living at 220 R Street NW with their three-year-old daughter, Dorothy. Benjamin worked as a chauffeur, an occupation he would maintain for decades.
Afterwards, something, happened. In 1940 he was no longer with his wife and child. By 1940, he was a married lodger at 1407 1st Street NW, still working as a private-family chauffeur. Later, during the draft for World War II, he lived on the 1600 block of 6th Street NW and listed his father at 131 T Street NW as his contact.
In 1950, at age 57 and widowed, Benjamin lived with his father at 18 Q Street NE. He continued full-time work as a chauffeur, reporting 48 hours the week prior to the census.
Benjamin’s father, Charles G. Freeman, had a notable public career. He worked for the District of Columbia courts for 49 years and earlier in his life had been employed by Alexander “Boss” Shepherd, the powerful 19th-century D.C. governor and public works leader who dramatically reshaped the city’s infrastructure. At the time of his death in 1951, Charles was recognized as the oldest Black mason in Washington, DC. Dorothy died at Casualty Hospital in Washington, DC on July 13th 1953, according to a family tree.
Benjamin outlived both his wife, daughter and his father. Social Security records indicate his last known residence was in Rockville, MD.
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.
Thousands of people have lived in the Truxton Circle neighborhood for over 100 years and they have thousands of stories.
Myra’s husband Alfred B. Goodman was featured in an earlier post. This one will focus on Myra as her own person.
Myra/Elmira May Boteler was born on June 15, 1878 to Florence Westbrook and Wilton W. Boteler in Washington, DC. She first appeared in the census in 1880. She was described as a 2 year old White female who was the niece of the head of household. She apparently was left in the care of her uncle Orlando Robertson Boteler and his wife Mary. She lived with her cousins, Mary and Sarah, who were four and two years old, perfect playmates. Uncle Orlando worked as a carpenter, and apparently did very well for himself as the family had a White live in servant, Belle Taylor, at 1218 U St NW. Her parents seem to have skipped the 1880 census.
They did manage to give her a brother, Wilton Westbrook Boteler who was born in 1890.
By the next available census, 1900, Myra had already married Alfred in 1897 and were living together as husband and wife at 409 R St NW. She kept house while her husband worked. They had no children at the time.
But the children came later. The 1910 census revealed two of her surviving 4 children. First came Margaret Mae Goodman in 1902. A year later Mildred Grace was born in 1903, followed by Dorothy Louise in 1906. A few months after her sister’s birth, little Mildred died of a whooping cough and was buried at Glenwood cemetery. It should be noted the family lived at 116 Florida Avenue NW at the time of her death. And it is the residence where the family resided for the 1910 census.
In 1909 Myra gave birth to George W. Goodman, but he only managed to live a few months before joining Mildred in death. Despite these tragedies Myra managed to become a mother again in 1916 at the age of 37 to daughter Ruth Maxine.
A year later, Myra’s father, Wilton W. Boteler died. His last address was 133 Bates Street NW, at a Washington Sanitary Improvement Co (WSIC) home.
The 1920 census had the family still in Truxton Circle, but this time at 80 Q St NW. Her eldest was 18 and working while Myra continued keeping house with a 3 year old underfoot. Later she would be a half a block over at 76A Bates St NW in WSIC housing in 1930. In the WSIC unit, she lived with her husband, her 14 year old daughter and her bachelor brother Wilton. It was more than likely they were all sharing a 2 bedroom unit.
From Kober, George “The history and development of the housing movement in the city of Washington, D.C” 1907
The unit got more cramped and crowded in 1940 as Myra had to live with her husband, her daughter Ruth, her son in law, Frederick Rudy, her 1 year old grandson, and her brother Wilton. Her husband Alfred died in 1941. Wilton vacated the small unit with his death in 1948.
By 1950 76A Bates Street was just the surviving women. Myra was a 76 year old widow with Alfred gone. Ruth was divorced raising 9 year old daughter Myra L. Rudy, while working at a soda fountain. Freddy Sr. and Jr. were elsewhere. Alive, but not at 76A Bates. As regular readers know, later that year the WSIC homes were up for sale to African American buyers and the Goodmans would need to vacate.
Myra finally died March 30, 1959. Her obituary appeared in the Evening Star:
Mrs. Goodman Lifelong Resident. Mrs. Myra Boteler Goodman, 80, a lifelong resident of the Washington area, died yesterday at her home in Kentland, Md.
Mrs. Goodman attended Maunday Thursday services at Epiphany Church, where she had been a member for 50 years.
The widow of a District painting contractor, Mrs. Goodman lived in Northwest Washington until she moved to Kentland nine years ago.
She leaves three daughters, Mrs. Ruth Rudy of 7602 Hawthorne street Kentland: Mrs. Margaret Lakin, 6400 Bells Mill road, Bethesda, and Mrs. F.C. Payne, Atlanta, Ga.
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.
Just to stay in practice, I’m doing another property related history. And I am reminded why. In the 1930 census the address was 17 Q St NW (Square 614 lot 50), but the land records have Edmonia Brown at lot 49, which is 15 Q St NW.
On July 2, 1929 Martha F. Buckley of Virginia, and Maggie Polwarth of DC, both unmarried, flipped a foreclosed property they’d purchased for $1000, sold the home to Edmonia Brown for $2750. Mrs. Brown borrowed $2,900 from trustees. But then in July 1938 there was a foreclosure based on a 1923 loan taken out by a previous owner.
Edmonia Brown shows up once in the census in Truxton Circle and is difficult to locate in other areas. In 1930 she was a 38 year old widow living with her 50 year old mother Jennie Carter and her 7 year old niece Edmonia (Edmonica) Ireland. I did the math and it appears her mother was 12 when she bore Edmonia, if they were reporting their ages correctly.
Being that the house was foreclosed upon, Mrs. Brown was not at the address in 1940. But tracing her other family members I found her in Jersey City, NJ. The 17 year old Edmonia/Edmonica was in high school living with uncle and aunt, Joseph L. and Mary Rogers. There were also lodgers in the NJ home, including a 51 year old DC native Edmonia Brown.
The age and the birthplace is inconsistent, but I believe it is the same person. But this is where the trail goes cold. I dislike looking up women because we change our names. It is worse with common names like Brown. There were several Edmonia Browns.
Lastly, I don’t understand why the home was foreclosed upon in 1938. Today, title insurance companies are there to make sure you don’t lose your home because the previous owner didn’t pay their mortgage. I guess be benefit from the errors of the past.
Thousands of people have lived in the Truxton Circle neighborhood for over 100 years and they have thousands of stories.
Alfred Goodman shows up at different addresses in Truxton Circle but was bounced around Shaw (which includes Truxton Circle). I don’t know if this was a regular example of the life of the White Washington tenant working class.
Alfred was born in Washington, DC to DC native Caroline “Carrie” Rawlings and Hobson Charles Goodman around 1870-1871. In the 1880 census his family lived at 1715 8th St NW, in what is now the Shaw neighborhood. An apartment building sit there now. His father Charles was a carpenter and his mother a homemaker/ housewife.
As a side note, because I can’t help myself, one of the Goodman’s neighbors at 1703 or 1723 8th Street NW, had an interesting entry that popped out at me. Forty year old servant woman widow Anne Blair lived with her 13 year old daughter Catherine, who was home due to a miscarriage. Which means this 13 year old girl was pregnant, and then she wasn’t. Moving on, back to Alfred.
When we jump to the 1900 census, because the 1890 census went up in smoke, Alfred was 29 years old, living at 409 R St NW in Truxton Circle with his wife Myra May Boteler Goodman. They had married in 1897 in DC. He was some sort of painter’s assistant at the time.
Ten years later in 1910, the Goodmans were in another location, this time a few blocks over at 116 Florida Ave NW. This would place them over where the Florida Avenue park sits. His wife, Myra, was a homemaker in 1900 and remained so in 1910, especially with several children at home. At that time they had two daughters, Margaret M. (7) and Dorothy (4). Alfred worked as a bronzer.
In the 1920s the family lived at 80 Que Street NW with their newest infant daughter, Rose. Alfred was still a bronzer, but he worked for himself. His wife remained at home and his eldest daughter, who was 18 at the time, worked as a typist.
The family moved into Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) housing, in the section for White low-income workers in unit 76A Bates Street NW. He was once again in the painting occupation, as a building painter. By 1930 he was getting up in years, 59 at this point, and this location feels like a step down. He lived with his wife, who was still a homemaker, 14 year old daughter Ruth, and brother in law Walter Boteler, Myra’s brother. Walter (Wilton West) worked as a plate painter for the federal government.
In his last census, 1940, 76A Bates was probably a little cramped and crowded. Daughter Ruth remained at the house, but with her husband, Frederick O. Rudy and their 1 year old Frederick. Also the brother in law remained. The elder Frederick O. and WW Boteler were the only ones in the household working, as apparently the 69 year old Alfred had retired.
Then, “suddenly” if the death notice is to be taken literally, Alfred died April 19,1941. He was survived by his wife, daughters Ruth Rudy, Margaret Lakin, both of DC, and Dorothy Payne of Atlanta, GA. He is buried in Glenwood Cemetery.
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.
Grace J. Alsop appeared in three Truxton Circle censuses, 1920-1940. So let’s take a look at this TC resident from the past.
Grace was born a White female in Washington, DC on October 26, 1900 to Carrie V. McDonald and Lawrence H. Alsop Sr. Her father worked as a brewer. When she first appeared in the US census in 1910, she lived at 1143 5th St with her widowed father, her grandmother, and her two brothers and sister.
By 1920 she was living in a Washington Sanitary Improvement Co. unit at 30A Bates Street NW. She and her brother Lawrence Jr. were living with her sister Ida and Ida’s husband Andrew H. Smith and their 1 year old daughter. She was listed as working as a supervisor. Her brother worked as a driver and her brother in law was a shoe store salesman.
In the next census, 1930, Grace was still at 30A Bates living with her in-laws. Her brother had died in 1920 when his motorcycle was hit by a fire truck. He is buried at Arlington. Her sister and her husband gained a son, Richard. Grace still worked as a supervisor for the telephone company.
Lastly, in 1940, her occupation remained unchanged. As the same for her address and who she lived with.
In 1950 she was a lodger, living in an apartment with Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Hauphurst at 1231 Simms Pl NE in the Trinidad neighborhood. She was a service assistant for the telephone company.
Afterwards, at some point, she moved to Hyattsville, MD where she died in 1977. She never married.
