Black Home Owners of Truxton Circle: Bessie Broadus- 1607 NJ Ave NW- cul de sac

I should be pretty much done with the Broadus family. But Bessie Broadus was listed as the head of household in 1950, so let me tie up this loose end.

I already went over most of the Broadus family history with the ownership of 1607 NJ Ave NW being in the Broadus family for about 100 years. Just a reminder, Wallace Broadus’ ownership can be traced back to 1919. He may have owned it before then. Then Arvid and his siblings owned the property.

Bessie Broadus was Wallace’s sister. As far as I can tell her name did not appear on the property. But she was a member of the family that owned 1607 New Jersey Ave NW, so close enough.

Bessie Broadus was born around 1899 to Berry and Louise Broadus. She worked at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. And she never married.

Memory Lane: Morgan St NW Stairs, ca 2003

I was looking through my old Flickr account because I am going to either shut it down or something where I am not paying a large annual fee to keep it.

So flipping through some old photos, I found this photo from 2003-ish.

Memory Lane: 1623 New Jersey Ave, 2003

Popup in process

I was looking through my old Flickr account because I am going to either shut it down or something where I am not paying a large annual fee to keep it.

So flipping through some old photos, I found this old gem from  2003, maybe. I don’t trust the date.

As you can see a pop up is popping up in this picture. The 2004 photo hides the pop up.

Black Home Owners of Truxton Circle: Arvid Broadus- 1607 New Jersey Ave NW

We’ve seen the Broadus family on this blog before. The earliest was in 2010 after Arvid Broadus had died and the rear of the house, 1607 New Jersey Avenue NW, appeared to be on its way to falling down into the alley.  There’s also a Black Home Owners of Truxton Circle for Wallace J. Broadas post from 2021. It appears I didn’t focus on the DC Recorder of Deeds. They borrowed so much I could not cover it here in a decent narrative fashion. So I will just put it in a table below.

Wallace J. and wife, Madge V. Broadas appear in the earliest online land records in 1922. Records hint that they owned the property as far back as 1919 and the family appear in the 1920 census. Madge died in 1922. Then Wallace was married to Alberta, then after 1928 she no longer appeared on property documents. Wife Hattie B. shows up once in 1951 and is never mentioned again.

In 1966 Arvid, son of Wallace, and his siblings became the owners of 1607 New Jersey Avenue. Then the ownership gets whittled down to Arvid and sister Evelyn Broadus Shears in the 1980s. There are a slew of wrongful housing documents, where DCRA is the other party, spanning from 2010 to 2014. The house was sold to Cameron St LLC in 2013 for $185,000.  I noticed the house was in poor condition, threatening to fall into the alley and exposed, in April 2010. All those wrongful housing documents started up in June 2010.

The table of the whole drama of real estate documents will be under the fold. It took 2-3 weeks to research this, looking at every stinking document, and I just want to be done with this house.

Anwho. Arvid or Arvide Wallace Broadus was born in 1919. He served in World War II as a private. In 1943 he married Mary Louise Jackson and in 1950, in Florida, they divorced. In 1944, they had a son, who grew up to be the Rev. Tyrone Livingston Broadus. Tyrone was born in Washington, DC so they may have lived at 1607 NJ Ave NW. Tyrone seems to have floated between DC and Florida. In 1967 Tyrone Broadus was one of the 13 honor guards chosen to escort the Kennedy family and President Lyndon B. Johnson to the consecration of the John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame grave site. In the 1950s Arvid was a Pentagon security messenger. Arvid died in 2009.

Continue reading Black Home Owners of Truxton Circle: Arvid Broadus- 1607 New Jersey Ave NW

Black Home Owners of Truxton Circle: Daisie Mae McLean- 1636 4th St NW

photo of property

In 1945 William M. McLean, an African American carpenter and his wife, a domestic purchased 1636 4th St NW.  When the 1950 census rolled around the McLeans had separated. The census showed Daisy Rose McLean (Daisie Mae in the census) as the head of the household living with her daughter Lenora (also separated), Daisy’s grandchildren, her son James and daughter in law Evelyn.

In 1940 the McLean family lived at 219 D St SW. William, the carpenter, was the head of the family. He lived with wife Daisy, daughter Lenara/Lenora and their son James.

When the McLeans bought 1636 4th St NW they bought it from Teck Construction which sold a few homes on the 1600 block of 4th St around the mid 1940s. As part of the sale, they took out two loans, both from trustees Michael P. Cook and Ralph D. Quinter totaling $3750 at 6%. The smaller loan of $950 was cleared in 1949. The larger debt is harder to figure out.

In 1955 there were a couple of deeds. It appears the goal was to remove William’s name from the title and just have Daisy’s name. But after her death, around or before June 1970 it appears he didn’t lose interest and it is hard to tell if William and Daisy divorced. William is listed as a widower in the paperwork.

From 1970 to 1985 had several deeds and an Appointment Substitute Trustee. With the substitute trustee document it appears the 1945 $2800 loan was addressed, but I can’t tell. During this William the husband, James McLean Sr and Jr and Johnny McLean sign over their interest in the property to Leonora C. Wiggins (nee McLean). There was a will, and Leonora was the executor, and I was under the impression the 1955 deeds made Daisy the sole owner. Anywho, Leonora sold the property in 1985.

Black Home Owners of Truxton Circle: Clementine Branham- 1604 4th St NW

Okay. Another Basiliko house. 1604 4th St NW was previously owned by Nick and Helen Basiliko, relatives of George Basiliko, slum lord.

In 1944 Dewey Branham bought 1604 4th Street from the Basilikos. He borrowed $1963.25 from trustees Herman Miller and Vernon J Thomas at 6% interest as part of the deal. In 1947 he transferred the property to his wife, Clementine. In 1954, she borrowed $2,000 from the Perpetual Building Association. Later that year, she paid off the debt Dewey had taken on in 1944. She cleared her Perpetual debt in 1965. Then in 1970, she transferred the property from herself and her husband to herself and a person named Leonard White. Sometime between 1970 and 1981 White died and as the surviving joint tenant, Clementine sold the property to Antoinette L. and James H. Ford and Evelyn Lewis.

Once again this is another 1950’s home owner and information about the home owner is spotty.

Black Home Owners of Truxton Circle: Mary & Johnnie Walker- 1600 4th St NW

400 blk of Q St NW btwn NJ and 4th St NW.

I tried finding a good photo of the parking lot where 1600 4th St NW used to be, but came up empty. Instead, enjoy the map above.

Let’s discover what the land records tell us. In 1944 Johnnie and Mary Walker purchased their home 1600 4th St NW from, sigh, Helen and Nick Basiliko. The Basilikos were all over Truxton Circle in the mid-20th Century and brother George Basiliko was declared by the Washington Post to be a slumlord. The Basilikos are another story for another day. As part of the purchase they borrowed $2,961.48 at 6% interest from trustees John Swaggart and Herman Miller. The 1944 loan was cleared/paid off in 1948. In 1956, it appears they took out a new loan with the American Security and Trust Company for $5,250 at 5% interest.

Then something happens.

In 1971 Johnnie Walker signed over full ownership to Mary. There are so many John Walkers married to women named Mary that I have no idea what happened. Did they divorce? Was he unwell? I don’t know. What I do know is that his signature was on the deed.

Then in the eighties the story comes to an end. In 1985 there is a document (#8500028432) to cancel the condemnation of the building at 1600 4th St NW. And according to the document, it was mailed to 1903 D St NE. I am left to assume that the home was either vacant or severely run down. For whatever reason, the condemnation was cancelled, but we know from the vacant lot that is there, it was eventually torn down.

The next year, Mary Walker sold/transferred the property to James Floyd Young Jr. I wonder if it was a sale because I could not find a loan associated with the sale/transfer. Also when I was trying to find information about the Walkers, there was a woman Mary Young who married a John Walker. There was a James Floyd Young (Sr) who had a sister named Mary. So IF James was her nephew, and I am not sure there is a connection, this may have not been a regular sale.

A decade later, in 1999, Mr. Young sold the property to the current owners, the church.

Black Home Owners of Truxton Circle: Alvin and Edna Jackson- 1630 4th St NW

I’m looking at the history of the ownership of Alvin and Edna Jackson and saying, “Well, that didn’t last long.”

Here’s the short history of their ownership:

An African American clerk/messenger for what appears to have been an early version of Pepco named Alvin Lee Jackson and his wife, bought 1630 4th St NW in November 1949. So when the 1950 census rolled around, they were recorded as living there with their son Alvin L. Jackson Jr, and brand new baby daughter, Caroline born in February. They borrowed $3,000 from the Washington Housing Corporation, which had owned the house prior to transferring it to the seller, Ida P. Sheppard. The interest was 6%, which was normal then. But in 1955 they lost the home to foreclosure.

Unfortunately, Jackson is one of those common names but I have figured that the husband was Alvin Lee Jackson Sr. and Edna was formerly Edna Wise. Strangely, there were several Alvin Lee Jacksons and tons of Alvin Jacksons in the US at the time, including a baseball player.  I’m discovering the homeowners appearing in the 1950 census are a little harder to locate information about.

Black Home Owners of Truxton Circle: Mary Logan- 1606 4th St NW

Sooooo Mary Logan bought 1606 4th St NW from Nick and Helen Basiliko, who were relatives of “Slum Lord” George Basiliko in 1944. The Basilikos are all over the Truxton neighborhood and I looked at George and I felt like I was looking a little too close to the abyss. Maybe one day I will address this, but not today Satan.

Mary Logan was a single woman who lived with her sister and a renting family according to the 1950 census. In the prior 1940 census she was renting a unit at 1618 7th St NW with her older sisters, Elizabeth and Cora Logan, nephews Ronnie and Richard, and niece Martha Logan. She worked as a presser at a laundry.

Mary purchased 1606 4th St NW in June 1944 and borrowed $1,923.25 at 6% interest. In 1954 she took out a couple of new loans, $2,200 from the Perpetual Building Association and $750 from trustees, and paid off her initial 1944 loan.

In the 1950, according to the census, Mary was the head of the household. The house had Mary, her sister Cora, her brother Albert, her nephews Richard and James, and nieces Elaine, Maryanne and Martha. In addition to family, crowded into the home were a family of roomers, a single mother Edna Wenley and her three sons and a laborer named Luther Cullins. That’s 13 people.

According to Redfin, 1606 4th St NW has 1,234 square feet. There is a basement unit and a two bedroom unit on the above ground floors. So if the roomers were only in the basement, that’s still 8 people upstairs.

In 1959 the house was foreclosed for failure to pay the Perpetual Building Association loan. In 1950 of the 5 adults, only 3 were employed. Albert, who was a delivery man, married in 1952 and may have moved out. I’m don’t know what happened there.

Black Home Owners of Truxton Circle: Charles and Louise Penny- 1632 4th St NW

I’m noticing something with the 1950 census. There are lots of female headed households….. but the husband is there. Normally the husband gets listed as the head. It’s probably nothing.

Anywho, our next homeowner is Louise Penny of 1632 4th St NW, an African American homemaker. She lived with her husband Charles, a drug store porter, and their nine, yes, 9 children. Charles was from Rocky Mount, NC. Louise was either from Maryland or Massachusetts, as the location isn’t consistent.

Charles L. and Louise E. Jenifer Penny purchased 1632 4th St NW, after living across the street at 1631, in October 1944 from Teck Construction Company. You may remember Teck Construction from Lula Lee of 1614-1616 4th St NW.  They borrowed $2,800 and $1,054.07 from Mount Vernon Mortgage Corporation. Then in 1951 the borrowed $2,100 from the Perpetual Building Association. That allowed them to pay off their initial 1944 loans. Something happened and they lost the house to foreclosure in 1959.

So yes, the Penny family lived on 4th Street prior to becoming owners. In the 1940 census the family of five were lodgers at 1631 4th with home owners William and Elnora Lewis, and four other lodgers. The houses on the odd side of 4th are much larger and probably could have accommodated 11 people. They moved away and lived at 1303 Corcoran Street NW when Charles had to fill out a draft card.

Not sure what happened to the Penny family after they lost 1632. Charles Lee Penny died in February 1977 in the District of Columbia. Louise Penny died September 5, 1990.