Category: Truxton History

So this doesn’t have a lot of information and sort of like my last BHOoTC post, the land records confuse more than illuminate.

So in the 1920 census the African American home owner is listed as Alexander Mathews, a 60 year old messenger living with his wife and two female boarders. But the land records say his name was “Alexander H. Matthews.” That was helpful as the wrong name sent me barking up the wrong tree.

Mr. Matthews was an old man. He was already a widower. An old widower, at the age of 57, when he married then 35 year old Maggie L. Simms in 1912. His late wife, Josephine, was alive for the 1910 census on 4th St. In 1900 the Matthews (Matheus) family lived at 125 L St NW when A.H. was a government laborer. There he lived with their son Charles, daughter in law Isabelle and grandson Joseph E. Matthews.

Since 1910 Alexander has had roomers. In 1910 he and Josephine were living with 25 year old Eliza P Fagins a US Treasury laborer and Nancy Barrs, a 49 year old cook. In 1920, Alexander and his new wife Maggie rented to children, 13 year old Frances Williams and 4 year old Lillian Loew. In 1930, they continued to house girls with Vinita Gray (11), Dorothy Dorsey (9), and Marion Wicks (4). In 1940 Maggie was listed as a widow and she housed many more girls. It appears Frances Williams from 1920 returned in 1940 as a 26 year old domestic. The girls living with Maggie were Vernelle Golson (15), Lovenia Chisolm (14), Lillian Devon (14), Rosella Chambers (14), and Nannie Lou Key (10).

Most of the time, I have no idea of what I’m looking at. My regular readers know, I’ll report what I see, even if I can’t really interpret what I see. My best guess is that the Matthews were foster parents. However, I’m not too sure if the foster system was really a thing then.
The online land records start around 1921. The first record for 1621 4th St NW is a 1922 release for a 1911 debt with the Washington Loan and Trust Company. Then the next document is a deed from July 1943 where Joseph E. and Charles W. and their wives Ella J. and Prossie Blue Matthews sell the property to Annie Newsome. That name is familiar. Oh. Her.

Currently 403 R Street NW is occupied and not as it is pictured below. I add photos from DCRA (or whatever DC government agency has these) from 2004 so one has an idea of what the houses look like. Most of the time, the house has not changed much from 1920, the year of the census from which I pull the names of the Black home owner for this series. For a current view of the place look here.

In 1920 Lewis Griffin, a Black American dyer and cleaner, lived at 403 R St NW with his wife Maude, nephew Edward Brooks, and a married couple rooming with them.

Lewis Griffin was born July 9, 1884 in Orange county Virginia to John Griffin and Susan Rose. In 1910 he was living with relatives at 63 Pierce Street (NW?) working as a hotel worker. Also that year he married Maude Lightfoot May 25, 1910. The Griffins were living at 403 R St NW around WWI. Maude died June 6, 1926. Lewis Griffin died June 5, 1958.

Looking at the land records, not a lot happens between 1933 and 1954. But there is a whole lot a paper drama in the 21st century, which I won’t touch, but let’s just say family let it sit (and decay) for a long, long, long, long time.

Lewis Griffin had two daughters named in the land records. Frances G. Jones (1922-2004) and Dorothy Farr (?1926-2018?). According to an Ancestry family tree he had a son (John Griffin 1915-1973), but no proof he actually existed. I have come across various family trees that do not have siblings listed. The Social Security Death Index has Mrs. Jones dying in 2004, but her signature appears on a 2014 document selling the property to RDC Designs LLC. I’m not going to investigate if there was an error.

In this post about a Black homeowner in Truxton Circle I encountered something I’ll call a family issue. I could not find Ralph L. McKinney’s name on 63 P St NW as lot 308 on Square 615. It appears that lot number is a modern one. I checked the Library of Congress map, showing 63 P St NW as lot 167, I found a McKinney, but not Ralph.

There is one record for 0615/0167 with a McKinney name and that is a deed from July 20, 1926 where Della A. and Samuel A. McKinney transfer the property to son in law Albert and daughter Estelle A. Fendall. Samuel A. and Della McKinney were the parents to Black Home Owner: Arthur B. McKinney as well as to Ralph L. McKinney…. Family issue.

Samuel and Della had a lot of kids. In the 1900 census when Samuel was 48 and Della 49, they had seven children (adult and minor) living with them at 63 P St NW. They were: Lewis Bradner (b. 6/10/1879- d. October 1937); Stella (later Estella A. Fendall); James Emmett; Bessie (later Bessie T. Austin) ; Dr. Arthur Bancroft; Dr. Walter Victor; and Ralph Leon…..and then Frederick (only appearing once in 1910) making 8 children. In the 1880 census it appears they had a son Samuel Guildford who moved out before 1900.

I’ll explore Samuel and Della more in another post about another house they owned and lived in, next month.

While we’re looking at Ralph let me do a quick bio. Ralph Leon McKinney was born June 11, 1899 to Sam and Della in Washington, DC. He attended Howard University, but it doesn’t seem it helped him career-wise . He later worked as a messenger for the War Department in the 1920s. In 1930 he moved over to 1st St NW to live with his mother and siblings. In 1940 he was living near/in Columbia Heights as a lodger, with his sister Estella and brother in law, also lodgers. He died September 29, 1953 and is buried at Arlington Cemetery. It appears he never married.

I wonder why Estella and Albert Fendall were lodgers in the forties when they still owned 63 P St NW? The house would stay in the hands of a Fendell until the end of the 20th century. The Fendalls used the house as collateral, borrowing money, and paying it back. Estella died April 27, 1949, and Albert remarried. His new wife was Mildred Anne Hill. Albert died December 1956. Mildred died August 18, 1982 and her estate was handled by Mary B. Johnson. The property was condemned in February 1985. Mildred’s estate sold the property to the District of Columbia June 6, 1985. The condemnation was cancelled February 25, 1986. Huh. The DC Department of Housing and Community Development transferred this and other P St properties to North Capital Neighborhood Development, Inc.

So this wasn’t exactly a dead end. I was able to turn it around, so it is a cul-de-sac.

Currently, this property (the red house on the right) has been carved into two condos. But in 1920 it was home to African American couple William and Emma Despert, and Emma’s son Herbert.

I’m going to admit to being a judgy person. I like people to be simple and stay in stable traditional families so I can best track them. At one point it looks stable but then…. and I’m not happy.

In 1900 it appears William Henry Despert was living with his wife Bertha and 4 year old daughter Beatrice at 456 N St NW as renters. Mr. Despert was working as a huckster.  According to the census the Desperts were married for 5 years. That confirms the 1985 marriage between Bertie Irvin (Irving?) and William H. Despert (Desperate).

By the next census William is divorced from Bertha. He was in the beginning of his long career as a Pullman porter. He was shacking up at 307 Oakdale Place NW with Emma Green. I can’t find a record of their marriage, but by the 1920 census they are living as man and wife.

Being a Pullman porter was a pretty good job, but even food service workers could buy a Truxton home. It makes sense that by 1917/1918, William was a home owner of 139 P St NW. In 1920 Emma was Emma G. Despert. Emma Green had a son, Herbert who lived with them as William’s step-son.

In 1930, the Desperts were living with Emma’s mother, 69 year old widow Annie Green and 32 year old son. In 1910 Annie Green was a laundress living at 1721 5th St NW with her grandson Herbert Gray.  Could he be the same Herbert who changed from Gray to Green? Anyway, Herbert was working as a chauffeur in 1930.

The 1940 census is the last available census and when it is harder to trace the family. Amazingly, Annie Green was still alive, at the age of 84*, and still living on P St. William was still a porter. Herbert was unemployed.

The land records pick up and tell the rest of the story. Emma Green Despert died March 31, 1948. William was dead by 1959.

Before William passed away and after his Emma died, he added a woman named Beatrice E. Johnson to the property. Who the heck is Beatrice? At first I thought she could be William’s daughter from his first marriage. But the Beatrice Johnsons in DC around that time were a good 10-14 years younger than Beatrice Despert. And the records don’t state a relationship. Yeah.

In 1974 Ms. Johnson lost the property to George Basiliko (he’s like everywhere) in a trustees deed. In 1959 Johnson borrowed $6000 from trustees with the Perpetual Building Association. In April of 1974 there was a substitution of trustees from the Perpetual Building Association to the National Bank of Washington. Then in June of 1974, two months after the substitution, National Bank of Washington advertises the auctioning of 139 P St NW in the Washington Star newspaper. George Basiliko was awarded the property in a trustees deed for August 1974 and immediately sold it to Robin Enterprises Inc.

*Yes, I realize that she gained 3 extra years in age from one census to the next.

Okay. What is George Basiliko doing in this history? It doesn’t look like he bought this property but it got included in the the results for a search. I looked at the document and could not pin down how this lot got included in the batch of lots owned by Basiliko. There was a big handoff of property from Basiliko to the District of Columbia in the 1970s, but beyond this document, there is no evidence that Basiliko owned 131 P St NW.

So who did own 131 P St NW in 1920? According to the census for that year, African American Nathaniel and Minnie Gibson.

Nathaniel Henry Gibson was born in April 1873/1875/1876 to Lottie Gibson in North Carolina. He had grey eyes. In 1892 he married Minnie R. Webster in Rockingham, NC. Like Nathaniel, she did not know her father.

According to the 1900 census, the Gibsons, Nathaniel, Minnie and 2 year old daughter Mabel lived in Elkhorn, WV. Nathaniel had a very West Virginia job, he was a coal miner.

By 1910 the Gibsons moved to Washington, DC. They lived at 1824 10th St NW. Nathaniel worked as a laborer for the US Senate. Minnie was a laundress.

Around 1918 they lived at 214 T St NW. Nathaniel was a Pullman porter.

Which then brings us to 1920, where the Gibsons lived with lodgers at 131 P St NW. However the lodgers had Minnie’s maiden surname. Unfortunately, I cannot find a link between the lodgers and Minnie. Nathaniel was still working as a porter, and Minnie was a maid. In the next census, Nathaniel was a janitor for the YMCA. Mabel had changed her surname to Sparks and was a public school teacher. The family had adopted a young woman from West Virginia, Minnie G. Ford, who was a 19 year old waitress in 1930. There was also a lodger living with the family, 40 year old waitress Agnes Boyd of New York.

In 1940 it was just the 3 main Gibsons living at 131 P St NW. Nathaniel was a taxi driver. Mabel was still a teacher and married. I don’t know when Minnie died, but it was in the 1940s. Nathaniel died in 1967. Mabel Sparks died February 1970.

So that’s the genealogical story. Let’s see what the Recorder of Deeds’ land records say… ignoring the Basiliko part. There wasn’t a lot of activity. The first document is a trust from July 1929, for $450.00 at 6% from trustees, Nathan and R. Levins. A release, proved they paid the 1929 loan in 1931. In a March 3, 1945 deed it mentioned Minnie was dead.

In 1945 there was one of those deals where the owners transfer the property to someone who in the next document on the books transfers it back to one of the owners. The purpose appears to change the name of or add owners. So they transferred it to Helen M. Kuykendall, who immediately transferred it back to Nathanial Gibson and daughter Mabel G. Sparks.

The property leaves family control when Lloyd G. Webb, the devisee under Mabel’s will, (and Llyod’s wife Hilda J.)  when he sells to the Potomac Building Corporation January 1973. Potomac Building Corporation flipped it to J. Gerald Lustine (1345 14th St NW– his Reality Office).

 

Currently, what is left of lot 230 on Square 615 is part of 85-89 P St NW’s backyard. So this is one of those addresses that no longer exist.

George G. Harris and his wife Roberta both of Virginia. He was born in Fairfax, she Prince William county. He was born in 1872 the son of a farmer Anthony Harris and Sarah Harris. She in 1874, the daughter of Manassas laborer, Charles, and housekeeper, Roberta Coleman.

In 1900 George was a school teacher, living with his parents and siblings in Centerville, VA. They were married in 1904 in Prince William, VA. At the time Roberta was a 30 year old widow with a son named Benjamin Chavers. By 1910 the family was at 32A O St NW as George worked for the Post Office. By the 1920 census, when they lived at 1511 1st St NW,  George’s stepson had taken on his surname as Benjamin Harris, a 27 year old young man working as a chauffeur. George was still working at the Post Office for both the 1920 and 1930 census. Roberta passed away December 27, 1933.

The online DC Recorder of Deeds records go back to 1921, and the earliest record for 1511 1st St NW is a 1924 release for a March 1919 debt to trustees with Washington Loan and Trust Co. This is followed by a 1924 trust (loan) with trustees, with names I’ve seen several times, Henry H. Bergmann and Chapin Brown, with the Oriental Building Association. It looks like the Harris borrowed $2400. There are several more trusts and releases between 1924 and 1935.

In 1937 there are two deeds. It looks like the purpose of the two deeds were to acknowledge the death of Roberta Harris and to add George’s new wife Beulah E. Harris (formerly the widow Beulah E. Jetter) to the deed. They married December 31, 1936. But  by 1940 she was living a few blocks away at 1719 2nd St NW with the Adams family (in-laws).

Not sure what was going on with this 2nd marriage. There is no mention of Beulah in the releases George paid off in 1947. But these were trusts that were signed before the marriage.

The Harris name last appears in 1970. Supposedly they sell the property to the District of Columbia Redevelopment Land Agency. I say supposedly because the document isn’t there. The correct one is not the one shown, but the metadata says they sold it to RLA. Beulah could have signed the document as she didn’t die until 1984.

 

In this case, not only was Otho Peters a Black home owner, he was also a doctor. If you consider pharmacists doctors. It’s 1920, so the rules may have been different.

Dr. E. Otho Peters would give health talks around town. That is what I could tell from looking him up in various publications. I discovered there was a publication called National Negro Health News. In the October-December 1946 edition of National Negro Health News, Dr. Peters is mentioned as heading Metropolitan Baptist Church’s health program. None of these publications cough up a photo of him and most are about the program his started at Metropolitan.

He also had an office on the next block at 100 P St NW, as an optician. In 1920 he was a druggist. In 1922 (where I found the ad in the Howard yearbook) he was an optician. Maybe medicine wasn’t so hyper specialized back then or a Black doctor could wear all sorts of hats. I don’t know.

So in 1920 Dr. Peters was living with his wife, Clara (ne Clara R. Wilson) who hailed from Massachusetts. They were newlyweds having been married on March 8, 1919, it was at least his second marriage. Also in the house was his new mother in law, the widow, Mary A. Wilson.

Looking back for the wife he divorced, I went to the 1910 census. He was a 25 year old lodger living at 939 R St NW working as a porter for a drug store. But looking for his past was hard. He changed up his birth year. In the 1920 census his estimated birth year is 1888 in West Virginia. The 1910 census has him at 1885 in Virginia. Then there is a variation on his name that pops up, E Otho Peters Jr.’s WW2 draft registration has his birth place as Martinsburg, PA in 1893. The other Othos would have been far too young to father a child. His contact person is Mrs. C. Roma Peters at 3335 Sherman Ave NW. He was also unemployed at the time (1942). I did find an Evening Star (9/11/1942) that stated Mrs. Peters was an artist and a well known singer(?). Her background says she was a teacher before marrying. This guy (and his wife) seem hard to pin down so I’ll end the genealogical portion here.

Let’s see what the land records say. The Recorder of Deeds land records go back to 1921, and the earliest record there are two 1923 trusts. I’m getting the feeling, looking at the trusts, that the property was in Clara’s name and Otho was added. That’s the ‘feeling’ I’m getting. I could be wrong. Anywho in the two March 1923 trusts were for $3500 and $1200 borrowed from individually named trustees at 7% interest. One of those trustees, Walter R. Wilcox is named on both of the trusts.

A release from April 1923 paid a March 17, 1921 debt in both Otho and Clara’s names. There are several more trusts and releases for years 1923, 1924, and 1925.

The Peters sell their home in November 1925 to William W. McClaine, another African American.