Category: Truxton History

In the 1920 Census Barbra Smith was pretty old. She was born in Maryland around 1840, which made her 80 years old. Looking at past census records, she’d been at 1430 3rd St NW for a long while, as in been there since the 1880 census long while.

So lets go back to the 1880 census. In 1880 Henry Smith, an illiterate Black laborer, lived at 1430 3rd St NW with his also illiterate wife Barbra, a laundress, their literate children William and Frances, and baby Victoria. They also lived with his mother Deliah Bond, and adult step-relatives. He died in the Summer of 1915, leaving Barbra, William and Victoria as survivors.

I could not find a lot about the Smiths in the record. It doesn’t help that ‘Smith’, is a really popular name. Continue reading Black Home Owners of Truxton Circle: Barbra Smith of 1430 3rd St NW

Julia Dobbins appears in the 1920 Census as a home owner and a widow living with her adult daughters and a couple of boarders. She lived at 1413 3rd St NW, on square 553 lot 54. The daughters were Emma J., Gertrude V., and Ethel L. Dobbins.

In 1910, Julia was renting 1609 Cooksey Place. I believe this was on the block bounded by Florida Ave, R, 1st, Q and 3rd Streets NW, or square 551. She was a widow laundress living with her 3 daughters and her mother Mintie Smith. The 1911-1915 city directories have her on Cooksey.

The land records are sort of helpful. The earliest is from 1923 where Gertrude transferred her one third interest in the property to Julia Smith and Emma Taylor.

Is Julia Smith also Julia Dobbins?

There is a mortgage with the Perpetual Trust Building and Loan Association for 1926 and there are many names.

Julia A. Smith, aka Julia M. Smith; Emma J. Dobbins, aka Emma J. Taylor; Gertrude V. Dobbins, aka Gertrude V. Watson. None of the records say if Julia Smith is also Julia Dobbins.

Julia Smith Dobbins died January 19, 1929. So she did not make it to the 1930 census. After their mother’s death, Gertrude Watson and Ethel L. Herron transferred their interest in the property to Emma in 1930.  Between 1930 and 1931 Emma Jeannette Taylor used the property to borrow money from the Perpetual Building and Loan Assoc, as well as individual lenders for an amount over $2,000.  William Henry Smith, who may have been Julia’s grandson listed in the 1920 census,  transferred 1413 3rd St NW in 1946 to Leonard Taylor. This quit claim signed by Smith noted that Emma Taylor’s will left him an interest in the property. Leonard Taylor then sold the property that year to Newman Coxson.

I’m just going to assume Julia Smith and Julia Dobbins are the same person.

According to the 1920 census Susan E. Berry owned 237 O Street NW, an address that no longer exists. It does not exist because the Armstrong school ate it, then the second Dunbar building ate O Street. So I have to look at the old Baist map at the Library of Congress site to guess which lot was Mrs. Berry’s.

According to land records she owned lot 3, or lot 11 or lot 58 on Square 553. Let’s just go with lot 58. I’m not sure how it’s lot 3. When I search for lot 3 I get records for Mrs. Schools, Mrs. Forrest, and Mrs. Berry’s son or late husband Hillard Berry. She could have owned another lot on Square 553 but this post will look at lot 58, or 237 O St NW.

To deal with the property history, we will have to look at the Berry family.  Susan E. Ruffin was born in South Carolina in 1865 and she married Hilliard J.C. Berry in 1884. This was the same year their son Hilliard or Hilyard Berry was born in South Carolina. In 1887 their 2nd son William Berry was born in the District of Columbia. Their youngest Alethya was born in DC in 1889.

In the 1900 census Hillard was a hotel porter and listed as the head of the family and the property owner of 237 O St NW. He lived there with Susan and their 3 school aged children. In the 1920 census, Susan was a widow living with her son William J, her daughter Athethya or Alethia Henrietta Williams, her son in law Alfonse Williams, and their son, her grandson, Berry Williams.

Just searching the name Susan E. Berry in the land records brings up lots 3, 11, and 58. So she sold lot 3 to the District of Columbia in 1922. Susan died in either 1925 or 1927 and in her will left lot 11/58 to Alethya. In 1934 Alethya borrowed $800 from trustees. She paid that date later that year. She borrowed again in 1949 from the American Security and Trust Company for $20,000. Alethya died in 1951 and her son Berry Williams (along with his wife Aretha) sold the property to the District of Columbia in 1966 for $10,400.00.

I should note that in Susan’s will she also left 239 O St NW to Hilliard Berry. It appears that he sold that property in 1937. She also left property in South Carolina, which was to be sold and divided amongst the two surviving children.

This time around I decided to have both spouses on the bill. Mainly because when I look at the few land records for 117 O St NW,  the wife’s name is right up there with her husband. But I may revert to just one owner, it’s simpler that way.

Like Christina Mack‘s property, this too goes with the old lot number and not a more precise lot number that would differentiate one part of lot 4, in this case, from another house on old lot four.

There are just two land records, a release and a deed. Like Mrs. Mack and Mrs. Schools, the property was sold to the District of Columbia. It looks like I’ve stumbled upon the city buying up the properties to create Armstrong. In this case the city got the property in 1922.

The land records do not tell me how much the city paid for the property. If some one could point me to a source, I’d love to see it. I don’t know if the Forrests got a decent price. I suspect not. I located a 60 year old Jesse (no ‘i’) Forrest living at 116 Q St NW on a World War II draft card. He was not the owner of 116 Q St.

Edith, was Edith Green. Her mother, Roberta Green was living with the family in 1920. In 1900, little 8 year old Edith lived with her mother and father, George Green, as renters at 1520 3rd St NW. They were tenants of Richard Thornton, whose property ownership has already been reviewed.

I did a name search in the land records. After the property was transferred to the city, Mrs. Forrest bought a bunch of expensive furniture from the Julius Lansburgh Furniture Company, totaling $300 in October 1922. The furniture was to go to 117 O St NW. Was the city allowing them to stay in the property until they were ready to raze it for the school?

The next owner in this series was just a few doors down from our last subject Mrs. Christina Mack at 113 O St NW.

The land records tell a very short story. The story was Sq. 553 old lot 3 (it looks like lot 802 on the image above), was sold or transferred in 1923 to the District of Columbia by Mrs. Willie T. Schools, a Black dressmaker. There are two documents, the one I mentioned and a release. The release doesn’t say how much she borrowed and she didn’t borrow from an institution.

Nor do the land records give the name of her late husband. She is called a widow in the release and an unmarried woman on the deed.

She was a home owner for a few years. Prior to O Street she was at 1332 2nd Street NW from at least 1899 to 1910. In the 1915 city directory they had her at 123 O St NW. The 1924 city directory had her at 113 O St NW.  I’m not going to guess what was going on there. I’ll assume the directory was wrong because 123 O St NW was old lot 4, not 3. And the land records actually had 113 O Street NW.

She disappears from the record after 1924.

Mrs. Schools had a son named William Schools, who listed her as his next of kin when he was a private in the Summer of 1918 and in 1919. He listed his mother’s address as 123 O St NW.

Once again, by looking at the son, I find an interesting history of the mother. William R. Schools has a family tree on Ancestry and that lead to a 1910 census  which has his mom Willie as Lillie. It also says that her maiden name was Willie T. Byrd. Unfortunately, there was another Willie Schools (what are the odds) in DC living at 444 Q St NW, the widow of Macon Schools, and some of her data gets mixed in with the O St Willie Schools. And that’s where I’m going to end it.

Okay let’s get back to the blog’s usual material, church surveys and a quick look at African American home owners.

There are only a few records for 107 O St NW where Christina A. Mack lived. She was listed as a home owner in the 1920 census. The problem with the address is that it is one of those places in the TC that no longer exists and has been absorbed into another property. It is now part of Armstrong’s campus.

So there are three records for 107 O St NW or Sq.553 lot 129. The first is a release, not a deed, from 1924 and it seems to transfer the property from Christina and Thomas W. Mack to Albert F. Fox a trustee. The other two documents were deeds, one for 1930 and the other for 1931 which transferred the property to the District of Columbia.

In the 1920 census Mr. Thomas Mack, her husband is missing. She is listed as married and the head of household. The only other Thomas W. Mack is her 12 year old son. But with the land record we know he exists.

Mrs. Mack seems to only appear in the 1920 census. I could not locate her in the 1930 census nor the 1910 census. There is a reason why I couldn’t find her in the 1930 census, she died June 1925. After going another route, I found her and her son and daughter, living with her brother Eli Brooks and his wife in 1910.

I was able to find out what happened to Christina by looking for her son Thomas W. Mack (Jr?). His World War II draft card showed him living at 801 N St NW with his sister Eunice Viola Rabb. I also noticed on his draft card the words “Deceased” written at the top.