Truxton Is In Shaw

So, Ella M. Lynch owner of 19 Q St NW in the 1920 census, died. She died sometime around 1927.

She bought the property in 1912 from Richard O. Melton. In 1920 she was listed as the owner, a single 50 year old African American woman living with her sister, brother-in-law and a roomer. She worked as a teacher, I believe she was a grade school teacher (there was another teacher Ella Lynch in DC at the same time). She may have lived there with her father, Dines Perry Lynch, who reportedly died there October 9, 1921.

According to the Evening Star Ella M. Lynch died at 605 Florida Avenue NW. According to Recorder of Deeds records, that LeDroit property was owned by her brother Harry Lynch and his wife Alice. After her death the family thanked the NAACP and the nurses and internists at Freedmens Hospital. There were some hints that Ella Lynch was a NAACP member.

The first record from the Recorder of Deeds, was a release (payment of debt) in 1924. The next was a release from March 1928 paid by the sister living at 19 Q St NW Evelyn King in 1920. A March 1928 deed is where the other heirs transfer their interest to Mrs. King.

In Ella’s will she left half of the property to her sister Evelyn King and the other half to siblings, Arthur W. Lynch and Lulu Rodrigues. So Arthur W. Lynch and his wife Elizabeth, who lived in Pennsylvania signed over the property to sisters Evelyn King and Lulu Rodrigues.

Also in her will she owned 86 O St NW, also in Truxton Circle, as an income property. She left this property to her brother Harry C. Lynch.

Lastly, while looking for her obituary or other info about Ms. Ella Lynch I came across this article from The Washington Herald from [volume], June 22, 1921, p 9-

Wants Statue Restored.
The District branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has gone on record
for the restoration of the Lincoln statue to its former station in Judiciary Square. At the same meeting delegates to the twelfth annual conference of the association, to be held in Detroit, were elected as follows:  J. Davidson and Miss Ella M. Lynch.

Edited for clarity- 12/18/21

Harry and Bessie Kennedy were the owners of 23 Q St NW in 1920

Harry Lafayette Palmer Kennedy, was born December 6, 1879 in Bowlesville, VA, his mother was Susan Kennedy, a servant. In 1880 he was a baby in Rivanna, VA. In 1900, he worked as a 20 year old live in butler for Dr. George D. Acker at 913 16th St (NW?). In 1918 he worked as a laborer and lived at 1814 North Capitol St NW, while Bessie Kennedy, who is listed as his wife in 1920, lived at 109 P St NW.

Harry and Bessie Kennedy lived at 23 Q St NW in 1920. Harry was a mulatto manager who lived with Bessie, listed as his wife, and a family of roomers. I don’t know if the Weir family, a widow with her 2 adult sons and 1 adult daughter were related. Sometimes lodgers and roomers are in-laws, cousins, or other relatives.

By the 1930 census, Harry is no longer around. Bessie, curiously enough is downgraded to a single (not divorced or widowed) seamstress and renter at 23 Q St NW in one of two units. I know she wasn’t a renter.

Harry was elsewhere. I’ll touch on that later.

In the 1940 census, 23 Q St NW is still a 2 flat property. Bessie is once again an owner, but her name is Bettie.

From the Recorder of Deeds this is what we know. The first record is a December 1921 trust (borrowing money) of Harry P.L. and Bessie Kennedy from individuals for $750.00 at 8% interest. They pay this off in 1923. The next year they do one of those weird deed things where they transfer the property from Harry and Bessie to Roy Early who immediately transfers it to Bessie Kennedy. It doesn’t seem to matter because in May 1925 Harry Lafayette Kennedy of 1568 Jay St in Detroit, MI has an “agreement of mortgage” with Benjamin Steinback of Detroit, MI borrowing $531.42 to be paid back in two payments. This was the clue I needed to figure out what happened with Harry.

In the 1930 census Harry had moved to Detroit. By that census he was 50 years old, claiming he was born in Cuba, with Cuban parents. He and his new wife Trinidadian Edith (Edythe L Warwick) lived at 2971 Clinton in Detroit with their two small children Bertram and Joan, along with some lodgers. I cannot locate the family in the 1940 census. I can say he died in November 1953, in Detroit.

But back to Bessie or Bettie.

Bessie alone borrowed $2,300 on 11/18/1927. This document points back to the transfer that happened in 1922 with Roy Early. How legal was the trust or agreement of mortgage that Harry did? Tis a mystery. Moving on. She paid this off in 1928.

But lets go through the debts she takes on between 1922 and 1953. In May 1923 she and Harry borrow $1500 from Ben and William Stein. This is paid in 1925. Later in Nov 1923 she borrows $1800 from individuals. She pays this off in December 1927. She borrowed $2,600 from the Perpetual Building Association in October of 1928. This was paid off in June 1931. Also in June 1931 she borrowed $2500 from the Perpetual Building Association. December 1931 she borrowed $132 from individual trustees. She refinanced in October 1934, borrowing $2,500, and again in September 1940 with $2,200 from the Perpetual Building Association. It appears that in 1941 she financed some work on the property (I don’t feel like looking up permits) by the Kraft Construction Company where she borrowed $375, and paid it off in 1944. This was her last loan.

She died September 1, 1952. Her heirs, Susie E. Hall, John Terrell, Orddie Terrell (and wife Alice Terrell), Sarah Dearing, and Mary Hudnell sold the property in August 1953 to Sol Breiterman. The document does not explain how they are related, if at all, to Ms. Kennedy.

Since Orddie is such an unusual name I started with him. On his WWII draft card he listed Susie Hall as the person who would know where he lived. Unfortunately, their names lead no where and so I’d leave it here.

So 1618 1st St NW no longer exists.  It’s one of many long gone properties where the Northwest Cooperative currently sits. Looking at  1919 map of Square 551 where the property sat, it looks like it was sharing a wall with the Dairy.

In the 1920 census, a widowed African American laundress Ophelia Hurd owned 1618 1st St NW. She lived there with her seven children who ranged in age from 5 to 24. It appears none of the older children had a job, so she was the sole breadwinner.

Mary Ophelia Matthews Hurd was born in 1854 in (Charles Co?) Maryland to seamstress Elizabeth Matthews. She married Alexander Hurd in 1889. In 1910 (and 1900) the Hurds lived at 409 1/2 8th St SW with their nine children: Geneva/Jennie aged 18; Alexander Jr aged 17; Ophelia aged 16; Mabel aged 13; Rudolph aged 14; Albert aged 10; Veronica aged 8; Oramel aged 6; and Roland J. aged 2 years old. Alexander worked as a driver and Ophelia was at home with all those kids. Ophelia and Alexander purchased 1618 1st St NW from Louis R. Klemm in 1912. They had another daughter, Helena around 1913. Sadly a few years later Alexander died in April 1914. Ophelia was probably pregnant with their last child, Anthony, when Alexander died. Their son Albert Lewis Hurd died December 1, 1917 in Vernon, CT (Evening Star December 07, 1917). The funeral was held at St. Augustine Catholic Church.

I mentioned she shared a wall with the dairy, which was a problem. In the September 19, 1922 Evening Star is an article about how Ophelia Hurd asked the District Supreme Court for an “injunction to restrain the milk concern [the dairy] from operating the refrigerating plant.”
Through her attorney Joseph A.  Raffetry, she declared that water and cold air escaped from the ice plant, penetrating into her home,
chilling and dampening the walls, and causing the plaster and wall
paper to loosen and fall.  She asserted that the dairy’s refrigeration rendered her home unhealthy and unfit for occupancy. I don’t know the outcome of the case.

Now what more information can the land records, which goes back to 1921, tell us. In 1928 she borrowed $1,500 from the Perpetual Building Association and paid off an April 1921 debt from trustees. This is followed by another 1928 release (paying off a debt) for a Perpetual Building Association loan.

Her daughter Helena Doris Hurd died April 30, 1929 at 1618 1st St NW. Helena’s obituary mentioned the names of her married sisters Geneva M. Burnett, Mabel Harris, and Veronica Thomas.

Mrs. Ophelia Hurd borrowed $1,400 in June 1935 from the Perpetual Building Association. That same month she paid off the 1928 debt. And then, on June 8, 1943 she sold her home to Embassy Dairy Inc. and it ceased to be a residential property.

Her son Rudolph Hurd, died the same month she sold her home, June 16, 1943. He lived nearby at 507 P St NW and was survived by daughters Dorothy and Mamie Hurd. His funeral at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church.

Then Ophelia died. Her obituary reads as:

HURD, MARY OPHILA. Departed this life on Monday. June 30, 1947, at her residence, 30 R st. n.e., MARY OPHILA HURD, loving wife of the late Alexander Hurd, devoted mother of Mrs. Geneva Burnett,
Mrs. Mable Ragland, Mrs. Veronica Thomas, Mrs. Orimelle Norwood, Alexander, Jr. and Rowland Hurd Jr. She also is survived by eight grandchildren and other relatives and a host of friends. Remains resting at the above residence on Wednesday. July 2, after
5 p.m. Funeral Thursday. July 3, at 9 a.m., from Holy Redeemer Catholic Church. New York and New Jersey Aves. n.w. Interment Mount Olivet Cemetery.
and
HURD. MARY OPHELIA. The officers and members of the Senior Sodality of Holy Redeemer Church ire notified of the death of Mrs. MARY OPHELIA HURD.
Prayers will be recited at her late residence.
30 R St. n.e., on Wednesday, July 2. 1947, at 8 p.m., for the repose of her soul. 

In the 1920 census Tena Jones, an African American widow is listed as the owner of 219 Q St NW. She’s recorded as having a boarder, the 65 year old Hester Shelton.

However, looking at the land records it appears Hester Shelton was the actual owner.

219 Q St NW, is one of those messy ones. The property no longer exists as the Northwest Cooperative sits there. Square 551 lot 8 is one of those properties where several other lots claim to be lot 8 too. Novella Gibson also owned what was part of old lot #8.

sigh

The first land record I can find in the Recorder of Deeds (1921-Present) is a trust (loan) from 1926 in Hester Shelton’s name. The next, a 1928 trust in Tena Jones’ name where the document says she is the sole heir of Hester Shelton. Hester died July 8, 1927. The Evening Star for July 10, 1927 revealed the relationship between Tena and Hester, they were sisters. Her funeral was at the Third Baptist Church.

There was another Shelton sister, Phyllis, who died December 13, 1927 and her address was listed as 219 Q St NW. Her funeral was held at Third Baptist Church.

Hester’s 1926 loan is paid or released in 1928. However the 1928 trust where Tena Jones borrowed $800 from trustees resulted in her losing the property. In 1931, there is a Trustees Deed. Tena Jones died May 8, 1929 at the age of 82 at Freedmen’s Hospital. Her, or her estate’s failure to pay the debt to the trustees resulted in the loss.

According to her death notice Tena Jones was survived by foster children Robert, Edward, Willie, and Dorothy Jones, Lillian Gibbs, and Ruby Plummer. Her funeral was at the Third Baptist Church.

Daniel Lewis was an African American laborer who worked for the government and owned his own home in the DC neighborhood currently known as Truxton Circle. According to the 1920 census, from where we start this series on Black home owners, he lived at 229 Q St NW with his wife Delia (nee Dodson), and 39 year old daughter Alice, who worked as a teacher.

Daniel was born around 1855 in Virginia to James Lewis and Phoebe Tinsley. Barely teenagers he and Delia Dodson were married in May of 1869 in Washington, DC. In 1880 Daniel and Delia, along with children James, Sarah and Alice, lived with Daniel’s parents at 422 Franklin St NW. In the 1900 census the Lewis family was living at 229 Q St NW, with Daniel as the owner.

Daniel must have died sometime around 1922, when his will went to probate court. 229 Q St NW was bequeathed to Delia, and after her death, to daughters Alice V. Lewis and Sarah T. Matthews, and granddaughter Violet J. Lewis. In the one related land record for Sq. 551 lot 9, is a October 22, 1938 deed listing Delia’s death date as December 23, 1932. The Mrs. Matthews, Miss Lewis, and Mrs. Violet J. Parker sold the property to Myrtle Trotter, who later sold it to Jacob and Fannie Non.

229 Q St NW, no longer exists. The Northwest Cooperative sits where it is now. It must have been a large property as it held 2-3 separate households at any given census.

As a side note, I found Alice V. Lewis, retiring from teaching in 1948. She taught at Giddings Elementary school (315 G St SE ) for 48 years.

The reason why I pick names from the 1920 census is so I can compare them to the Recorder of Deed’s online records, which start around 1921. At first, I thought I had a dead end. The first few names and documents did not mention the Twaites, an African American family who lived at 16 N St NW. The owners appeared to be James D. and Gertrude A. Davis.

There is one odd ball document with the Twaites. Just one. I cannot link them up to a deed of them selling or the property being transferred. It, document 192508250127, a release, seems out of place.

I did find other property that seems more legit on the other side of New Jersey Avenue NW at either 1501 or 1503 5th St NW, that’s the corner of 5th and P St NW, where the KIPP school sits. And then another property, just in James W.H. Twaites’ name, at 5 Logan Circle NW.

James William Henry Twaites was born October 15, 1875 in Maryland. He married Barbara Anderson in 1908 in Washington, DC. They had a son, Elester A. Twaites (1909-1923). James belonged to the Elks lodge at 3rd and Rhode Island Ave NW. He died on December 10, 1951.