people – Truxton Is In Shaw

WSIC-Related- 114 Q Street NW

The Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) was a late 19th century charitable capitalism experiment that ended in the 1950s. This blog started looking at the homes that were supposed to be sold to African American home buyers, after decades of mainly renting to white tenants.

114 Q St NW was a house neighboring the WSIC houses. Let’s take a look at it.

photo of 114 Q St NW. Washington, DC 20001 in 2004.

Above is a 2004 photo of 114 Q St NW to show the lot number, but unfortunately lot 815 only goes back to 1971. So it requires some sleuthing.

Okay looking at a 1919 map 114 Q sits on lot 808. Looking up lot 808, the names Charles H. and Louise J. Wesley are on a 1922 document so looking up Charles’ name, it brings up lots 17, 26, 808, & 815 from 1922-1971.

Lot 17 only brings up a 1971 document # 1971024238.

Lot 26 has a lot more going on because it includes lots 806, 807 and 808. Looking at the various documents, the Washington Sanitary Improvement Co (WSIC) does not appear. However the Washington Loan and Trust Company, which is WSIC adjacent shows up for a loan.

Lot 808, shows 5 documents ranging from 1924 to 1930 for the Wesleys.

Lot 815 begins with document # 1971024238 with Charles Wesley’s name and continues to the present. The 1971 document shows that Charles and Louise sold their home to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency for $12,000.

Charles H. Wesley was involved with a lot of property transactions. So I have to limit it to Sq. 552.

December 1922 Margaret A. and William E.G. Penny sold 114 Q St NW to Louise and Charles Wesley. The Wesleys borrowed $2,250 from trustees Vernon D. Acree and William V. Mahoney.
February 1924 the Wesleys borrowed $7,100 from trustees Ralph P. Bernard and Guy H. Johnson.
June 1927 the Wesleys took out 2 $500 loans from trustee George Francis Williams.
June 1927 the Wesleys paid off their February 1924 loan.
May 1930 the Wesleys were released from their December 1922 loan.
June 1930 the Wesleys took out a $4000 loan from the Washington Permanent Building Association.
June 1930 the Wesleys were released from their two June 1937 loans.
November 1945 the Wesleys were released from the June 1930 loan.
November 1971 the Wesleys sold the property to DC RLA.

I’ll leave it at 1971.

Looking at a 1930 census, Charles and Louise were African Americans living at their home, they owned at 731 Fairmont Street NW, with their 2 daughters and his mother. photo of 731 Fairmont St NW, Washington, DC in 2004.

When I ventured over to the profession I see that Mr. Wesley is Dr. Wesley at a university. Time to check the Google. Dr. Rev. Wesley was the former president of HBCU Wilberforce University, wrote books with Carter G. Woodson, and while in DC was a professor at Howard University. He has a very impressive biography.

Did he live in Truxton Circle? I’m going to say no. The 1930-1940 census the family lived on Fairmont.

The 1950 census showed Dr. and Mrs. Wesley in Wilberforce, OH…. which explains why nothing much happened with the property in the late 1940s and till 1971. In 1942 he went to serve as Wilberforce University’s new president. Later he served as a college president for Central State University till 1965. It seems he came back to DC to serve as the president of Carter G. Woodson’s Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now ASALH) and he died in 1987.

Charlotte Murray- Former resident 1645 New Jersey Ave NW

I have a whole post of her husband Dr. Peter Murray.

According to her New York Times obituary from March 17, 1982:

Mrs. Murray was a mezzo-soprano and a graduate of the Juilliard School. She composed religious music and was a member of the executive committee of the Hymn Society of America.

Noted DC photographer Robert S. Scurlock took her portrait.

This really is a post about nothing in particular. I was just looking to see if she was located on Find A Grave…. she was not. And I found images of her and decided to share.

Black Truxton Circle Notables

So Ward 5 Councilman Zachary Parker introduced legislation designating streets in honor of prominent Black figures with ties to Ward 5. The key word is “ties”.

For the Truxton Circle neighborhood, his office picked Rayford Logan. Logan’s tie? He went to Dunbar. sigh. A whole bunch of people went Dunbar, way more famous and notable than Logan.

I get why they didn’t pick Dunbar graduates such as Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, or Councilman Vincent Gray or Rev. Walter E. Fauntroy, because they aren’t dead yet.

Portrait of Charles Drew.jpg — Dr. Charles R. Drew, Dunbar alum

But why not Dunbar graduate Dr. Charles Drew? Is it because he has a number of schools and health centers named after him? Is it because he got a postage stamp? Is colorism at play and Dr. Drew is too light skinned?

Okay, then maybe Billy Taylor, jazz pianist. He went to Dunbar.

I see another Dunbar graduate Sterling Allen Brown was designated to Brookland, where he lived. Which seems to be more of a tie than Logan’s “tie” to Truxton Circle.

I believe Rayful Edmond went to Dunbar. He’s the drug kingpin mentioned in TC author, Tony Lewis Jr.’s book, Slugg: A Boy’s Life in the Age of Mass Incarceration. Edmond had a huge impact on the Hanover St section of Truxton Circle, but I wouldn’t rename any streets after him.

You know what is across the street from Dunbar? Armstrong. It was a technical school or high school. Duke Ellington went there. But I understand not wanting to name another thing after the great Duke Ellington. I love Duke Ellington, but you can have too much of a good thing. Another jazz great went to Armstrong, Billy Eckstine, but no body cares about Billy Eckstine.

I hadn’t even touched on the people who ACTUALLY LIVED IN TRUXTON CIRCLE!

Peter Murray Portrait We have Dr. Peter Marshall Murray who was president of the National Medical Association and who lived at 1645 New Jersey Ave NW.

Next is female filmmaker, Eloyce Gist. Not only does she have a Wikipedia page, she has an IMDB page. She was married several times so she has a few different names, but she lived at 134 R St NW, which no longer exists.

Before this gets too long, I did decide to take a look at the other neighborhoods and the names Councilman Parker’s office ( don’t believe Mr. Parker came up with this list) came up with.

Edna Brown Coleman was a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. She was one of the 22 founding members. Delta Sigma Theta planned and constructed the Delta Towers in Ward 5 in the 1970s, so therefore Coleman who died in 1919, gets a street. I mena her brother Sterling A. Brown gets Brookland, why not? Trinidad neighborhood, you have my sympathies. The link Logan has to the TC is kinda dumb, but not this level of dumb.

Moving on…

Ivy City gets Alexander Crummell. His tie? A school in the neighborhood was named after him.

The Carver-Langston area will get John Mercer Langston. Sure the whole neighborhood is kinda named after him. A street? Sure why not?

Truxton Circle Residents with Wikipedia Pages

Most Truxton Circle residents of the past are regular Joes or Joannas. They lived, they worked, they moved away and eventually they died. Many were cooks, laborers, cops, teachers, and barbers. Some were doctors or ministers.

For the past couple of years, I have been writing up quickie bios of these regular people. I’ve searched genealogical sites, DC land records and sometimes a run of the mill Google search. It’s usually the Google search that reveals someone has a Wikipedia page.

Dr. Peter Marshall Murray

Peter Murray Portrait

Dr. Peter Murray doesn’t have much of a Wikipedia page. If you want to learn more about him and his life in DC (his career took off in New York City) wander over to my September 2021 post about Dr. Murray when he lived at 1645 New Jersey Ave NW.

Dr. Carrie H. Thomas

Dr. Carrie H. Thomas lived at 1629 New Jersey Ave NW and her Wikipedia page is in danger of being removed. I’m not sure what she did to warrant having a Wikipedia page. She was a teacher….. I got nothin’.

Eloyce Gist (Mayme E. King-Patrick-Gist-Wood-Savage)

Eloyce Gist, director, actress & co-director of Heaven-Bound Traveler.

It was the Google search that revealed who she was. I was looking for Mayme Gist, and got several Eloyce Gist hits and discovered this hair dresser was also a filmmaker. Not only does she have a Wikipedia page, she has an IMDB page, and two posts on this blog.

I did a post for her as a filmmaker and another post as a home owner, because that’s the point of the Black Homeowners of Truxton Circle series, to write about Black home owners. She lived at 134 R St NW, which no longer exists.

William Saunders

Like Ms. Mayme Eloyce, William Saunders lived on the block where almost nothing from that time period remains. He lived at 1603 3rd Street NW, sort of where Mt. Sinai Baptist Church sits. I found him by mistake and called the post a Happy Accident-1900 Home Owner- 1603 3rd St NW- William Saunders 1822-1900.

Mr. Saunders was a botanist among other things and played an important role in bringing the seedless naval orange to America. His Wikipedia page has a few of his highlights.

Pocahontas Kay Pope

Like Dr. Carrie H. Thomas there isn’t much of a Wikipedia page for Mrs. Pope. She does have a better Baha’i wiki page. The current Wikipedia page says her gravestone is lost because Black people’s gravestones were used to prevent erosion of the Potomac. That sounds a little off to me. The more fleshed out Baha’i site they wrote, “In 1960, the graves at Columbian Harmony Cemetery, including that of Pocahontas Pope, were relocated to the National Harmony Memorial Park in Maryland”. She owned and lived at 1500 1st St NW and knew several other featured TC Black Homeowners.

Do you know of any other Truxton Circle residents from the past with Wikipedia pages?

Truxton Circle Filmmaker Eloyce Gist

I was doing research for my Black home owners of Truxton Circle series and ‘eventually’ stumbled on a filmmaker. I spent all day researching Mrs. Gist as a property owner and right before retiring for bed, on a lark, I Googled her name, and discovered she made a few short religious films. There is a lot to share about her as a woman and a pioneering African American filmmaker that I am giving her a separate post under the name Eloyce Gist.

She was born Mayme Eloyce King on October 21, 1892 in Galveston County, TX. Her parents were Josephine Beavers and Walter Louis King, and she was the eldest of their seven (plus?) children.

According to an online biography, she married Roscoe C. Patrick in 1911. In 1912 Homoiselle Vivian Patrick was born. She relocated, alone it appears, to Washington, DC in the 1920s. She appeared as a roomer at 1325 or 1525 10th St NW, working as a hairdresser at a beauty shop. In 1923, she first appears in the DC city directory as Mamie Patrick, hairdresser on 134 R St NW. She divorced Patrick in 1930.

In the 1930 census, she is listed as the owner of 134 R St NW, working as a beautician. Her daughter, Homoiselle, then 16, is listed as her sister.

In June of 1932 she married evangelical (she and her daughter were Bahá’í ) Christian James Gist in Pennsylvania. But they made movies together prior to their marriage.

The earliest known film was Hellbound Train in 1930. She and James are credited as co-directors and co-writers.

Film restorer Dr. Samuel Waymon explains the film better than I can in this Youtube link.

Their second known work from 1933, Verdict Not Guilty is, um, interesting. She and James Gist co-directed it, but she is the sole writer and is listed in IMDB as its one star.

Their last surviving film is Heaven-Bound Traveler from 1935. Eloyce played the Wife. I look at it and wonder if they shot this in their own Truxton home or on Truxton Streets? Hellbound Train looks like it was shot in LeDroit Park.

James E. Gist died December 12, 1937. It doesn’t appear that she made anymore films after her directing partner passed. Modern write ups mention that she went around playing these religious themed silent movies around town. However, I could only find 2 mentions in the Evening Star of her exhibiting the film. One mention was in the December 16, 1939 edition of the Evening Star of Mrs. Eloyce Giste showing Not Guilty at Metropolitan Wesley AMEZ church.

She did not remain a widow long and married projector operator, Arthur Clifton Wood, a man 17 years her junior. Gist was younger than her too. Wood was 22 years old, she was 39. They married December 12, 1939 in Prince William County Virginia. In the 1940 census, Arthur is listed as Arthur Gist, head of household and owner of 134 R St NW. It isn’t clear when the Wood marriage ended.

She married John William Slaughter in 1952. They divorced in 1972, but according to their Albermarle County, VA divorce certificate they separated in 1956.

I will do another post for Mrs. Mayme Eloyce King Patrick-Gist-Wood-Slaughter in May, as a home owner.

Rando Shaw resident – S. Larnardo Acker- 614 S St NW

I was doing something else and there is nowhere to put this guy. But it is Black history month, and this fellow is Black.

I came across S. Larnardo Acker as I was working on another project and would have moved on, but I was trying to figure out if he was a Larnardo S. Acker and if I had the right person. One of the documents I came across was a marriage certificate and lo, I came across his marriage certificate listing his, and his bride’s (Ms. Bessie L. Hill) address as 614 S St NW.

Currently the New Community Church has 614 S St NW as its address. It might have been an apartment building. They both lived there, maybe they met there, running into each other at the end of the work day, exchanging pleasantries, discovering they both hailed from Mississippi, and a romance blossomed. Or they were shacking up and decided to make it legal. Or they were already married and the first one didn’t stick?

Who was Samuel Larnardo Acker? He was a Sargent in the US Army who served in World War II. He was born May 5, 1909 in Picayune, MS (or Hancock, MS depending which doc you go by). According to the 1910 census he was one of six children. In the 1930 census he was a student attending the Prentiss Normal and Industrial Institute, a Black college which no longer exists. Looking at the census it appears he and a long list of students were living with the school’s founders, Jonas Edward Johnson and Bertha LaBranche Johnson.

In the 1940 census he and his wife Bessy/Bessie (in NY records he married a Bessie Lisker in 1924) lived at 529 Florida Ave NW on the LeDroit Park side of Florida. The lived there with their 9 month old daughter Dorothy. He worked at the Library of Congress, as part of the WPA, as a Research Editor. A year later he worked as a Junior Clerk Typist for the War Department. He and Bessie later had a son, Larnardo Menelik Acker, in 1942. In the 1950s he was mustered into the US Marines (Co C 1St Engr Bn 1St Mar Div, Mri 6 Pearl ), I don’t understand how the military works so….. The Army record I could find makes it look like he was in the typing and secretarial group.

In 1954 the family was living at 1913 Frederick Place SE. But a few years later, in September 1956 Bessie, who was an undergraduate nurse at the Emergency Hospital (where’s that?), died. She is buried at Arlington with Samuel Larnardo, who later died in 1966. Their graves are next to each other.

It’s Black History Month- Thank Shaw’s Own Carter G. Woodson

It’s February so that means it’s Black History Month. I think I will make this an annual thing, where I look at the “Father of Black History” Carter G. Woodson. He picked a week in February for Black History Week, then that week turned into a month and ta-da we are in Black History Month.

Dr. Carter G. Woodson (PhD, Harvard, 1912) noticed there was a lack of history documenting and telling the story of Black Americans in America. So he saw a problem and then fixed it. Quoting the NPS biography of Dr. Woodson, “The public knew very little about the role of African Americans in American history, and schools were not including African American history in their curriculum. He worked tirelessly throughout his life to remedy this problem, becoming nationally recognized as “the Father of Black History.” ”

Dr. Woodson lived and worked at 1538 9th Street NW, which is in Shaw. This would explain the statue, if you missed it, at 9th and Rhode Island Avenue NW. And the National Park Service historic house.

To celebrate the month I had pondered the idea of looking at his 1912 book The History of the Negro Church, because last year I did a deep dive of his Mis-Education of the Negro. There are some problems. For one the first book I ordered had type so small I could not read it. When I did order a book these older eyes could read, I discovered the book was very boring. I have discovered that The History of the Negro Church is in the public domain (yay), on the Project Gutenberg site and may have the Kindle read it to me. I seriously looked at Fivver for audiobook narrators. On the other hand I could just wait for the next round of DC Humanities grants and have them chip in for an audiobook production of Woodson’s public domain works. Feel free to steal this idea.

Instead this year, I’ll do one chapter or more chapters (not the whole book) of The History of the Negro Church, a second review of Mis-Education, other Dr. Woodson related posts and a Truxton Circle related African American history book that was pretty good. I may do a few WSIC posts and one or two 1930 Black Home Owners of Truxton Circle.

WSIC- Property Owner of Sq. 552- William R. Riley

When looking at the General Assessment for 1902/1903 one of the biggest property owner for the block bounded by 3rd, Q, 1st and P St NW, Sq. 552, Wm. R. Riley, not the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC). WSIC’s time will come later.

William R. Riley owned lots 1-2, 4-6, and 29-32.

552-LC-1903

Who was William Robinson Smith Riley? He was born July 19, 1817 in Appomattox County, VA and died in DC on January 15, 1893.

According to his obituary published in the Evening star. January 16, 1893, page 6:

William R. Riley Dead
A Well-Known Citizen Expires After a Short Illness

In the death of Mr. Wm. R. Riley this city loses one of its substantial citizens. His death occurred yesterday at his late residence, No. 7 Iowa Circle [Now Logan Circle]. Mr. Riley had reached the advanced age of seventy-five years. He was, however, a man of active habits, and while not exactly vigorous, yet he was seldom ill. His last sickness lasted only six days. On Monday just a week ago he was taken sick in his office in the Riley building, 9th and E streets. He was removed to his residence and by Thursday pneumonia developed which resulted in his death at 1 o’clock yesterday.
He had planned to leave for Florida today where his wife was staying. Mrs. Riley was at once informed of the illness of her husband and reached home Saturday morning. Mr. Riley had spent practically all his life in this city. He came here with his father from his birthplace in Accomac, Va., when only four years of age. When quite young he entered a dry-goods’ house as a clerk, and when still a young man he became the owner of the store in which he had started in life as a clerk.
The same business ability which marked his early career enabled him to amass a considerable fortune. He was identified with a number of the substantial business enterprises of the city.
He was the founder of the Arlington Fire Insurance Company, and a director in that company at the time of his death. For a number of years he was one of the directors of the Washington Gas Light Company. He established the West End Bank and until recently was the president.
He was a member of the old city council, was connected with Columbia Lodge of Odd Fellows, and was an active member of Ascension Church.
Six children survive him, two sons and four daughters.
The funeral services will be held at the Church of the Ascension Wednesday morning at 11 o’clock, and Rev. John H. Elliot will officiate. The interment will be in the family lot in Congressional cemetery. Continue reading WSIC- Property Owner of Sq. 552- William R. Riley

Mulatto vs Black in the 1920 Census

As you may know I am working with the 1920 census looking at and for Black home owners in Truxton Circle. I have noticed in the 1920 census African Americans are not called African Americans, that is a more ‘recent’ term. In 1920, we were described as either Black or Mulatto.

I have seen in the census where some members of the family are described as Black and others as mulatto. This confused me, but I tended to dismiss it because those descriptions went away in the 1930 census and I clumped Black and mulatto into one group for my research.

So one day I asked an expert if there were any studies about what made someone mulatto vs Black. As an undergrad I studied the country that is modern day Haiti and the term mulatto has a definition as well as other like terms (quadroon) recognized in law and culture. Outside of Louisiana, it is meaningless in the US if not offensive to those who take offense.

The expert pointed me to the Instructions to Enumerators.My mind was blown because I was under the impression that people were self identifying as mulatto or Black for the census. I was wrong, it was the enumerator who determined if someone was Black or mulatto. It was the enumerator’s subjective opinion that Morgan H. Dawkins was Black but his wife was mulatto.

Above I have an image of a snippet from the enumerator’s instruction book. It reads:

121. For census purposes the term “black” (B) includes all Negroes of full blood, while the term mulatto (Mu) includes all Negroes having some proportion of white blood.

I believe the African American is a unique person who is of America. Made in America with a percentage of non-African heritage reflecting the diversity of America. With a little bit of Native American here, a little bit of European there, and a whole lot of West African everywhere. So most everyone would be mulatto. I know what they meant….

This makes me wonder if I should take a closer look at census enumerators. Then I remember I have the rest of 1920 to do and then 1930.

Rando Truxton History- Love & Marriage September 16, 1952

So I was looking for other bits of information an came across page 20 of the Evening Star for 9/16/1952 and found an article “Marriage License Applications” on some rando website. A safer website would be the Library of Congress’ site Chronicling America for the page.

There are two Truxton Circle addresses in there. And as part of my effort to research the bejezus out of the TC here they are-

Isiah Thompson 50, 3432 Warder St NW to Susan Craven, 45, of 1431 New Jersey Ave NW.

David Tyson, 18, 1618 4th St NW to Willie West, 17, 2022 4th St NW.

So I went digging. DC native, Willie Mae West Tyson (link only works if you are logged into AncestryLibrary) was the daughter of William Henry West and Grace Jenkins, born January 13, 1935. In the 1940 census her mother was listed as a widow seamstress working for the WPA project. They lived at 2022 4th St NW. According to her social security info, she was also known as Willie Mae Ebb. I couldn’t find anything on her husband David.

Nor could I find anything I felt worth noting about Susan Craven or Isiah Thompson.