Property Owners of TC – Truxton Is In Shaw

Property Owners of 408 Richardson Place NW

Realizing I have not done any house history for anything on Richardson Place, I decided I will try. Try.

So going to the DC Recorder of Deeds website I threw in an address, which I think still has a house on it, 408 Richardson Pl which is Square 507 lot 66.

October 1931 John H. and wife Mary E. Jeffries sell/ transfer the property to Herbert A . and his wife Beulah Simon.
January 1933 the Simons sell/transfer the property to the Washington Housing Corporation.
May 1933 the Washington Housing Corporation sell/transfer the property to M and S Company Inc.
April 1935 there was a foreclosure on the October 1931 loan to the Simons. Long story short the property is transferred to Arms and Drury Incorporated.
September 1939 Arms and Drury Inc sell lots 66 and 67 to Arthur E. and his wife Eunice G. Seitzinger.
January 1962 widower Arthur Seitzinger sells/transfers the property (along with lots 52-55, 67, and 805-808) to Virginia S. Collison and her sister Evelyn S. Gingell.

The Seitzinger family seems to be the more stable group of owners from 1939 past the 1960s as the sisters Virginia and Evelyn were Arthur and Eunice’s daughters. The Simons and the Drurys were part of the Washington Housing Corporation, so I am going to skip them. Then if possible, look at the Jeffries.

Arthur Edward Seitzinger was born April 26, 1895 in Philadelphia, PA son of William Michael Seitzinger, a factory machinist, and British born Mary Janenette Morse. He had one brother Harold. He served in World War I, in the Navy. Prior to being drafted, he worked as a druggist in Hudson Falls, NY. He was at an Navy Hospital in 1917 in Philadelphia and later transferred to the Marine Barracks at Quanitco from 1918-1919. In 1919 he separated from the US Navy (Pharmacist Mate 1) and in the District of Columbia, he married Eunice A. Gotwald.

Eunice Gotwald was born 1893/1898? in Washington, DC to government clerk Luther M. Gotwald and May/ Mae Harner. In the 1900 census, when she was 1, her parents were living with her father’s aunt Eunice Rider in DC. Eunice Gotwald got a license for her Crow (a car) in 1917. By the 1920 census her parents had divorced and she was living with her mother and two renters. Eunice worked as a typist for the government. Her mother owned 1860 Ingleside Terrace NW free and clear. Her mother died in that home in 1937.

The Seitzinger family were living at 1860 Ingleside Terr NW in the 1930 census. At that time Arthur, aged 34, was working as a Pharmacist at a drug store and Eunice, aged 31, was at home with their two daughters Virginia (4) and Evelyn (7) and her mother Mae (54). According to the 1931 city directory Arthur was a manager at People’s Drug Store. In the 1940 census the family was still at 1860 Ingleside and Arthur was still working at a drug store.

It is not until World War II that Arthur identifies as a real estate investor and how this pharmacist is connected to Richardson Pl NW. In his WW2 draft card he listed his occupation. By 1950, the Arthur and Eunice moved to Anne Arundel County, MD and he was retired. Real estate investments were a form of retirement income.

There’s no good place to put this, but the Seitzingers were White and nominally Christian. When Eunice died, her religion was listed as Protestant. Protestant is not a denomination. Also they were landlords and never lived in Truxton Circle.

Arthur Seitzinger owned a lot of property from 1936 until his death in 1962. I will just look at what was in Truxton Circle. On square 507 he owned lots, 52-55, 66, 67, 805-808, and Sq. W553, lot 0026.

Lot 52 is also lot 805 and 405 Richardson Place NW
Lot 53 is also lot 806 and 407 Richardson Place NW
Lot 54 is also lot 807 and 409 Richardson Place NW
Lot 55 is also lot 808 and 411 Richardson Place NW
Lot 66 is 408 Richardson Place NW and
Lot 67 is 406 Richardson Place NW

Over on Square 553W, lot 26 is 306 P St NW.

Eunice died in 1960 and Arthur died in 1962, but not before he transferred the properties to his daughters.

So the Jeffries. They were in Baltimore, MD and this may have been an investment property for them as well. I did find a Rev. John Henry Jeffries married to Mary E. Jefferies living at 412 10th St SW, WDC during the draft for World War I. Rev. Jeffries was a preacher for the Methodist Church.

John Henry Jeffries was born August 21, 1875 in Monmouthshire, Wales/England to Welshman and coal businessman Joshua Jefferies and Elizabeth Jones. He had a younger brother Benjamin and sister Amy in the 1891 Wales Census. In the 1920 US Census he lived on 10th St SW, Washington, DC with his wife and their two sons, Irvin and Franklin, working as a minister to a nearby Methodist Church. However in 1923, for their passports, they claimed Baltimore as their place of residence.

Rev. & Mrs. Jeffries. Passport photo, 1923.

Rev. Jeffries was naturalized in Baltimore County in 1905. In 1903 he married Anna Mary Ely, daughter of James E. Ely of Appleton St in Baltimore at the Fulton Avenue Baptist Church. At the time Rev. Jeffries was a junior pastor of the Great Falls Circuit of the Methodist Episcopal Church. It appears Anna Mary died in 1904 and I don’t know when he married Mary Ellen Cloman. In 1939 he retired as the pastor of St. Paul’s Fifth Reformed Church at 200 S Broadway in Baltimore, MD. After a long illness he died in 1942 at John Hopkins.

Black Church Owners of Truxton Circle: Bishop Verda B. P. Braxton- 244 P St NW

I was thinking about house churches. One was the Phanelson Memorial True Church of God Apostolic at 244 P St NW. In the realm of Protestantism, they are in the Pentecostal neighborhood. Pentecostals are the more energetic version of the body of Christ.

This blog noted when the property was for sale in 2008. However, looking at Redfin and the Recorder of Deeds, it did not sell until 2021. Normally, I like to end my house/people histories in the 1970s and 1980s, because I’d rather not write about living people. But the Bishop for this church passed away in 2020.

In my last house history for 244 P St NW was for Frederick B. Turner, who sold the house to Ernest Clinton Winfield in 1947. Ernest Winfield sold the house in 1961 through Margaret Hartung who sold it to Efteia and John M. Swagart. In 1962 the Swagarts sold it to the Progressive Investors Corporation. In December 1973, the president of the Progressive Investors Corporation, James C. Brown and its secretary, Raymond K. Brown, transferred the property to James C. Brown. The next year, 1974 James and wife Mary sold the property to Verda Belle Braxton and daughter Elverda LaVerne Braxton-Thomas.

The Braxtons borrowed $19,950 from HUD, via Lawrence A. Epter & Associates. In 1978, via Lawrence Mitchell, the property was taken out of Verda Braxton’s name and placed solely in Elverda Braxton-Thomas’ name. In 2000 Elverda borrowed $78,000 from America’s Wholesale Lender (yes, that’s the name) which she satisfied in 2016. June 11, 2020 Elverda disclaimed her interest in the property as the surviving joint tenant, since the death of her mother that same year. It seems her mother willed the property to the Phanelson Memorial Apostolic Church Inc. No big deal, because Elverda represented the church when it sold the property to the current owners in 2021. Elverda died October 2022.

So who was Bishop Verda B.P. Braxton? She was born Verda Belle Phanelson May 18, 1927 in Powhatan, West Virginia to Alfred Phanelson and Bishop Esther Phanelson. I am reminded that Pentecostals are very open to female leadership and running churches can be a family business for non-hierarchical denominations. When she married Alphonso James Braxton in Roanoke, VA in 1949, she was working as a hospital maid and he a laborer.

In 1950, according to the census, she was living with her widowed mother in Roanoke with her newborn son Alphonso (aka Phanelson A. Braxton, died 2021). She had her 2nd child Elverda in 1953 in Washington, DC. According to a February 16, 1957 Washington Afro-American article she was a clerk-typist for the Walker-Thomas Furniture Co. when the company integrated its staff. Skipping a few years, public records have her address as 244 P St NW in the late 1980s and mid 1990s. So she qualifies to be a Black Home Owner of Truxton Circle. In her obituary, it reads “She served as Bishop and head of the church for over 38 years.”

Redeux- WSIC-1950s Sell Off- 43 Bates Street NW

This is based off a previous blog post for 43 Bates St 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.

Looking at WSIC properties they tend to have a pattern where the properties were sold to a three business partners, Nathaniel J. Taube, Nathan Levin and James B. Evans as the Colonial Investment Co. for $3 million dollars. Those partners sold to African American buyers. There was usually a foreclosure. In 1956 Nathan Levin died and Colonial Inv. Co. vice president Harry A. Badt took his place in the foreclosure paperwork. Then the property wound up in the hands of George Basiliko and or the DC Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA). Then there were the odd lucky ones who managed to avoid that fate.

The 45 Bates St NW post had some confusion and hopefully in this update I can do a better job.

Let’s see what happen with 43 Bates St NW:

December 1950 (recorded Jan 26, 1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 43 Bates St NW to Elizabeth and Neal Nelson.
December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951)the Nelsons borrowed $2,525 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
January 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 43 Bates St NW to Mrs. Irene Brown, James E. Rogers and his wife Perlina Rodgers.
January 1951 Brown and the Rodgers borrowed $2,525 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
September 1952 Brown and the Rodgers lost their half to foreclosure and through an auction it returned to Evans, Levin and Taube.
Sept 1952 Evans, Levin and Taube sold the foreclosed half to Bernice and Hickman Leathers.
September 1952 the Leathers borrowed $3,173.94 from trustees Levin and Weightman.
March 1954 the Leathers lost their half to foreclosure, and like the last time, Evans, Levin and Taube repossessed it via an auction.
April 1954 Evans, Levin and Taube resold the foreclosed half to Leotta Francis, Isabell Forde and Rosalie Forde.
April 1954 Francis and the Fordes borrowed $3,186.77 from trustees Levin and Weightman.
September 1956 (recorded 3/14/1958) the Nelsons lost their half to foreclosure and ownership went to to Colonial Investment Co partners Harry A. Badt, Evans and Taube, though an auction.
September 1956 (recorded 8/27/1958, Doc 1958025810) Harry A. Badt and wife Jennie, transferred their interest in 43 Bates and other properties to the survivors of Nathan Levin.
March 1957 Francis and the Fordes sold their half back to Badt, Evans and Taube.
March 1959 Francis and the Fordes were released from their mortgage.
March 1959 (doc# 1959019387) Badt, Evans, Taube, Nathan Levin’s survivors and their spouses sold the whole of 43 Bates St NW and other properties on the block to Sophia and George Basiliko.
Between 1971-1972 Basiliko was released from several mortgages and the next document has the DC Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA) as the owner, so we are left to assume around 1970 Basiliko sold the property to RLA.
Around 1978 the DC RLA sold/transferred this and other properties to the Bates Street Associates. A contract (doc #7800024140) DC RLA and Bates Street Associates, Inc suggests the property was transferred around this time.

WSIC-1950s sell off- 45 Bates Street NW-Revised

I need to clean up the data on this old post from 2022. This was before I started noticing a pattern with the WSIC houses. I’m just going to focus on the property history and not the individuals.

From my last post, I mentioned I would look at a property that was transfer from the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) to three men, who then sold it to a person marking the exit of WSIC from Truxton Circle in the 1950s.

45 Bates St NW is on square 615 in Truxton Circle. During the time of WSIC’s ownership it sat on lot 134. Currently it is now lot 292.

I don’t have the exact date when WSIC came to posses 45 Bates and other homes on the block. In 1903 parties (George Sternberg and George Kober) involved with the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) owned many lots on Sq. 615. So fast forward to June 1950 and the property is transferred from WSIC to the Washington Loan & Trust Company, then from the Washington Loan and Trust Co. to business partners Nathaniel J. Taube, Nathan Levin and James B. Evans. The business partners borrowed $3 million dollars for Investors Diversified Services Inc. of Minnesota.

photo of property

So let’s get onto the property history:

December 1950 Colonial Investment Co. (represented by James B. Evans, Nathan Levin, and Nathaniel J. Taube) sold half of 45 Bates St NW to Kathleen S. and William W. Johnson.
December 1950 the Johnsons got a mortgage from (not named) Colonial Mortgage Co.’s trustees, Abraham H. Levin (Nathan‘s brother) and Robert G. Weightman for $2,400.
December 1950 Evans, Levin and Taube sold the other half of 45 Bates to George M. and Olivia V. Davis.
December 1950 Mr. and Mrs. Davis borrowed $2,400 from Levin and Weightman.
October 1961 the Davis household was released from their mortgage.
December 1961 the Johnsons were released from their mortgage.
July 1970 Kathleen transferred the property to William W. who in the next document transferred it to Florence Ann Johnson.
1970-2013 lots of stuff happened that I don’t care about.
December, Friday the 13th, 2013 Olivia V. Davis Estate, apparently represented by heir Sterling A. Richardson, who transferred it from the estate to himself.
January 2014 Richardson sold his 1/2 of 45 Bates to Cameron Properties of DC, Inc.
2014-2017 lien drama.
August 2017, Eric M. Rome, who was representing the estate of Florence A. Johnson-Morrison (who might have died in 2014) and Cameron Properties of DC, Inc, sold the whole property to 45 Bates Street NW LLC.

1920 to 1930- White to Black- 1721 New Jersey Avenue

1700 Block NJ Ave NW, 1930. Brown= AfAm residents; White= No data

In this series of looking at the odd numbered side of the 1700 block of New Jersey Ave NW from 1920 to 1930, I decided to look at the other end of the block. The change from 1920 to 1930 for most of the block was from white renters to black home owners. My post The sell off of the 1700 block of New Jersey Ave NW pretty much explains the why.

White Renters

There were three households living in 1721 New Jersey Ave NW in 1920. There were the Burgess family, the Matthews family and the Burtons.

Let’s start with the Burgess family. It was headed by William F. Burgess, a 33 year old chauffeur. He lived with his wife Annie and their three children, Della (10), William E (8) and baby Boyd R. Prior to living on New Jersey Avenue the family lived at 723 Morton St. NW during World War I. Continue reading 1920 to 1930- White to Black- 1721 New Jersey Avenue

Multiracial Family in 1920s DC- a Truxton Circle Story

This is a post for something in the future, so I will try to be vague, as not to ‘spoil’ that post. While doing some research for a Truxton Circle house, I came across a couple who appeared to have been in an interracial marriage. They were married well before Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act of 1924, which was used to outlaw the Loving’s marriage in the case of Virginia v. Loving. However, I discovered, with this family, race can be a fluid and changing thing.

Hester DeaN

Black and white photo of Hester Seeney credit www.mitsawokett.com — Hester Dean Seeney. Source- https://nativeamericansofdelawarestate.com/

Hester Dean was born January 28, 1868 to Catharine Morgan and Robert Dean in Delaware. Her parent’s history was recorded for the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Indians of New Jersey in 1980, from an early 1940s source. That history intertwines with the Seeney’s history and American Seventh Day Adventist history.

In the 1870 census the Dean family were living in Kenton, Delaware and listed as ‘White’. This is the opinion of the census taker, so they were either White or white-passing. From an oral history Catharine’s mother was a White woman. Continue reading Multiracial Family in 1920s DC- a Truxton Circle Story

WSIC- Related 118 Q Street NW

So I am looking at WSIC houses on the blocks between North Capitol, 3rd, Q and P Streets. Sometimes neighboring homes that are not WSIC homes get caught in the net like dolphins in tuna nets. This is one of them. I’m going to give it the WSIC treatment anyway. photo of property

The land records I can find on the Recorder of Deed’s site for 118 Q St NW starts in the 1940s. So lets start there:

March 1941 James I. and Mildred F. Medley sold 118 Q St NW (lots 26, 813 & 814) to Hubert R. Quinter and sister in law Mary B. Zetelle.
January 1946 Mary B. Zetelle, Mr. & Mrs. Gladys Z. and Hubert R. Quinter transferred several properties through Nannie D. Carr to remove Mary Zetelle’s name from the deed.
January 1961 Gladys Z. and Hubbert R. Quinter sold two lots 813 & 814 to Mercedes B. and Norman F. Manders.
Jan 1961 the Manders borrowed $3,500 from trustees William S. Green and Arthur J. Sherwin.
September 1963 the Manders borrowed $7,000 from the National Bank of Washington.
December 1963 the Manders were released from their Jan 1961 loan.
October 1964 the Manders sold lots 813 & 814 to the Diamond Housing Corporation.

I’ll leave it with the Diamond Housing Corp. because it appears to have either sold to another company or renamed itself. The paperwork doesn’t provide a clue if or when this happened.

Let’s look at the people who owned 116 & 118 Q St NW. Isabelle Mercedes (nee Barry) Manders was born a White DC native in 1926. She had a Catholic education, attending the Sacred Heart Academy and then Dunbarton College of the Holy Cross (check out their history 1910-1959). In 1948 she married Norman Francis Manders at Nativity Catholic Church in Brightwood. Norman was also a DC native born in 1927. When he married Mercedes, he was a graduate of the Merchant Marine Academy. In the 1950 census the couple lived at 935 Kennedy St NW, Apt 202 with their infant daughter. At that time, Norman was working as a painter and paperhanger (wallpaper dude) and Mercedes was a dance instructor. In the 1954 city directory the family was at 1715 Oglethorpe NW and Norman operated his own decorating business. The couple eventually had 5 children, later lived in Potomac, MD, retired to Florida and had over a dozen grandchildren. I doubt they lived in Truxton Circle.

Looking at Mary B. (nee Wallace) Zetelle and the 1910 census, she lived at 3101 14th St NW with her husband Antonio, step daughter (?) Gladys Magruder. However, in Gladys’ 1913 wedding announcement to Hubert Quinter, she is listed as a niece. The Delaware marriage record has her parents as Daniel and Blanche Wallace. Hubbert Roger Quinter was born in 1890 in DC. In the 1920 census the couple lived at the 16th Street South Brook Apt House with their two year old daughter. At the time Hubbert was an insurance agent. In 1930 the family lived at and owned 3228 Woodley Rd NW. Living with the little family was Gladys’ aunt, Mary. They lived next door (3232 Woodley) to Hubbert’s brother William K. Quinter, a “well known District Bar member” and lawyer. By the second World War they moved to Chevy Chase, MD. Hubbert was still in the Insurance business but this time working for a Real Estate firm. Mr. and Mrs. Quinter lived with their married daughter, their granddaughter and two African American servants. In the 1950 census, the family moved back to DC living at 4801 Connecticut Ave NW. At this point Hubbert was president of the Real Estate Mortgage and Guaranty Co. and noted for being an associate of Harry Wardman. He died of a heart attack at Georgetown Hospital in 1961.

Edit- 12/1/24- added that Isabelle Manders was white. I forget to add the race of the people when they aren’t African American. I also forget to add it when they are Black too.

WSIC Related- 130 Bates Street NW

Well this is not a Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) house. But I’m going to give it the WSIC treatment because our fav Greek slum landlord, Geo. Basiliko shows up, as does the Bates Street Associates.

photo of property

Let’s see what happens with 130 Bates St NW, starting with the 1st DC Recorder of Deeds doc:

August 1937 Martha E. Aue borrowed $2,700 from the Metropolitian Building Association (trustees Melvin F. Bergmann and Edmund M. Emmerich).
August 1937 Aue was released from a 1920 mortgage with trustees Patrick J. Welshe and Charles Schafer.
June 1951 Aue sold the home to Mary A. Furnary.
June 1951 Furnary borrowed $4,500 from the Liberty Building Association (trustees Louis C. Dismer, Julius A. Maedel, and John H. Stadtler).
July 1951 Aue was released from her 1937 mortgage.
May 1952 Furnary sold the property to Donald Quarles.
Quarles borrowed $4,415 from trustees Howard F. and Robert A. Humphries at 6% interest. Half of the amount was for Furnary and the other half for Rebecca M. Smith.
July 1952 Quarles and his wife Earline, transferred the property to Robert A. Humphries, who in the next doc transferred it back to them.
March 1962 the June 1951 Furnary loan was foreclosed upon and for $5,600 George Basiliko was the winner of the auction.
March 1962 Sophia and George Basiliko borrowed $4,800 from the Perpetual Building Association (trustees Junior F. Crowell and Samuel Scriverner Jr.)
July 1970 the Basilikos were released from the 1962 loan.
October 1980 the Bates Street Associates Limited Partnership, with Haley-Makielski Associates, George Holmes Jr. and Jack W. White sold the property to Delores W. Manning and her daughter Lawanna Manning.

I will leave the property history there. So let’s look at the people involved ending with the Basilikos.

Mrs. Martha E. Aue shows up in the 1936 DC City directory at 130 Bates (Ancestry says 30 Bates). Martha Rollins married William Aue in 1898. The 1950 census showed that she was a white widowed 74 year old female living with her 47 year old son Raymond Henry Aue and a roomer. Both she and her son were listed as unable to work. On his WW2 draft card he was listed as being blind. Raymond died that year and Martha died in 1958.

Mary A. Furnary was a bookkeeper at a Real Estate Firm according to the 1950 census. She lived with her parents who were Italian immigrants.

Unfortunately, there were two Donald Quarles in DC in the 1950s. One white, one black, and neither one I can connect to Earline.

This is not a WSIC house. It was not owned by anyone associated with WSIC nor the Colonial Investment Co, which purchased the WSIC rentals.

WSIC-Related- 114 Q Street NW

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.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 1541 3rd Street NW

Looking at WSIC properties they tend to have a pattern where the properties were sold to a three business partners, Nathaniel J. Taube, Nathan Levin and James B. Evans as the Colonial Investment Co. for $3 million dollars. Those partners sold to African American buyers. There was usually a foreclosure. Then the property wound up in the hands of George Basiliko and or the DC Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA). Then there were the odd lucky ones who managed to avoid that fate.

photo of property

Let’s see what happens with 1541 3rd St NW:

January 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 1541 3rd St NW to Essie G. and James W. Balthrop.
January 1951 the Balthrops borrowed $3,375 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
January 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 1541 3rd St NW to Mrs. Floretta L. Williams and Mrs. Mary M. Woody.
Jan 1951 Williams and Woody borrowed $3,375 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
April 1960, Williams and Woody lost their half of 1541 3rd to foreclosure. Through an auction the property returned to Colonial Investments Co owners, Taube, Evans and Harry A. Badt.
April 1960, as part of a larger property package, Badt and his wife transferred their interest in the property to Nathan Levin’s survivors.
March 1961, the Balthrops owned their half free and clear.
November 1961, as part of larger property package, Levin’s survivors and the owners of the Colonial Investment Company sold their half of 1541 to George Basiliko.
September 1967, widow Essie Balthrop borrowed $1,287.60 from trustees Ralph O. Weed and A. J. Mascetta.

Despite the half of the property being sold to Basiliko it did not wind up in the hands of the city.

Who were the Balthrops? I have no idea where the G. came from but Emma Jane Royal married James Westly Balthrop in 1908 in Richmond, VA. When their first son, William was one years old in 1910, Emma worked as a servant and James a butler. By 1920 the family was in Washington, DC with two more sons. In 1930, they had 6 sons and housed a nephew. According to the census they owned 631 Gresham Pl NW, which has less than 1000 sq. ft.

Looking into 631 Gresham Place NW (Sq. 3056, lot 57) I found one of those weird real estate things. This is not in my area of interest, but when you see weird stuff, you write about it. So you know about racially restricted covenants, how about reverse UNO card covenants?

See close up here- 3056-57

It appears the Balthrops and their neighbors signed an agreement to be able to sell their properties to African Americans. Okay moving on.

In 1940 the family, sans James, was renting a house at 611 Morton St. NW. At that point, Essie was the head and she had 5 sons, 1 daughter and one renter living in the home.

When James W. Balthrope died October 8, 1962, he died at home on Third Street. He was survived by many relatives. He had 14 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren. His funeral was at the Vermont Baptist Church.