Property Owners of TC – Page 3

WSIC- Owner of Sq. 552- Lycurgus and Sallie Adams

After writing about wealthy out of state owners with the name Eustis, I didn’t want to try to hunt down the other owners. But one owner had an unusual enough name that I figured why not. Lycurgus and Sallie Adams owned a part of lot 26 on Sq. 552. Lot 26, according to the 1902/1903 General Assessment lot 26 was in 4 parts. Lycurgus and Sallie owned a western lot. George W. Adams owned a portion of the lot with a structure on it. Levi Adams owned an eastern section. Edmund G. Hines owned a portion along the alley.

552-LC-1903

Lycurgus, also Licurits/ Lycurkus Adams was born around 1842-1844 and died in March 1922 in Prince George’s County, MD. He was an African American born to Josaiah and Elizabeth Adams in Maryland. He was drafted, but it doesn’t look like he served in the Civil War.

It appears that he was born and raised in Bladensburg, MD and he lived there and died there. He did wander into Washington, DC to get married to Sallie Nash (Mash?) in June 1887. He was a farmer, who owned his own land and lived on River Road.

His last will and testament, gives a sense of who another Adams was who also owned parts of lot 26. Levi Adams was his brother. His will directs that his DC property be sold upon his death. According to a search of the Evening Star, his executor Marion Duckett, did that the following year of his death in September in a public auction. Of a side note the farm he left his son, Joseph E. Beaman Adams of 907 Westminster St NW advertised to sell those 18 acres in October 1923. Lycurgus’ lot was sold to William Adams at auction. It is unclear how William was related, if at all.

WSIC- Owners of Sq 552-Marie Clarice Eustis and Louise Eustis Hitchcock

In all honesty, I have zero to negative interest in these two women, so let me just get through this.

At some point in time between 1903 and 1909 the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) purchased lots from these women so they could add Sq 552 to their project. Mary Clarice Eustis owned lots 15-23, and Louis Eustis Hitchcock owned lots 9-14 and 24. I’m going to guess these were nothing more than investment properties for them.

552-LC-1903

Who was Marie Clarice Eustis? Marie Clarice Eustis Hofmann was born Marie Clarice Eustis in New Orleans in 1866, if I have the right woman. She was the daughter of Senator George Biddle Eustis and Ellen Buckner Eustis. In 1887 she married her 1st cousin (ewwww) George Peabody Eustis Corcoran, the brother of Louis Eustis Hitchcock. They divorced and in 1905 she married Polish pianist, composer, and inventor Josef Hofmann. They divorced in 1924. She eventually died in 1956 at the age of 90 in Aiken, SC.

Louise Hitchcock Image 1 Her cousin Louise Marie Eustis was born in Cannes, France in 1867 to George Eustis and Louise Morris Corcoran Eustis (daughter of WW Corcoran of the famous Corcoran Gallery). She married polo player Thomas Hitchcock Jr in 1891. They both loved horses. They had four children Celestine E. Hitchcock Peabody (1892 –1935), Helen Louise Eustis Hitchcock Clark (1898–1979), Thomas Hitchcock (1900–1944) and Frank Center Eustis Hitchcock (1908–1957). She died in an accident in 1934 in Aiken, SC at the age of 66.

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

WSIC- Owners of Sq. 552 in 1902

In my last post about the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company I noticed that the WSIC owned Sq 615 but not 552, yet. By 1909, it looked like they took 552 over, with a few holdouts. In 1903, there were 32 lots.

In the 1880 census there were about 11 households on the whole block. Then in 1900 there were about 25 households, nine of those were home owners.

552-LC-1903

Lot                Owners
1                 William R. Riley
2                 William R. Riley
3                 Jos. E & Sallie B. Roach
4                 William R. Riley
5                 William R. Riley
6                 William R. Riley
7                  Mary E. Hess
8                  Baptist Home of D.C.
9                  Louise Eustis Hitchcock
10                Louise Eustis Hitchcock
11                Louise Eustis Hitchcock
12                Louise Eustis Hitchcock
13                Louise Eustis Hitchcock
14                Louise Eustis Hitchcock
15                Marie Clarice Eustis
16                Marie Clarice Eustis
17                Marie Clarice Eustis
18                Marie Clarice Eustis
19                Marie Clarice Eustis
20                Marie Clarice Eustis
21                Marie Clarice Eustis
22                Marie Clarice Eustis
23                Marie Clarice Eustis
24                Louise Eustis Hitchcock
25                Revere R. Gurley/DeWitt C. Chadwick/ Mollie Phillips/ Alice L. Wyckoff Trust/ Phoebe Hamilton
26                 Lycurgus & Sally Adams/ George Adams/ Levi Adams/ Edmund G. Hines
27               Frederick B. Jones/ Jas. B. Nourse & C.M. Jones Trustees
28               Robert A. Golden
29                William R. Riley
30                William R. Riley
31                William R. Riley
32                William R. Riley

It appears the main owners were William R. Riley, Louise Eustis Hitchcock, Marie Clarice Eustis, and the Adams family. Other owners of interest are the owners of lots 3 and 28, the last lots to be divided and developed. We’ll look at these people and see if there is any connection with the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company, the organization that will eventually own their land.

Black Home Owners of Truxton Circle: Lillian Sorrell- 206 R St NW-Dead End

Looking at the 1920 census there were two African American households at 206 R St NW. One was the Lorenzo McClane family, the other was widow Lillian Sorrell and her two minor sons. In the census Mrs. Sorrell is listed as the owner. However, when I check the Recorder of Deeds, she is not listed. Instead the owner was Ellen Fanny Burden, who died in 1929.

Ellen F. Burden was an English born single woman who owned several lots on Sq. 551 with her sister Edith Burden Hastings.

Anywho, this was a dead end.

Black Home Owners of Truxton Circle: Sarah Holmes- 1615 New Jersey Ave NW- Dead End

So the goal of this exercise is to look up Truxton Circle African American home owners in the 1920 census and find out as much as I can, and share it with you. In this post I hit a dead end, but I was sent on a chase and I’m going to share that with you too.

The Black American I was going to look up was Sarah Holmes of 1615 New Jersey Ave NW. She was a 49 year old widowed charwoman living with her 3 daughters, son-in-law and son. It was unclear if she owned or not in the census.

509E-LC-1909

I looked up her surname for Sq. E0509. I came up with a couple of Holmes. Of the female names that popped up were Nancy G. and Gertrude E. I eliminated Nancy because those records were from 1959-1960. This left me with Gertrude E. Holmes who had early 1920s records.

At times I have discovered women will change up their first names. Like myself, they may drop their first name for their middle name. They may go from Katerine to Catherine and so forth. I was hoping this was the cases, nope.

Gertrude E. Holmes was a white woman from Michigan married to Patrick Holmes and they lived at 1016 Douglas St. in DC. She and her husband owned several lots, on R St NW. So that’s a dead end.

George Basiliko Odd Notes

I’m going to admit this is a super dull post. Feel free to skip it.

So I looked for information about this man including obituaries. Obits are very informative. They tell you about connections you might not have been aware of.

From Legacy.com

On Friday, April 27, 2007, of Washington, DC, preceded in death by his loving wife Sophia; loving daughter, Katherine and his long time companion, Helen Verstandig and his brothers, Nick, Gus, Harry, Gregory and John. Survivors include his son, William and William’s partner, Marcus and his nephew and right hand man, John Swagart. Surviving siblings include, Marche, Oscar, Eftehia, Achilles and his loving brother and best friend Arthur. Also surviving are loving friends, John Verstandig and Joan Lipnick. He leaves many nieces, nephews, and life long friends.

Findagrave.com

Preceded in death by wife, Sophia Basiliko, in 1989, daughter, Katherine; his companion, Helen Verstandig; brothers, Nick, Gus, Harry, & John. Surviving are his son, William; nephew, John Swagart; siblings, Marche, Oscar, Eftehia, Aschilles, & Arthur. Interment followed funeral services conducted at the St. Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church, Washington, D.C., Tuesday, May 1, 2007.

Both inform us of Helen Verstandig, his late partner/companion, a relationship that does not usually make itself known in the usual genealogical resources. Legacy informs us that his son had a partner named Marcus, who is left off the FindaGrave site. Legacy said his brother Arthur was his best friend. Legacy included non-family, friends John Vertandig (relative of Helen?) and Joan Lipnick. There was another paragraph about the funeral and the church with Legacy, which FindaGrave has in one single paragraph.

I want to point out John Swagart, who is the nephew, of so many nieces and nephews, who is singled out by both Legacy and FindaGrave. His name has shown up in the odd newspaper article or two with his uncle George Basiliko, so they have done business together.

George Basiliko Keeps Showing Up in My Truxton Circle Property Searches Pt 2

When we last left I was looking at an Evening Star article in 1959 about George B. Basiliko’s plans to rehabilitate several Truxton Circle homes. The thing that caught my eye was that these homes were the subject of a post-Home Rule later rehabilitation project that was to take place in the Marion Barry years.

I decided to expand my research to the Washington Post and the Post calls Basiliko a slum lord. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s go back to 1959 and what the Evening Star said.

The October 3, 1959 article, Basiliko, with the help of of the Perpetual Building Association was supposed to rehabilitate 125 units. Several of those units in Truxton Circle. His target areas were specifically the 100 block of O St NW, the 100-200 blocks of Q and Bates Streets NW, the 200 block of P St and outside of the TC but in Shaw the 400 block of Warner. Despite the press, he did Jack.

The more I got into the Washington Post and Evening Star, I don’t know if disgusted or overwhelmed would describe it. Because it opened up a Pandora’s box relating to greater Shaw’s slum history. He profited off it. His target renters were African Americans. When he was found guilty of 8,000 housing violations, Basiliko and the city hashed out a deal. The Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA) bought many of his Shaw properties. And as far as I could tell he avoided jail time.

The Truxton Circle houses he sold to RLA were 47 row houses on Bates Street, 8 on P St, 9 on Q, and 8 on 3rd. He also sold one house on French Street and 33 properties on the block bounded by 8th, 9th, S and T Streets, in Shaw. It appears the money RLA used came from HUD.

One of those P street houses was probably 229 P St NW. It was featured in an article about the 8,000 housing violations. There were holes in the ceiling and the walls. There was defective wiring, plumbing, rotted stairs and missing doorknobs.

The RLA paid Basiliko $1.1 million in 1970 for 106 Shaw properties. What RLA did or didn’t do, is another story for another time.

Property Owners of TC- Harry L. Black

This was an earlier post, but I noticed it didn’t have an address.

So today’s owner from the 1933-1934 General Assessment snippet for Sq. 551, the block the NW Co-op and Mt. Sinai sit, is Harry Black (1884-1945). According to the snippet he owned lot 859. But a search of the Recorder of Deed records show he owned lots, 144-148, 154 and 155, which he bought from Dennis Lawrence of NYC in 1931. He also bought lot 218 from Warren F. and Maud G. Brenizer in 1922. Then other lots, 156-157 from two separate people in 1926. Lot 182 from Allen C. Clark in 1927. Lots 149-153 from William and Adelaide E. Muehleisen.

Lots 144-157, 191, 218-219 were alley facing properties, so I have no street for it.

Lots 182, 224, 226 and 227. I can’t find them on the 1919 Baist map.

Lot 221 was on 1st St NW, but the number was somewhere between 1618 and 1630 1st St NW.

So what do we know about this real estate mogul? Harry Leslie Black was born in MoCo, married to Nora Elliot (1881-1955), and as far as I can tell had no children. In the 1930 Census he’s a Dairyman, working for a dairy. So when he sells many parcels (more than listed above) of land to Fairfax Farms Dairy, Inc. it makes sense. He was listed as a proprietor in one census, so was he bought out? Was he planning on retiring from the dairy biz anyway? Was he an investor in Fairfax Farms Inc?

In an earlier version of this post I wrote that the Blacks lived near Truxton Circle, in Bloomingdale, at 52 Adams Street NW. On this go around I found him at 108 Florida Avenue NW when he was registered for the World War I draft. Sometime after Harry retired they were living way up near Friendship Heights at 3640 Fessenden St. NW, when he registered for the Second World War draft.

We’re getting close to the end of this series. Well maybe a season. I will get back to Black Homeowners of the TC and focus on 1930 and 1940 home owners.

Police of Truxton Circle- Thomas Lawlor

Here’s a quick story of Thomas Lawlor. In November 1882 Ofc. Thomas Lawlor, an Irish immigrant, who lived on 4th St NW in Truxton Circle, was at work and fell ill. Then he went home, and died.
Thomas Lawlor lived at 1618 4th St NW with his wife Ellen, and their two children Daniel and Mary in 1880.

The 1880 census didn’t ask if people were owners or renters. I only discovered that Lawlor owned the property because I was searching for the newspaper announcement that he had died. In addition to finding his funeral arrangements, I found a mention of a real estate transfer.

For some reason Thomas Lawlor, the resident of 1618 4th St NW in 1880, sold/ transferred the property (0509E-0053) to James Lawlor in 1878. I don’t know if James is a relative.

It seems to be a very Irish thing, of that time, to have something at the home of the deceased. It appears they departed from 1618 and made their way to Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. I wonder if the German George Glorius and his family, one block over, joined the procession? The Glorius family also attended Immaculate, which from personal experience, is a 15 minute brisk walk away from 1618.

There is very little of interest in his personnel file (see https://catalog.archives.gov/id/145835884). He seemed to have wandered into a grocery on North Capitol, where he wasn’t supposed to be, and was written up for it.