Tag: WSIC

Louis John Graser was born the son of German immigrants, Christian and Catherine Graser on November 6, 1875 in Washington, DC. Looking at his parents’ ages from the 1880 census, when the family lived at the edge of Shaw, he may have been a surprise baby. His mother would have been about 42 years old, many years after many women’s fertility window had closed.

In 1899 Louis married Nellie Harleston in the District of Columbia. The couple lived with Nellie’s family in 1900 on the 1200 block of 6th St NW. Louis worked as a tailor.

Louis was able to support his wife and their son on a tailor’s wages and live at 140A Q St NW in one of the WSIC homes for White tenants by 1910. Nellie kept house while Louis worked at a shop on F St downtown.

It was more of the same for the 1920 census. Louis worked as a tailor for wages. Nellie kept house, and their son Gordon (17) lived with them as their only child. But Gordon being on the edge of manhood was gone by the 1930 census.

Gordon between 1920 and 1930 had become a clerical member of the Episcopal church. In 1938 he was the rector for Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Anacostia. When he received a new appointment in 1940 to Holy Trinity in Melbourne, FL his parents followed him. In the 1940 census, Gordon was the head of household, over his sixty-some year old parents. Louis was still tailor, but had been unemployed for several weeks.

When World War II broke out and there was a draft, Gordon was in Buffalo, NY. According to his registration his mother was living with him. So from that we can assume his father Louis also lived with him in the St. Anthony rectory.

Gordon had relocated both his parents earlier when living in Yakima, Washington in 1935. So it seems fair to say the unmarried Gordon was supporting his parents in their old age.

In 1950 Gordon L. Graser was the priest for a church in Denver, CO and had his parents, Louis and Nellie with him. They lived, most likely, in the rectory with a hired hand, David Romero. At this point in his life Louis was 74 years old and unable to work.

According to an obituary in the Evening Star, Louis J. Graser died on a Monday on May 9, 1955 in Long Island, NY. He was survived by his wife and their son the Rev. Gordon Louis Graser.

Thousands of people have lived in the Truxton Circle neighborhood for over 100 years and they have thousands of stories. The goal of the Truxton Circle History Project is to find every man, woman, and child who lived in the neighborhood using every available source. The Project uses the 1880-1950 censuses, the power of Ancestry and every other online resource to discover and uncover neighborhood history.

Frank H. Payne was born November 27, 1877 or 1878 or Nov 7 1881 in Washington, DC to Laura Hill and Charles Payne.

Frank first appears in Truxton Circle in 1900 at 1308 North Capitol St NW. He was listed a being a single 21 year old plumbers apprentice. He lived with his widowed mother, adult siblings, one sister Fannie and  2 brothers and a boarder. Noticeably, a few doors down lived some other Paynes.

In 1905 he married Mary Matthews, the daughter of Irish immigrants.

In the 1910 census he was living with his wife Mary, not in Truxton Circle. He was 31 years old and working as a shop plumber.

In 1920 he was back in Truxton living in the WSIC rental homes set aside for White tenants at 202 Bates St NW. At this point in his life he was still a plumber. This time the couple had two daughters, 9 year old Helen and 8 year old Loretta.

In 1930 Frank was 52 years old and still working as a plumber. His adult daughters were still living with him. In 1931 while still living at home and working as a clerk, daughter Helen got married in NY state to drug clerk Francis X. Richardson, who also lived in DC.

By the 1940 census Frank Payne had moved out of Truxton and was living on the 100 block of Rhode Island Ave NE. It appears he had retired and the only one working in the household was remaining daughter Loretta who was a stenographer. Their lodger Franklin Cole was 6 years old, so he too was unemployed.

December 28, 1942 Frank Payne died. He was survived by his wife Mary E. Payne, and daughters Loretta M. Payne and Helen E. Richardson.

Thousands of people have lived in the Truxton Circle neighborhood for over 100 years and they have thousands of stories. The goal of the Truxton Circle History Project is to find every man, woman, and child who lived in the neighborhood using every available source. The Project uses the 1880-1950 censuses, the power of Ancestry and every other online resource to discover and uncover neighborhood history.

William Harrison King was born January 18, 1889 in Washington, DC to John S. King and Katie/Catherine Turpin. He was born into a White working class family. His father was a day laborer in 1900 when John King was 50 years old and he was one of seven children. By 1910, Wm’s father had died and he was 21 years old, working as a driver and living with his widowed mother and two teenaged siblings.

He married Emma A. Van Horn and it is in 1917 when the couple shows up at 140 Q St NW in Truxton Circle with the World War I draft registration. In that registration he claimed to support his wife and mother. Census-wise he and Emma appear with his father in law William C. van Horn in the 1920 census. At the time William was working as a salesman for a bakery. The house was one of the Washington Sanitary Improvement Co. homes for White tenants. Based on his obituary, the bakery was probably the National Biscuit Company, which is currently known as Nabisco. He sold National Biscuit Co. products to local groceries in the DC area. By 1930 the couple lived alone. They had no children.

They moved from Truxton Circle to 613 Hamilton St NW and recorded as living there for the 1940 census. In 1952 he died at the age of 62.

Thousands of people have lived in the Truxton Circle neighborhood for over 100 years and they have thousands of stories. The goal of the Truxton Circle History Project is to find every man, woman, and child who lived in the neighborhood using every available source. The Project uses the 1880-1950 censuses, the power of Ancestry and every other online resource to discover and uncover neighborhood history.

John Lewis Bladen was born in Washington, DC to parents John Jacob Bladen and Elizabeth Bentine Berry June 6, 1897. The family showed up in the 1900 census living at 1518 North Capitol Street NW. John’s father was a 37 year old German-American engineer. His mother, 31, was an Irish-American house wife and his sister Berry Mary was 5. The family was still on North Cap in 1910. John Lewis was 12.

During the WWI draft he described himself as self employed. He was living with his parents on North Cap. At some point he married Evelyn Viola Stark. In 1920 he was then the head of 1518 North Capitol. He lived there with his wife, his mother and 20 year old niece Mildred Norton. John worked as an auto mechanic and his niece a telephone operator.

He was in Truxton Circle WSIC housing for the 1940 census. The 1930 census? He was a garage manager in Arlington, VA. So he was back in the neighborhood living at 41 Bates Street NW. He was there as early as 1934 as a foreman for Jacobs Transfer Co. He lived with his wife and their three sons, John Jr (18), Robert (17) and Richard (10). John Sr. continued to work as an auto mechanic, his wife worked as a counter clerk and their eldest was a new worker.

In his last census, the 1950 census, John L., Viola, sons Richard and 10 year old Frank. John was still a mechanic and Viola a sales lady. When the WSIC homes were sold in late 1950, the family had to move. It seemed they moved to New York. John died January 20, 1955.

Thousands of people have lived in the Truxton Circle neighborhood for over 100 years and they have thousands of stories. The goal of the Truxton Circle History Project is to find every man, woman, and child who lived in the neighborhood using every available source. The Project uses the 1880-1950 censuses, the power of Ancestry and every other online resource to discover and uncover neighborhood history.

Charles Matthews Clague was born in Rochester, NY on April 27, 1880 to Fanny Matthews and William Henry Harrison Clague. At some point around 1899 William HH Clague moved the family to Washington, DC.

The patriarch of the family worked as a pressman for the Government Printing Office (GPO). In 1900 the Clagues lived at 59 New York Ave NE. The father worked as a pressman, as did his some William and son-in-law Johnathan Barnes. Charles, who was 20 at the time, worked as a private secretary. Charles’ mom and sisters Nellie (22),  Florence (17), and Mary (15) did not work outside of the home.

William Clague died in 1904. The youngest daughter Mary married a year later. She and her husband George N. Scriven had Charles in their home in 1910. The Scriven household was headed by George a policeman (35), with wife Mary (25). They were raising their four year old William with the help of Mary’s mother, the widow Fannie Clague (63) and sister Florence (27). However, Florence worked as a clerk at the GPO so, maybe not her.

Charles married Mary H.A. Smallwood in 1911 inn DC. And from Charles’ WWI draft registration we find him at 131A Bates St NW in 1917. This address placed him in the White segregated Washington Sanitary Improvement Co. housing for working class families. He worked as a gas fitter. By 1920 he became an electrician.

He was able to provide a place for his widowed mother, who was 82 in 1930, and his sister Florence and his wife’s brother William Smallwood. But this was one of two units and it is currently 1,810 square feet for the whole structure. Charles and Mary had no children so there were 5 adults sharing less than 1,000 square feet of space.

In 1940 he worked for the same company he worked for in 1917, but he was a repair worker. In his last census in 1950 he and his wife were listed as unemployed. I should note that unlike other wives, Mary kept working during their marriage. In 1910, before she married she was a saleslady at a packing store. 1920 she was a saleswoman at an electric supply company. 1930, a clerk at a department store. She was not working in 1940.

The couple died in 1950. Charles went first on May 12th at his home. Mary followed a month later on June 10th. In a way it was a blessing. They didn’t have to suffer through the sale of their home and scramble at their age to seek new housing.

Thousands of people have lived in the Truxton Circle neighborhood for over 100 years and they have thousands of stories. The goal of the Truxton Circle History Project is to find every man, woman, and child who lived in the neighborhood using every available source. The Project uses the 1880-1950 censuses, the power of Ancestry and every other online resource to discover and uncover neighborhood history.

Thousands of people have lived in the Truxton Circle neighborhood for over 100 years and they have thousands of stories.

Malcolm Stuart Beaton was born in Rocky Mount. NC either in 1913 or 1915.  Regardless, of the birth year, he shows up in Truxton Circle in the 1920 living with his unmarried aunt, Teresa E Andre, He was 4 and she was 59 and they lived at 54 Bates Street, a WSIC rental unit for White working class tenants. 

In this story, there are three Malcolm S. Bentons who are all connected to Miss Teresa E. Andre of 54 Bates Street NW. I need to start with Malcolm S. Beaton born in 1852 Scotland. This Malcolm married Teresa’s sister. He appears to have been the father of Malcolm S. Beaton born in 1895 born in Washington, DC. Then we have Malcolm S. Benton born 1915 or thereabouts in NC.

The first Malcolm married tailoress Lillie Emma Andre in 1880 in Washington, DC.  They had a son in 1881 named Malcolm Roy Benton, but that child died. They had an unnamed child in 1895 in DC when he worked as an electrician. It is very likely this was the 1895 Malcolm S. Benton.

When he was 15, 1895 Malcolm S. Beaton, lived with the Andre family in 1910, after the death of his parents. The home at 54 Bates St NW was headed by his aunt Teresa Andre, who then worked as a dressmaker. Living there were her father William, 86, and niece Nellie Andre, 26.

1915 Malcolm S. Beaton was a motherless and a fatherless child. He could not have been the child of 1852 Malcolm as he died in 1897 and his wife Lillie in 1900. The 1915 city directory had 1895 Malcolm living with Aunt Teresa at 54 Bates and working as a messenger. 1895 Malcolm was single in 1917 when he registered for the draft and was living with his Aunt Teresa at 54 Bates. He stated he had an aunt to support. He does not mention a child, who would have been 2 or 5 at that point. When 1915 Malcolm first appeared in the 1920 census as a four year old at 54 Bates. He and his Aunt Teresa were the only occupants in their unit. Over at 51 Bates St NW lived 1895 Malcolm and his wife Bernice Irene Jackson from Virginia. Bernice and 1895 Malcolm were assumed married in 1919 when their daughter Marjorie Louise Beaton, who only lived a few days, died. On her death certificate, they listed 54 Bates as their home address.

The 1920 census had 1915 Malcolm with a father born in DC and a mother from South Carolina. The 1930 census claimed his father was Scottish and mother from DC, the same as 1895 Malcolm. The following census did not track parents’ place of birth. It does not appear that Bernice was his mother and besides his name, there is nothing proving 1895 Malcolm is his father.

Both the 1895 and 1915 Malcolms, appear together in the 1930 census living with Aunt Teresa at 54 Bates. The senior Beaton was a salesman for a radio store and the the younger was 14. Probably in school.

June 20, 1938 Aunt Teresa died. Her obituary mentioned her nephew 1895 Malcolm, and her great-nephew 1915 Malcolm. However, her address was 3720 Upton St NW. She had left Truxton Circle prior to her death. In July of 1940, 1895 Malcolm died at Gallinger Hospital at the age of 45.

In 1934, 1915 Malcolm married Anne Shockency of 39 Bates Street NW, a WSIC tenant, while he was living on Todd St NE. By 1940 he was back on Bates with his wife at 39A Bates. There were 4 people in the unit. Mr. and Mrs. Beaton, their 3 year old son Kenneth S. Beaton and Malcolm’s aunt-in-law, Helen C. Sullivan. When 39 Bates St NW was up for sale in 2014, it was a 2 flat structure with a total of 1,976 square feet. A smidge less than 1000 sq. ft. per unit.

When World War II began drafting its young men, Malcolm, the remaining Malcolm, provided information about his birth. The draft card shows that he was still in Truxton Circle.

When 1950 rolled around the family had moved to SE DC living on Minnesota Ave.  Malcolm was unable to work, so Ann worked as a key punch operator. In 1954, young Kenneth attended Anacostia High, a White school.

Eventually the last Malcolm S. Beaton died in 1967. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery with this wife Anna. He served in the United States Marine Corps and fought in World War II.

The goal of the Truxton Circle History Project is to find every man, woman, and child who lived in the neighborhood using every available source. The Project uses the 1880-1950 censuses, the power of Ancestry and every other online resource to discover and uncover neighborhood history.

Charles Henry Aldridge was born in New York City December 14, 1891 to William Frederick Aldridge and Mary Ellen Daly, to English and Irish-American parents. In 1900 his father was a painter and Charles as an 8 year old he lived with older sister Lucy (10) and baby brother William (1).

He had relocated to Truxton Circle at 214 Q St NW by 1917 when he filled out his WWI draft card. He was living with his wife and child and worked as a clerk for the War Department. He had married German-American Margaretha Geider in 1914 in New York City.  In the 1920 census he was a government stenographer supporting his wife and two boys, Ralph (4) and Frank (1).

They remained in 214 Q St NW, a Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) home, through to the 1930 census. Since there is not a letter behind the number, they may have rented the whole property and it was not divided into two units. Charles died in 1938. He was the victim of a car accident three years prior and developed health problems as a result. He was the a section chief in the Adjutant General’s Office.

His widow remained at 214 Q St NW until it was sold off.

Thousands of people have lived in the Truxton Circle neighborhood for over 100 years and they have thousands of stories. The goal of the Truxton Circle History Project is to find every man, woman, and child who lived in the neighborhood using every available source. The Project uses the 1880-1950 censuses, the power of Ancestry and every other online resource to discover and uncover neighborhood history.