Evening star. [volume], May 22, 1932, Page 6, Image 70

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
Earl y Days in the Navy Yard Section
BY JOHN CL4GETT PROCTOR.
THE Southeast section tf Washington,
or what the old-timer would call the
Navy Yard section, has its historic
spots in comm™ with the other
parts of the Capital City, and there
are many families still living in this
section whose people settled there a hundred or
more years ago, and who can relate all about
the early days of Christ Episcopal Church, the
United States Navy Yard and Congressional
Cemetery from the stories told them by their
parents and grandparents. Of course, they
might not have everything just exactly right,
for tradition frequently errs in the handing
down of events by word of mouth, and still it
is always interesting to hear some early resident
relate events which happened many years ago.
Just where Capitol Hill leaves off and the
Navy Yard section commences, so far as the
writer knows, is a matter of geography that
has never been satisfactorily determined. For,
indeed, the latter is as mythical a territory
as Brightwood, Foggy Bottom, English Hill,
Swampoodle and some other parts of Wash
ington—one knows when he is in it, but he
does not know exactly when he is out of it.
But, generally speaking, anywheie east of about
Sixth street southeast and south of Pennsyl
vania avenue to the Anaco6tia River might
safely be called what is known to the old
Washingtonian as the Navy Yard section.
Until just recently probably the oldest build
ing standing in Southeast Washington was the
old Eastern Branch Hotel, occupied by William
Tunnicliffe in 1796. There the Washington
Dancing Assembly held its first ball in De
cember of that year, the first one recorded as
held in the city. In 1800 it became the home
of Capt. William Easby and subsequently
served as a saloon, a garage and a storage
place until it was razed. It stood at the south
west corner of Ninth street and Pennsylvania
avenue, the site being now occupied by a
gasoline station.
However, undoubtedly there are some old
buildings still standing in the Navy Yard sec
tion. One in particular that stands up well
under its age is the residence at the northeast
comer of Sixth and South Carolina avenue,
erected in 1795-6 by Capt. William Mayne
Duncanson, who held the rank of captain in
the British Army, and who came to this country
in 1794 with Thomas Law, and who, with the
latter, came to the Federal Capital in 1795.
PIRHAPS we are rather inclined to the belief
that just about now we are living in an ex
ceptional period, when we can lose more money
through bad investments than at any other
time in the history of the Government; but
this is not so, and if Barnum were living he
would still say that an easy mark is born
every minute and one dies once a year—the
only difference now being that the population
has increased and so has the number of
suckers, and it is also just as true today as
it was in the early days of Washington, that
the more careful the person approached some
times the easier he parts with his bank roll.
When Capt. Duncanson arrived here he
surely came at an opportune time to lose all
he had ever made, as did the other members
of the syndicate who contracted with "Uncle
Sam" for 42 per cent of all the lots in the
city. Capt. Duncanson parted with $70,000 and
undertook other obligations which left him
a poor man, and also quite a different person,
financially at least, from the wealthy gentleman
who had arrived here only a few years before
and who had his home, then a mansion, in
square 875, between D street and South Caro
lina avenue and Sixth and Seventh streets.
He was of the English aristocracy, well bred
and well educated, and his home was the
meeting place of the elite in Washington at
that time. His mansion, which was designed
by William Lovering, was in keeping with his
social standing and he had a coach house and
stable sufficient In size for his four-in-hand,
then quite the thing for men of wealth and
refinement. But the making of a fortune—or
the adding to one—proved an illusion, and on
July 25, 1809, a decree was Issued by the cShrt
directing the sale of his South Carolina avenue
property, with the dwelling we see today, to
Francis Scott Key as trustee.
On July 20, 1838, title to this property was
again transferred, this time to Maj. Augustus
A. Nicholson of the United States Marine Corps,
one of the best known men in the Navy Yard
section. He was a man of very aristocratic
character, of fine taste, and what the French
call a bon vivant. His entertainments were
attended by the most fashionable people in
the District. Maj. Nicholson was married in
1821 to Miss Lispenard of New York, by whopi
he had a number of children, among them being
Commodore Nicholson of the Navy and Maj.
Nicholson of the Marine Corps, both residing
in Washington now. His second wife was
Sallie Carroll, daughter of Daniel Carroll of
Duddington.
Subsequently, on June 2, 1856, a deed con
veying Nicholson’s holdings was drawn to John
M Clayton, United States Senator from Dela
ware, who died in Dover, Del., November 9 of
that year. It was Senator Clayton who, when
serving as Secretary of State in the Cabinet of
President Zachary Taylor, March 7, 1849, to July
22, 1850, negotiated the Clayton-Bulwer treaty
With Great Britain which provided for the
tonstruction of a ship canal across the Isthmus
©f Panama, and in which both parties agreed
not to erect fortifications here or to acquire
any part of the Central American territory.
SENATOR CLAYTON improved the old resi
dence by adding on the east front a ball or
music room for his daughter, and at his own
expense had gas piped to the premises from
some distance. During his brief residence here,
no doubt, many notable so ial entertainments
took place.
The next deed to this property, date^ April
H 1858, was to Louis Francis Pourtales (said
“The Maples, ” Erected by Capt. William
Mayne Duncanson—Old Anacostia Engine
House—Some Southeast Buildings and
Families—Marine Barracks.
OLI Anacostia engine house on site of present No. 18 engine company, Ninth
street betueen K street and Virginia avenue southeast.
to have been an exile of French nobility). In
1872 the residence and square were sold to
Mrs. Emily Edson Briggs, whose son, Edson
Briggs, was until his death a few years ago a
member of the Association of Oldest Inhabi
tants.
Mrs. Briggs, or “Olivia,'’ as she signed her
articles, was one of Washington’s best known
early newspaper women writers. She was the
wife of John R. Briggs, assistant clerk in 1865
of the United States House of Representatives,
and a personal acquaintance of President Lin
coln. who admonished him not to let his wife
come to the inauguration, for, he said: “It is
best for our women to remain indoors on that
day, as the bullets may be flying ” But Mrs.
Briggs did attend one of the White House
receptions, or levees, as those functions were
then called, and her pen picture of the martyr
President, written many years afterward, is
characteristic of her style. She said:
"At that time, as all Americans know, Lincoln
was the most jovial of men. and the contrast in
his appearance when I saw him at the levee
was startling. If you have ever seen an oak
tree standing alone in a field with its great
gnaried trunk and branches stretching heaven
ward, the atmosphere about it charged with
electricity, and the black, thundering clouds on
the horizon threatening any moment a war of
the elements, you will realize the impression
made upon me by Abraham Lincoln as he
stood there in perpetual fear of a dagger thrust
*
or a bullet, and the warning notes of inter
necine strife sounding from the South.
"Every line in his face evidenced the kind,
rugged character of the man. and every pose
of his gigantic figure indicated democratic
nobility."
IN 1871 Mrs. Briggs was representing in the
Congressional Press Gallery the Philadelphia
Press, along with such women as Mrs. Lippin
;ott, who wrote for the New York Tribune: Mrs.
McCaine, who was the correspondent for the
New York Herald; Miss Snead, the New York
World, and Maria A. Stetson, the Topeka State
Record. Nor did Mrs. Briggs observe any
absence of men of talent from seats in the
press gallery. A lew of the correspondents
were; George W. Adams (then one of the
owners of The Star), representing the New
York World; R. F. Boiseau, The Star; H. V.
Boynton, the Cincinnati Gazette; D. D. Cone,
Philadelphia Ledger; Frederick Douglass, Wash
ington New Era; D C. Fomey and John W.
Forney, jr., Washington Sunday Chronicle, and
L. A. Gobright, New York Associated Press,
who resided at 918 E street northwest in the
house once occupied by James Buchanan before
he became President.
O. K. Harris at that time represented the
Washington Patriot, of which James E. Harvey
was editor: S. H. Kauffmann, The Star; W. C.
McBride, Washington Chronicle; W. J. Mur
tagh, Washington Republican; Crosby S. Noyes,
editor, The Star: Hanison Gray Otte, Cdten&w
State Journal, wbo then lived at Nb. 10 I
street; U. H. Patate*, who built the UaJayett*
Square Theater, now the Belaeco, the Philadel
phia Inquirer; Don Piatt, editor of the Waaiw
ington Capital? Ben Perley Poore, Boston
Journal; H. A, Bveston (father at James Lj,
Preston), Hew York Herald; J. C. Proctor (the
writer’s father), Philadelphia Ledger; Arthur
Shepherd, Washington Republican; George
Alfred Townsend, editor. Washington Capitol,
and there were other men well known in the
journalistic field of that period.
Mrs. Briggs made some additions and im
provements to her South Carolina avenue home,
and had her friend, Constantino Brumidi—
whose wonderful historic decorations adorn the
“eye of the dome” of the CapUol—to decorate
her ball room, which he did in his magnificently
artistic way.
A NOTHER old landmark of much public
' ' service in the southeast section and which
was removed some time subsequent to 1901
was the Anacostia Fire Company’s building on
the comer of Ninth street and Virginia avenue.
Tliis company was organized on December 16,
1818, and we find by the following notice
printed in the National Intelligencer of that
date:
“Fire Company—The citizens of the fourth
ward are particularly requested to meet at the
tavern of Lawson Pearson on Wednesday eve
ning, 16th instant, at 7 o’clock, for the purpose
of organizing a fire company agreeable to law.”
Subsequently a meeting was called for Jan
uary 6, 1819, for the election of officers, but
the time was evidently postponed until Feb
ruary 9, when the following officers were
elected at Hemsworth’s tavern: Dr. Alexander
McWilliams, president; John W. Brashears. sec
retary; Robert Desher, treasurer; Thomas Hall
day, director of engineers; Robert Clark and
Cclmere Bean, ax men; James Friend, director
of ladder men; George Adams, director of
sentinels; William Prout, director of furniture
men, and Edward W. Clark, director of line
or linemen. At first this company was located
near the Branch Market, south of K street, be
tween Fifth and Sixth streets, but later when
this building was erected in 1839 on the west
side of Ninth street, between K street and Vir
ginia avenue, where No. 18 Engine Company
in now located, the company moved there.
In 1863 shortly before the company went out
of existence its president was Thomas W. Cook.
Caleb Burgess was vice president; William H.
Cress, secretary; James A. Gordon, treasurer,
and A. D. Shaw, steward.
From 1866 to 1874 and perhaps even later
some of the lower public school grades were
taught there, Miss Mary E. Armistead and Miss
Maggie E. Sexton being among the early
teachers. Miss Margaret E. Forbes, a retired
school teacher, but still active In the Society
of Natives, began her teaching career there in
1873 or 1874.
This building was a popular meeting place
for various organizations following the Civil
War, and the Knights of Pythias met here for
a long time. It meant much to the people of
the Navy Yard, who looked upon it as the town
hall, where all civic controversies were argued
and settled to the best Interests of all, and the
placing of the new engine house cm this site
compensated to some extent for the removal ot
the old building to which so much sentiment
was attached. Naval Lodge of Masons was then
meeting on the south side of Virginia avenue
between Fourth and Fifth streets. The Odd
Fellows had their hall at the comer of Seventh
Continued on Thirteenth Poor
The MapU^s, Sixth street and South Carolina avenue southeast. Erected in 1795-6, bf William Wayne Duncanson, and
owned until recently by the Briggs family.