AOI Members have been asked to share their stories with their fellow members and excerpts of these stories have been included in the AOI monthly newsletters for the better part of 2023 and continuing. Here, we are presenting the unabridged versions of these stories to preserve reminiscences as the AOI founders intended.
WATCH THIS SPACE for further news and information about writing, recording or videoing your own personal story. AOI plans to provide sample "oral history" questions (for consistency among stories) and detailed instructions on how to write your story, make an audio recording of it or even create a video (assisted or a selfie!) AOI will then present our members' stories and reminiscences here and up-load them to AOI's YouTube Channel for posterity.
What better way for your friends, descendants and future humankind to learn about you?
Jan A.K. Evans
AOI's first female member, first female President of our organization and granddaughter of Washington brewer Christian Heurich recounts her life as the wife of a US Diplomat.
AOI's first female member, first female President of our organization and granddaughter of Washington brewer Christian Heurich recounts her life as the wife of a US Diplomat.
AOI member Earl P. Williams, Jr. recounts his days of growing up in the District, his time in both DC Public Schools and St. John's College High School. He shares his enthusiasm for researching and documenting the TRUE designer of the U.S. flag and other passions he possesses.
Earl P. Williams, Jr.
I have lived in Prince George's County, Maryland, and in the neighborhoods of Eckington, DC; the Kalorama Triangle, DC; Upper Columbia Heights, DC; and in Glover Park, DC, since 1984."
I was born in Georgetown, DC, on May 14, 1950. At the time, my parents, paternal grandmother, and I lived in rural Cedar Heights, Prince George's County, Maryland, which is a mile north of Seat Pleasant. My father was a night-shift pressman at the U.S. Government Printing Office, and my mother was a cook and baker at Lansburgh's Department Store, 7th & E Streets, N.W.
My parents and I moved to 219 T Street, N.E., in the Eckington neighborhood of Washington in the early 1950s. My father was the daytime janitor of our apartment building. We lived less than a block east of McKinley Technology High School, and one block west of the "plow pit" of Capitol Transit's No. 82 streetcar line. The plow pit was a manhole in the center of the streetcar rails where the streetcars' electrical power switched from an underground conduit (third rail) to an overhead trolley wire. Outbound streetcars switched to the trolley wire, and inbound cars switched to the conduit. The former Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad yard and former T Street Bridge over the yard were near 4th & T Streets. Metrorail's Red Line Brentwood yard is currently at this location. My mother homeschooled me during this period.
In December 1954, we moved to an apartment building at 19th Street & Mintwood Place in the Kalorama Triangle neighborhood of D.C. My father was the daytime janitor of this building also. We were the only Afro-American family in our neighborhood. However, there were two Afro-American janitors who were bachelors in two nearby buildings.
Moving to the upscale, predominantly white Kalorama Triangle was a turning point in my life. The difference between it and where I lived before was like night and day. I never knew this part of town.
An unknown consequence of my family's move to the Triangle put me in the forefront of DC's school desegregation efforts. At the time, I was too young to realize that the U.S. Supreme Court had desegregated D.C. schools in the Bolling v. Sharpe decision of May 1954, when I had turned four.
In the fall of 1955, I presumed that I would attend nearby John Quincy Adams Elementary School at 19th & California Street. But when my father took me there in early September 1955 to register me, the principal told my father and me that I couldn't attend Adams because it was overcrowded. She then told us that she was also the principal of James F. Oyster Elementary School but that it was a mile away -- in Woodley Park -- and that it was all white. She asked my father if the latter would be a problem. His response was "I'm sending my boy to school to get an education -- not to socialize." My mother was initially reluctant to enroll me at Oyster because of the one-mile distance, since we didn't have a car. The solution was that my father would escort me across the notorious Calvert Street Bridge (aka, "Suicide Bridge") and across the wide intersection of Connecticut Avenue & Calvert Street to and from school.
I was in the first handful of black pupils to desegregate James F. Oyster School in 1955, and I was the first to go all through the grades to graduation in 1962. I received an Ivy League education at Oyster, where I was introduced to children from other nations, Army and Navy "brats," and children of D.C. officials. After graduation, I attended Gordon Junior High School in Georgetown from 1962 to 1964. AOI's past president, Bill Brown, was in my homeroom and in most of my classes. (He was a stellar student who showed leadership skills even then.)
After transferring to St. John's College High School in September 1964 and graduating in June 1968, I matriculated at the University of Maryland, College Park, in September 1968. I received a Bachelor of Arts degree in American history in May 1973.
I was a substitute history/social studies teacher in the Fairfax County, Virginia, Public Schools during 1974-75; worked in the mail order section of the U.S. Government Printing Office during 1975-76; and worked as an editor at the U.S. General Accounting Office from 1976 to retirement in 2005.
I am the author of "Amtrak's Washington-New York Corridor: A Brief History" (Lanham, Md.: Maryland Historical Press. 1977); "What You Should Know About the American Flag" (Lanham, Md.: Maryland Historical Press. 1987/Gettysburg: Thomas Publications. 1989); and "Francis Hopkinson: Father of Our Flag and Much More!" (unpublished, copyright 2014). I have written numerous articles on the origin of the U.S. flag -- including an article for the National Archives and one for the New Jersey Historical Commission -- and my research has convinced historians that Francis Hopkinson did design the Stars and Stripes. My research has been uploaded to the following Wikipedia articles:
1. Francis Hopkinson.
2. Flag of the United States.
3. Great Seal of the United States.
4. Francis Hopkinson House, Bordentown, New Jersey.
5. Betsy Ross.
6. Betsy Ross Flag.
7. Flag Day (United States).
I have given many lectures on the history of the U.S. flag before schools, civics groups; the National Archives; the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House, Baltimore; historical societies; DAR chapters; at Gettysburg; and at AOI ("A Civil Servant Designed Our National Banner: The Unsung Legacy of Francis Hopkinson," June 17, 2016); among others. The Voice of America (VOA) interviewed me for a broadcast titled "Origins of the US Flag" in the spring of 2018, https://voanews.com/a/origins-of-us-flag/4410902.html
I have been a biographee in Marquis' "Who's Who in the East," "Who's Who in Finance and Business," "Who's Who in America," and "Who's Who in the World."
I received the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020; a Certificate of Appreciation from The Military Order of the World Wars, George C. Dyer -- Annapolis Chapter, March 20, 1996; and the Bronze Good Citizenship Medal, National Society, Sons of the American Revolution, John Paul Jones Chapter, March 20, 1996.
I have been a member of AOI since 2014. I joined AOI at the invitation of Glover Park neighbor Patricia Clark. I am a past member of the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) and am a member of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, the United States Navy Memorial, Smithsonian Associates, and the Washington National Cathedral Association. As a volunteer at the Cathedral, I manned the information desk in the Observation Gallery (between the St. Paul and St. Peter Towers) and ushered from 1998 to 2004.
I played the five-string banjo in the Earl Williams Bluegrass Band while at the University of Maryland in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In the early 1970s, I was a volunteer at the Smithsonian's summer Folk Life Festival on the National Mall. From 1980 to 2004, I was a member of the Second-String Bluegrass Band, which was based in Falls Church, Virginia. I also played guitar and sang in the latter band.
Earl P. Williams, Jr., March 2024
Hear More About Earl's Story - Click Here
Read Earl's recollections of the DC Streetcars as a child - Click Here
Earl P. Williams, Jr.
I have lived in Prince George's County, Maryland, and in the neighborhoods of Eckington, DC; the Kalorama Triangle, DC; Upper Columbia Heights, DC; and in Glover Park, DC, since 1984."
I was born in Georgetown, DC, on May 14, 1950. At the time, my parents, paternal grandmother, and I lived in rural Cedar Heights, Prince George's County, Maryland, which is a mile north of Seat Pleasant. My father was a night-shift pressman at the U.S. Government Printing Office, and my mother was a cook and baker at Lansburgh's Department Store, 7th & E Streets, N.W.
My parents and I moved to 219 T Street, N.E., in the Eckington neighborhood of Washington in the early 1950s. My father was the daytime janitor of our apartment building. We lived less than a block east of McKinley Technology High School, and one block west of the "plow pit" of Capitol Transit's No. 82 streetcar line. The plow pit was a manhole in the center of the streetcar rails where the streetcars' electrical power switched from an underground conduit (third rail) to an overhead trolley wire. Outbound streetcars switched to the trolley wire, and inbound cars switched to the conduit. The former Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad yard and former T Street Bridge over the yard were near 4th & T Streets. Metrorail's Red Line Brentwood yard is currently at this location. My mother homeschooled me during this period.
In December 1954, we moved to an apartment building at 19th Street & Mintwood Place in the Kalorama Triangle neighborhood of D.C. My father was the daytime janitor of this building also. We were the only Afro-American family in our neighborhood. However, there were two Afro-American janitors who were bachelors in two nearby buildings.
Moving to the upscale, predominantly white Kalorama Triangle was a turning point in my life. The difference between it and where I lived before was like night and day. I never knew this part of town.
An unknown consequence of my family's move to the Triangle put me in the forefront of DC's school desegregation efforts. At the time, I was too young to realize that the U.S. Supreme Court had desegregated D.C. schools in the Bolling v. Sharpe decision of May 1954, when I had turned four.
In the fall of 1955, I presumed that I would attend nearby John Quincy Adams Elementary School at 19th & California Street. But when my father took me there in early September 1955 to register me, the principal told my father and me that I couldn't attend Adams because it was overcrowded. She then told us that she was also the principal of James F. Oyster Elementary School but that it was a mile away -- in Woodley Park -- and that it was all white. She asked my father if the latter would be a problem. His response was "I'm sending my boy to school to get an education -- not to socialize." My mother was initially reluctant to enroll me at Oyster because of the one-mile distance, since we didn't have a car. The solution was that my father would escort me across the notorious Calvert Street Bridge (aka, "Suicide Bridge") and across the wide intersection of Connecticut Avenue & Calvert Street to and from school.
I was in the first handful of black pupils to desegregate James F. Oyster School in 1955, and I was the first to go all through the grades to graduation in 1962. I received an Ivy League education at Oyster, where I was introduced to children from other nations, Army and Navy "brats," and children of D.C. officials. After graduation, I attended Gordon Junior High School in Georgetown from 1962 to 1964. AOI's past president, Bill Brown, was in my homeroom and in most of my classes. (He was a stellar student who showed leadership skills even then.)
After transferring to St. John's College High School in September 1964 and graduating in June 1968, I matriculated at the University of Maryland, College Park, in September 1968. I received a Bachelor of Arts degree in American history in May 1973.
I was a substitute history/social studies teacher in the Fairfax County, Virginia, Public Schools during 1974-75; worked in the mail order section of the U.S. Government Printing Office during 1975-76; and worked as an editor at the U.S. General Accounting Office from 1976 to retirement in 2005.
I am the author of "Amtrak's Washington-New York Corridor: A Brief History" (Lanham, Md.: Maryland Historical Press. 1977); "What You Should Know About the American Flag" (Lanham, Md.: Maryland Historical Press. 1987/Gettysburg: Thomas Publications. 1989); and "Francis Hopkinson: Father of Our Flag and Much More!" (unpublished, copyright 2014). I have written numerous articles on the origin of the U.S. flag -- including an article for the National Archives and one for the New Jersey Historical Commission -- and my research has convinced historians that Francis Hopkinson did design the Stars and Stripes. My research has been uploaded to the following Wikipedia articles:
1. Francis Hopkinson.
2. Flag of the United States.
3. Great Seal of the United States.
4. Francis Hopkinson House, Bordentown, New Jersey.
5. Betsy Ross.
6. Betsy Ross Flag.
7. Flag Day (United States).
I have given many lectures on the history of the U.S. flag before schools, civics groups; the National Archives; the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House, Baltimore; historical societies; DAR chapters; at Gettysburg; and at AOI ("A Civil Servant Designed Our National Banner: The Unsung Legacy of Francis Hopkinson," June 17, 2016); among others. The Voice of America (VOA) interviewed me for a broadcast titled "Origins of the US Flag" in the spring of 2018, https://voanews.com/a/origins-of-us-flag/4410902.html
I have been a biographee in Marquis' "Who's Who in the East," "Who's Who in Finance and Business," "Who's Who in America," and "Who's Who in the World."
I received the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020; a Certificate of Appreciation from The Military Order of the World Wars, George C. Dyer -- Annapolis Chapter, March 20, 1996; and the Bronze Good Citizenship Medal, National Society, Sons of the American Revolution, John Paul Jones Chapter, March 20, 1996.
I have been a member of AOI since 2014. I joined AOI at the invitation of Glover Park neighbor Patricia Clark. I am a past member of the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) and am a member of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, the United States Navy Memorial, Smithsonian Associates, and the Washington National Cathedral Association. As a volunteer at the Cathedral, I manned the information desk in the Observation Gallery (between the St. Paul and St. Peter Towers) and ushered from 1998 to 2004.
I played the five-string banjo in the Earl Williams Bluegrass Band while at the University of Maryland in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In the early 1970s, I was a volunteer at the Smithsonian's summer Folk Life Festival on the National Mall. From 1980 to 2004, I was a member of the Second-String Bluegrass Band, which was based in Falls Church, Virginia. I also played guitar and sang in the latter band.
Earl P. Williams, Jr., March 2024
Hear More About Earl's Story - Click Here
Read Earl's recollections of the DC Streetcars as a child - Click Here
Robert Barbuto
Prior to coming to DC both my father's family and my mothers family lived in Connecticut after immigrating from Italy in the early 1900s. Our family first arrived in DC in 1927 and lived on the side street on Capitol Hill where the Supreme Court is located. First family was Giacomo & Grace (my mother's sister) Lombardi. He was a skilled master mechanic for tile, marble & terrazo and had his own company Standard Art Marble. They did all of the buildings in DC at the time, Congress, Airport etc. They became members of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church for Italians at 4th St. near where the HQ for the business was located.
We lived in two places in Southeast first Fairfax Village. Second Fort Dupont area. My uncle Dr. DeFrancesco Minnesota in Pennsylvania Avenue all three families live within 10 minutes of each other and would have dinner periodically in the different homes. I worked four summers with them in HS & College. Second & Third family was Dr.Vincet DiFrancesco (Eastern HS) (POW WWII) (escaped from Polish Prison Camp) married to my mother's sister Mary (Trinity College), 1934 same year my mother came to work in the Senate from Ct. Met my father Anthony (also from CT) GWU Civil Engineer. I grew up in SE DC in one of the roughest neighborhoods, went to St. Francis Xavier Grammar School, Gonzaga HS, Georgetown U. & then GWU for degrees. I joined AOI DC due to my professor Phil (cannot recall last name but well known at AOI-see Bill Brown). Along with Doug Ziegler we were trustees of the DC Historical Assn. (4 yrs) & then appointed as trustees of the DC City Museum where we raised $22 Million to refurbish the run down City Library at 9th & F st. NW now Apple. As you are aware from the class I attended that you taught I am a hobby historian focusing on the Federal Period. In appreciation of allowing our families to immigrate in the early 1900s, we have two 1795 Silver Dollars (2nd year of minting), & two sets, 7 volumes, (First Edition) of the Freeman life of George Washington and are in the hunt for two paintings from that period for our two daughters Gabriella & Mary Theresa.
Prior to coming to DC both my father's family and my mothers family lived in Connecticut after immigrating from Italy in the early 1900s. Our family first arrived in DC in 1927 and lived on the side street on Capitol Hill where the Supreme Court is located. First family was Giacomo & Grace (my mother's sister) Lombardi. He was a skilled master mechanic for tile, marble & terrazo and had his own company Standard Art Marble. They did all of the buildings in DC at the time, Congress, Airport etc. They became members of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church for Italians at 4th St. near where the HQ for the business was located.
We lived in two places in Southeast first Fairfax Village. Second Fort Dupont area. My uncle Dr. DeFrancesco Minnesota in Pennsylvania Avenue all three families live within 10 minutes of each other and would have dinner periodically in the different homes. I worked four summers with them in HS & College. Second & Third family was Dr.Vincet DiFrancesco (Eastern HS) (POW WWII) (escaped from Polish Prison Camp) married to my mother's sister Mary (Trinity College), 1934 same year my mother came to work in the Senate from Ct. Met my father Anthony (also from CT) GWU Civil Engineer. I grew up in SE DC in one of the roughest neighborhoods, went to St. Francis Xavier Grammar School, Gonzaga HS, Georgetown U. & then GWU for degrees. I joined AOI DC due to my professor Phil (cannot recall last name but well known at AOI-see Bill Brown). Along with Doug Ziegler we were trustees of the DC Historical Assn. (4 yrs) & then appointed as trustees of the DC City Museum where we raised $22 Million to refurbish the run down City Library at 9th & F st. NW now Apple. As you are aware from the class I attended that you taught I am a hobby historian focusing on the Federal Period. In appreciation of allowing our families to immigrate in the early 1900s, we have two 1795 Silver Dollars (2nd year of minting), & two sets, 7 volumes, (First Edition) of the Freeman life of George Washington and are in the hunt for two paintings from that period for our two daughters Gabriella & Mary Theresa.
Lloyce Ann West
While I did not grow up in Washington, DC, and my parents had no connections to the city, I have lived the past 40+ years of my working and adult life here. The first 35 years were spent living in Southwest in the Wharf area, while the past five have been spent living in Upper Northwest.
What drew me to Washington, DC, originally was the promise of foreign travel in my same job series and salary grade level within the IRS. After bouncing around the world, I look back and realize that I have been here longer than any other place where I have lived. That list includes a family farm in deep south Texas; a short marriage to a childhood friend, sweetheart and husband who was in the Army; a divorce and return to south Texas to finish my Bachelor’s Degree, and to begin a teaching career; a second marriage to a husband in the Navy which took me many places including Yokohama, Japan during the last years of his career.
After settling into an apartment on Massachusetts Avenue, NW, a period of classroom training on international issues that American citizens, as well as US persons, encounter when living overseas was in order. Next, I embarked on a series of official tours which clustered to the first half of each year. I chose to ask for tours based out of the IRS station in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – then out of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia after the US Embassy relocated. I did this because this was the only station where one could not go as a tourist as a general rule. The area included opportunities to work in Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt; Amman, Jordan; Damascus, Syria; Jeddah, Riyadh and Dharan, Saudi Arabia; Kuwait City, Kuwait; Manama, Bahrain; Abu Dhabi and Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Doha, Qatar; Muscat, Oman; Karachi, Peshawar and Islamabad, Pakistan. There were also some days added on, periodically, to train Unit Tax Assistors for the Army in Germany and Saudi Arabia. Later, the office relocated from K Street NW to the L'Enfant Plaza area, and I purchased a co-operative apartment in Southwest in the Wharf area.
But, living in Washington, DC, has not been all work and no play. Very soon after I moved here, I began to work on my family tree in earnest. I had a framework to begin working from because a distant cousin in Mississippi had traveled to speak with all of the various branches of the family that he could find after he retired from his law practice. He had arrived at our family farm in deep-south Texas when I was a baby. The typed family tree which he created was bound with blue legal paper and was itself typed on onionskin paper. Every person whom he had visited received one of these documents when he returned home from his last trip.
Now, those who read this who have also been bitten by the genealogy bug, know that family trees are never completed. They are eternally in progress. This one promised an American Revolutionary War participant, which turned out to be true. There were other generations earlier than the Revolution, as well. This adventure has taken me to gateway ancestors in a number of lineage societies. To date, I know that my family tree includes Huguenots who left France to naturalize as British citizens of South Carolina in the 1600s, individuals who owned land prior to the American Revolution which qualified me for the Colonial Dames of the Seventeenth Century, more than one American Revolution ancestor with others to be worked out on paper to the satisfaction of DAR, more than one participant in the War of 1812, several participants in the Civil War who were all Confederates as well as slaveholders, a person who was a member of Morgan’s Raiders during the War Between the States Civil War, a person who came to Texas during its Republic of Texas period with a land grant. There are no World War I and World War II veterans in my direct line because every time they tried to enlist, they were sent home to continue to farm and to grow food which was considered to be essential to the war effort.
Participating in the activities around these many lineage societies has caused me to delve very deeply into all parts of Washington, DC, with my fellow members over time. At a luncheon event down at the Channel Inn some years ago, I became acquainted with the Association of Oldest Inhabitants. At the end of the agenda for that day, members of other groups that met in Washington, DC, were invited to tell a little about their organization and give the criteria for membership. A very distinguished gentleman rose to speak for AOI. He was impeccably dressed in a suit, complete with a vest that displayed a handsome gold watch chain and fob. He had gold cuff links in his French cuff shirt. I did not get his name, unfortunately, but he was a “gentleman of an age.” As he introduced the name and purpose of AOI, he remarked, “One does not have to be THE oldest person living in Washington, DC, as am I, but one only need live in the District and we welcome all to membership who would like to join us.”
I did not apply for membership until recently. My partner of many years passed away in the fall of 2019 and as a consequence, I moved from our 1000 square foot two bedroom and two bath, co-op apartment in Southwest to a 300 square foot studio in Upper North West. As I downsized and reorganized my life, it seemed to be the best time to become a full member of AOI.
While I did not grow up in Washington, DC, and my parents had no connections to the city, I have lived the past 40+ years of my working and adult life here. The first 35 years were spent living in Southwest in the Wharf area, while the past five have been spent living in Upper Northwest.
What drew me to Washington, DC, originally was the promise of foreign travel in my same job series and salary grade level within the IRS. After bouncing around the world, I look back and realize that I have been here longer than any other place where I have lived. That list includes a family farm in deep south Texas; a short marriage to a childhood friend, sweetheart and husband who was in the Army; a divorce and return to south Texas to finish my Bachelor’s Degree, and to begin a teaching career; a second marriage to a husband in the Navy which took me many places including Yokohama, Japan during the last years of his career.
After settling into an apartment on Massachusetts Avenue, NW, a period of classroom training on international issues that American citizens, as well as US persons, encounter when living overseas was in order. Next, I embarked on a series of official tours which clustered to the first half of each year. I chose to ask for tours based out of the IRS station in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – then out of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia after the US Embassy relocated. I did this because this was the only station where one could not go as a tourist as a general rule. The area included opportunities to work in Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt; Amman, Jordan; Damascus, Syria; Jeddah, Riyadh and Dharan, Saudi Arabia; Kuwait City, Kuwait; Manama, Bahrain; Abu Dhabi and Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Doha, Qatar; Muscat, Oman; Karachi, Peshawar and Islamabad, Pakistan. There were also some days added on, periodically, to train Unit Tax Assistors for the Army in Germany and Saudi Arabia. Later, the office relocated from K Street NW to the L'Enfant Plaza area, and I purchased a co-operative apartment in Southwest in the Wharf area.
But, living in Washington, DC, has not been all work and no play. Very soon after I moved here, I began to work on my family tree in earnest. I had a framework to begin working from because a distant cousin in Mississippi had traveled to speak with all of the various branches of the family that he could find after he retired from his law practice. He had arrived at our family farm in deep-south Texas when I was a baby. The typed family tree which he created was bound with blue legal paper and was itself typed on onionskin paper. Every person whom he had visited received one of these documents when he returned home from his last trip.
Now, those who read this who have also been bitten by the genealogy bug, know that family trees are never completed. They are eternally in progress. This one promised an American Revolutionary War participant, which turned out to be true. There were other generations earlier than the Revolution, as well. This adventure has taken me to gateway ancestors in a number of lineage societies. To date, I know that my family tree includes Huguenots who left France to naturalize as British citizens of South Carolina in the 1600s, individuals who owned land prior to the American Revolution which qualified me for the Colonial Dames of the Seventeenth Century, more than one American Revolution ancestor with others to be worked out on paper to the satisfaction of DAR, more than one participant in the War of 1812, several participants in the Civil War who were all Confederates as well as slaveholders, a person who was a member of Morgan’s Raiders during the War Between the States Civil War, a person who came to Texas during its Republic of Texas period with a land grant. There are no World War I and World War II veterans in my direct line because every time they tried to enlist, they were sent home to continue to farm and to grow food which was considered to be essential to the war effort.
Participating in the activities around these many lineage societies has caused me to delve very deeply into all parts of Washington, DC, with my fellow members over time. At a luncheon event down at the Channel Inn some years ago, I became acquainted with the Association of Oldest Inhabitants. At the end of the agenda for that day, members of other groups that met in Washington, DC, were invited to tell a little about their organization and give the criteria for membership. A very distinguished gentleman rose to speak for AOI. He was impeccably dressed in a suit, complete with a vest that displayed a handsome gold watch chain and fob. He had gold cuff links in his French cuff shirt. I did not get his name, unfortunately, but he was a “gentleman of an age.” As he introduced the name and purpose of AOI, he remarked, “One does not have to be THE oldest person living in Washington, DC, as am I, but one only need live in the District and we welcome all to membership who would like to join us.”
I did not apply for membership until recently. My partner of many years passed away in the fall of 2019 and as a consequence, I moved from our 1000 square foot two bedroom and two bath, co-op apartment in Southwest to a 300 square foot studio in Upper North West. As I downsized and reorganized my life, it seemed to be the best time to become a full member of AOI.
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Martha Jewett
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Pat McCarthy: “How I Became an AOI Member” (2/17/2025) I have never lived in DC although my father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather McCarthy were all born in DC. My great-grandfather opened MJ. McCarthy & Son Plumbing Company around 1919 at rear E Street (yup, an alley!). But that is not why I joined AOI originally, despite living my entire life in Northern Virginia. The impetus was my great-great grandfather Jacob Veihmeyer was a long-time vice president of AOI and I believe one of the original members, although I have no proof of that. Jacob was a stonemason and had his own business. The number one thing I attribute to him is that his company built the upper half of the Washington Monument. I have a photo that appeared in the “Washington Star” that shows his construction “shack” with the Veihmeyer name in large letters on the roof directly in front of the half-built Monument. I would certainly assume that he was responsible for the AOI stone in the Monument, although again I have no proof. It simply makes sense to me since he was so involved with AOI. As a side note, Jacob won a bronze medal from the Metropolitan Mechanics Institute in 1857 for a marble mantel he had built. Later, his house was broken into and among the stolen items was this medal. The police captured the dastardly robber Julius Eppert and his wife on March 23, 1898 when they attempted to pawn some things including the medal. The medal was returned to Jacob on April 14, 1898 by Officer Baur. I have this medal as well as the police envelope with all of the information on it! His application in the AOI records does not give a date when he first joined AOI. It does tell us he moved to the city in 1849. He was born in 1819 and died in 1908. I gleaned the following information about his part in AOI from newspaper articles in the day. 1886 – a member at meeting 1/1/1894 – a member at meeting 1/1/1895 – a member at meeting 2/23/1886 – a member at meeting 7/5/1897 – a vice president 1/1/1898 – a member at meeting 2/1899 – at meeting 7/5/1899 – re-elected VP 7/5/1900 – elected VP 7/5/1903 – elected VP 8/5/1904 – elected VP 8/5/1905 – elected VP 1907 – elected VP 2/1908 Jacob’s death (his obit mentions that he was a vice president of AOI) Compiled and edited by Bill Brown, 2/17/2025 Click through the slide show below for images related to this story. |
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AOI Director Pat Tyson: A Recollection
In 1971, the nation's capital did not have enslaved people, but there was a divide between the "haves" and the "have-nots" In the Black race. It is hard for me to express what my parents had to live with and through. They never allowed me or Theresa to feel as though we didn't have what any race enjoyed or acquired, but they knew we were the "have nots." The most important un-written rule of life was to not copy any other person's life but be yourself and indeed do your best at all times. We lived 5 minutes by car from the Coast just off of Upper 16th Street in Montgomery County of Maryland/Silver Spring as described in the article. Doctors, lawyers, and Indian Chiefs lived in the north Portal Estates referenced in this article. Our little hidden neighborhood had no paved streets, no streetlights, and no running water. Some homes had a pump and a telephone. So, you shared what you had with others on your street. Montgomery County had no upper or middle class Black neighborhoods. They were all the same--poor and until Urban Renewal arrived in the late 60's, they stayed that way. We, as a neighborhood or community, were poor, but lived with dignity, respect, and by the Golden Rule. The County commissioners ignored our physical needs and our pleas for help. When Urban Renewal came, we qualified for that help. Thus, they destroyed the neighborhood and 60% of the families had to move somewhere else, but we were rehabilitated. The human spirit may have been dampened, but not the drive to succeed. Speaking personally, our father was the perfect example of a successful human being who ignored failure and headed for success. This neighborhood loved its children. Thus, they wanted and saw a better future for us. Thus, we were to be prepared for it and it wouldn't depend upon how much money we had or wished we had. D.C. had a lot more than we had in 1971 a few blocks away and there was, indeed, a Black Society. I say all of this to say our nation is ruled by money which does not satisfy the hunger of our hearts and never will. This nation is composed of many races and we will all live together or perish together unless we understand the meaning of our Pledge of Allegiance. So, it is good to have this old newspaper that causes me to remember who I was then and now. Note: Patricia Tyson and her sister Theresa Saxton are founding members of the Military Road School Preservation Trust. Below is the article to which Pat refers: 
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