Evening Star Newspaper, March 24, 1935, Page 52

F-2 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. €., MARCH 24, 1935—PART FOUR. HOMES OF THE FAMOUS HAVE ILLUMINED I STREET - Historic Section of City Brought to Attention in the Recent Decath of Be- loved Wendell Holmes of High Court. Traditions of the Old Riggs Mansion. By John Clagett Proctor.| STREET NORTHWEST, always a more or less important thorough- | fare, has recently attracted special | attention on account of the death | of Oliver Wendell Holmes, for many years an associate justice of ! the United States Supreme Court, who | lived for a long while at No. 1720, in a once staid old residential neighbor- | hood, now hecoming an entirely busi- | ness block. The great age to which Justice Holmes had reached, the many years | he had served on the Supreme Court | Ville Weston Fuller. In due time he | bench, his conspicuous military record, | Was confirmed, and since this great gained through his service in the Civil | tribunal could not decide just who | War; his ability as a jurist and his | should administer the oath of office, | lovable character, altogether, made | he administered it to himself, just as | him an outstanding figure of national the great Napoleon—whom he so prominence—but a number of years | Closely resembled in stature—had ago the Supreme Court lost one of its | crowned himself Emperor of the members, then living on I street, who | French. FEW years later, in 1894, Chief outranked Justice Holmes so far as| that body was concerned. This was | A the then Chief Justice, Morrison Re- | < Justice Fuller was confronted mick Waite, who died at his home, | with a case which caused him more 1415 I street, on March 23, 1888. than ordinary concern. It was the Unlike the final days of Justice income tax case, in which the Court Holmes, the death of Chief Justice | agreed the act was unconstitutional; Walte was entirely unexpected. In- | the Chief Justice voting with the ma- | deed, he was more than 21 years | jority, although he was appointed by | younger than the former, and until | President Cleveland, and knew that within a week of his death appeared | the Democratic administration then in to be in robust health. He was first | power was urgently in need of the attacked with a chill on Saturday | revenue which the act was passed to morning, March 17, but refused to let | provide. his illness be known outside the home. | ~ Later, in speaking of this decision, | He had attended, the evening before, | Richard Olney, who became Cleve- | nfresc:ptlon flven tl:y Mr}:, Hheaut, wife | land's Secretary of State in 1894, said: | of Senator Hearst, at her home and | <Nowhere, in my judgement, are his | “"‘;n‘:"' of the guests at the table. | eminent merits as the Constitutional | en the chill came on he called | chief magistrate of the country bet- | in the family physician, who hap- | ter shown than in the income tax | pened to be one of the earliest woman | cases of 1894. * * * An administration medical practitioners in Washington— | was in power with which the Chief Dr. Caroline B. Winslow, whose office | justice was in complete accord, politi- was for many years at 1 Grant place, | cally and personally. It sorely needed and who, as a follower of Hahnemann, | the revenue, an income tax would give founder of homeopathic medicine, had | jt- it as sorely needed the prestige gained a reputation in the city. | and popularity incident to the impo- | Several days after the Chief Justice | sition of a tax upon wesalth rather | was stricken he determined to go t0 | than upon consumption. The times | the Capitol—against the judgment of | ware of the hardest, vast masses of Dr. Winslow—and to read the opinion | people were unemployed and suffering | of the court in a certain telephone | to g degree which provoked the abor- | sided on I street. and some years | after the death of Chief Justice Waite we find Associate Justice Gray resid- ing at the northwest corner of that thoroughfare and Sixteenth street. Another old landmark, which has recently been removed, was the Riggs mansion, which stood at 1617 I street. It gave way to “progress,” and its site 18 now a gasoline and parking station. And, after all, this makes us think how fortunate it is that we can die but once. for if the early members of this great family of bankers could return again and see what has become of their old home, which was so near and dear to them. it no doubt would break their hear's, and they would die again. About all the present generation knows of this old Washington and | Georgetown family is that members | were once foremost in the banking business in this city, for many years | in association with the late W. W. Corcoran. The latter had as his first partner George Washington Riggs, who built the I street home so many years ago that one of his daughters, who survived to an old age, said there were but woods and commons to the north of them when the residence was built. THE Riggs family, originally of English ancestry, was an old one in this vicinity, first settling In |0 gigter She is the Woman of Many | 8t Georgetown, and when their business interests called them to this side of Rock Creek, as it did with George W. Riggs, they became residents of Washington when Georgetown had its | Top, at left: Country residence of George W. Riggs, later the Anderson cottage, Soldiers’ Home Grounds, where Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Center: Main doorway of the Riggs mansion, until re- Right: Riggs mansion, 1617 I street Proclamation. cently at 1617 I street northwest. northwest. Lower left: The center residence of Oliver Wendell Holmes, of vulcanized rubber, once lived. Lower right: Home of Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite at 1415 I street, New York avenue between Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets, near Four- teenth, and it was some time subse- quent to this that he built and moved !into the I street residence, a large, handsome, brick structure which has | just been scrapped, 5o to speak. | J IKE many of the well-to-do men of Washington, in years gone by, George W. Riggs also owned a near-by country estate, called Corn Riggs, and | when Gen. Scott was looking for a | place suitable for the Soldiers’ Home | of today, or Military Asylum, as it | was once called. he decided upon Mr. | Riggs' farm, where, on October 2, | 1851, the son, E. Prancis Riggs, was | boin, in the old country resigenc |later to be known as the Anderson | oottage. and which is still standing in good condition just to the west of the | Scott Building. ‘This property. which includes that portion of the grounds containing the main buildings, had as prior owners ‘John Agg. Leonard Storm and James Hoban, the last named the architect | of the White House: Benjamin Ogle Tayloe, son of John Tayloe. owner of Petworth, and the glebe of Rock Creek parish. The lake property was pur- chased from Asa Whitney, the prior owners being George Taylor and An- By John Lardner. OLD ladies smile when they pass Lila Vernon on the street. She arouses the maternal in- stinct in them. Little babies | gurgle and stretch out their | | hands toward her. She reminds them of their mothers. Schoolgirls stare at her with worshipping eyes | she is & big sister, beautiful, fine and brave. | Lila Vernon is all these things to | all thesé people—daughter, mother, Sides. Which is the true side? is Lila Vernon? I decided to find out. At the gate of the Offloff-Standard Who To them | house, 1728 I street, close to the where Charles Goodyear, inventor where he died March 23, 1888. thony Holmead. The prior owner of the Harewood property, which lies in the southern part of the grounds, was | the Rev. John Brackenridge. W. W.| Corcoran’s farm also became a part of the home grounds and other small | holdings were added to the original purchase. Brackenridge was the pioneer Pres- byterian clergyman of this city, having been ordained pastor of the first Pres- byterian church in this city in 1795 | and later ordained as the pastor of the second church of that denomina- tion here. The old Anderson cottage, once the home of George W. Riggs, is now one | of the Nation's shrines. Originally | Mr. Riggs’ holdings included about | 200 acres, but before the transfer to the home was made he had purchased the farm of Charles Scrivener, adjoin- | ing. and this also was included in the first transfer creating the nucleus of the present Soldiers’ Home grounds, | for which he received $57,000. Beside | the Summer home of Mr. Riggs there | was then a large and substantial | o . i g 4 § Country Estate of George W. Riggs Became the Soldiers’ | Home Grounds \While It Was at the Riggs Cottage That Lincoln Wrote ‘ Iz,maflczpano;z \ Proclamation. | occasionally and President Hayes made fullest extent. He was the last to use brick dwelling, with two cottages, & |t his permanent Summer home, mov- | it, for when Cleveland became Presi- | brick stable and outbuildings. | The Anderson cottage is best known | as having been the Summer residence of President Lincoln, and, after his | death. Andrew Johnson refrained from | | using it. However, Gen. Grant used it | Hollywood’s Woman of Mystery ° | plained the voung lady. “Lila is a | true democrat. Her servants are her | pals. The one on the left is her | chauffeur. Next to him is her groom. That's her husband just coming up for air. The two dogs are Fishbein | and Undelmayer, named for the two friends —two saints, really —who | started her to fame.” I uttered a low bray of excitement. | Then I produced pad and pencil. | Lila, noticing the gesture from the | pool, smiled her frank, open smile | me. I saw I had no secrets from this woman. “You want to interview me, don't vou?” she said. “You think the public | udio T was met by a cool, grave girl | Wants to hear more about poor little | case, but when he arrived there he found himself unable to do so, and | instead the opinion was delivered by Justice Blatchford. Undoubtedly this | effort on his part did not improve his condition, but rather tended to make matters even worse, for after return- ing home, which he did immediately, | he never left there again alive. | Pneumonia soon delevoped—as was | the case with Justice Holmes—and on | Friday, March 23, he died without a | struggle, which is unusual with this | disease, where there is so generally a painful choking from insufficient air in the lungs. The immediate cause of | death was given as heart failure, His | last words—uttered to his nurse, who | inquired as to how he felt—were, “I | feel better.” THE death of Chief Justice Waite was a shock to Washington and to the Nation. The White House was soon draped in mourning, the four great columns, in front of the portico, tive Coxey and Debs demonstrations, | and a decision of the United States Supreme Court for the income ux“ separate mayor and legislature. John Riggs of Ann Arundel County, Md,, seems to have been the pioneer | with blue eyes and a goitre. She in- | me. Do you mind if I go on with my | troduced herself. She was Lila Ver- |regular morning routine? You can would have been some answer to the cry that the existing order of things favored the rich and oppressed the r. “Further, the Civil War income taxes and various previous adjudica- tions seemed to sanction the tax. * | But the Chief Justice was not so made | as to see things that way. He gave the matter the most conscientious and ex- haustive personal study, and in de- ciding against the tax, sacrificed all other considerations to his concep- tion of his duty as an official inter- preter of the Constitution. “The tax was lost, his friends and the friends of the administration suf- fered accordingly, and the only gain was the conspicuous object lesson of the Nation's Chief Justice doing his duty as he understood it, irrespective of all personal and partisan motives and consequences.” | member of the family in America. He was born in 1687 and died in 1762. By his wife, the daughter of Thomas | Davis of the same county in which he lived, he had an old-time family of seven sons and five daughters. Just what became of all these children is | unimportant at this time, except to say that his fourth son, Samuel Rigj came a succesful farmer, and took | for his wife Amelia Dorsey. | Of this union came Elisha Rigg! | who, when grown, settled in George- | town and here { an international figure in finance and | one of our greatest philanthropists. Mr. Riggs soon engaged in the dry goods busmess, employing Mr. Peabody into partnership. Elisha Riggs married Alice Lawra- who was born October 6, 1740, be-| became acquainted | with George Peabody, later to become | as bookkeeper, and later admitted him | being nearly covered with black, end the windows and copings gracefully draped. On Wednesday, March 28, funeral services were held in the hall of the House of Representatives, with the Supreme Court, the Senate, members of the House of Representatives and high Government officials in attend- ance. Mrs. Cleveland and the ladies of the cabinet attended in mourning costume. The body was taken to Toledo, Ohio, for burial. Prof. Widdows tolled the Metropolitan Church bells while the services were being conducted and while the body was being conveyed to the railroad depot, and he also played dirges at intervals. Besides Mrs. Waite—who was in the West on a pleasure trip at the time her husband passed away—the Chief Justice left to mourn his loss two sons, C. C. Waite, then president of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad Co., and Edward T. Waite, lawyer, of Toledo, and an only daugh- ter, Miss Mary Waite. Chief Justice Waite was far from being & rich man, and when he bought the I street lot, and decided to build there, he found it necessary to borrow the money to do so. Originally a three-story and basement bay-window brick house, its front has been changed for business purposes, though in other respects it is about as it was when the Chief Justice died within its walls. How strangely things work out, for shortly, after the death of Chief Jus- tice Waite, Presidenf Cleveland sent to Congress the tion of Mel- During the recent gold decision by | the highest court in the land Mrs. Hugh Wallace, daughter of the late Chief Justice Fuller, was an inter- ested spectator at the session, and undoubtedly the division of the court carried her memory back to the court of 1894, when her own father read the decision of the majority, though lh:t'declllon was against the Govern- ment. AT THE time of the death of Chief | Justice Waite, John W. Thompson, | then president of the Metropolitan National Bank, lived close by, at 1419 I street, and the Mexican Legation was to the east of the Waite home. Secretary of the Navy William E. Chandler lived next to the Thompsons and John W. Foster was a neighbor. ) ‘Washington McLea: Catherine Donnelly. and Fernando ‘Wood also owned property in the block at one time. The owners and occupants of land on I street between Fifteenth and Sixteenth streets about 1887 were H. L. King, James Wormley, James G. Ber- ret, mayor of Washington 1858 to 1861, who lived at No. 1535; Dr. Samuel Clagett Busey, physician and historian, at the northeast corner of Sixteenth street; John Wickersham and Charles MacAlester. At this date, and for many years, stood at the southwest corner of Vermont ave- nue and I street the Arlington, one of Washington's most famous hotels in days gone by; removed to make room for the building which mnow houses the Veterans’ Bureau. son, daughter of James Lawrason, & prominent merchant of Alexandria, then a part of the District of Colum- bia. His two sons of this union were George Washington Riggs (born July 4, 1813) and Lawrason Riggs. In 1840, George W. Riggs married Miss Janet Sheddon, and at the time of his death | he left two sons, one of whom was E. Francis Riggs, and probably four daughters, of whom were Mrs. Henry Howard, Miss Jane A. Riggs and Miss Alice L. Riggs, all now deceased. At the time of the death of George W. Riggs, August 24, 1881, the banking of himself, his son, E. Francis Riggs, Charles C. Glover, Thomas Hyde (whose office was a little one-story building just above the bank on Fif- teenth street, as many will recall) and John Elliott, and to paraphrase what Thomas Jefferson sald of John Adams —Mr. Glover still lives! George W. Riggs also built and owned the old Riggs House, which stood for many years at the southeast corner of G and PFifteenth street, and which was removed when the theater buflding was erected on that site. In addition to his interest in the Riggs Bank he was also one of the founders of the National Savings & Trust, in which his son, E. Francis Riggs, was also identified, and it was through the courtesy of the latter institution and its vice president, David Bornet, that the pictures of the Riggs mansion were obtained. Evidently George W. Riggs trans- ferred his affections from Georgetown to Washington as early as 1843, for firm of Corcoran & Riggs consisted | | non’s secretary. “Come this way,” she said. | is waiting for you.” | “Oh, is she?” I said with a little | scream of excitement. My heart beat faster, | We walked through the studio | grounds, tripping over Reginald Denny, | ducking to avoid Jean Harlow, paying | no attention to Sylvia Sidney, Charles “Lila Gaynor. These people, idolized by millions, meant nothing to me just | now. “Which will it be?” I whispered to myself. “Will it be Lila the siren, Lila the home girl, or Lila the woman of mystery? Which, if any?” I was aroused from my day-dream by a kick in the shins. “Here we are,” said the secretary. We stood on the edge of a lovely private swimming pool, filled to the brim with crystal-clear water. The | tiles of the pool were mother-of-pearl. | At one end was a springboard of in- | laid mahogany. At the other end a | | Bickford, Karloff, Lubitsch and Janet and Johnnie.” “That's Lila's favorite song” ex- plained the secretary. “She loves to have it played when she swims.” When she swims. I understood that. But she wasn't swimming now. There Wwas no one in the pool except three men and two airedales. Where was Lila? A TRILL of girlish laughter sounded not far away. From a door in the studio bounded a tall, free, gazelle-like figure, clad in a bathing suit of gold lame, & white dressing gown with a gold monogram, gold sandals and a rubber cap which hid the famous nicotine-blond curls. If it hadn’t been for her smile and those unmistakable eyes—are they blue, green, red, or yellow?—I might not have recognized Lila Vernon. “Hello,” she said, jumping into the L. pool. “Hahzit,” dent. ‘This was the most dangerous woman in Hollywood! This was the sombre, sophisticated siren of six continents! This was Lila Vernon (born Bridget Flaherty in Erie, Pa.). I rubbed my eyes. Why, she was Just & merry, unspoiled child. “Who are those people in the pool?” I asked the secretary. “And those dogs, who are they?” gurgled your correspon- string quartette was playing “P‘nnkiei ;Jult ask me questions while I work. | McGillicuddy, bring the fan mail.” | The secretary went away and I moistened the point of my pencil. “What of marriage?” I asked Lila | | Vernon, with a faint squeal of in- terest. | “Marriage!” her laugh was like water rippling over a bed of pebbles. | “I have no time to think of marriage | inow. You musn't believe all the= | things you hear. Hugh,”—she waved her hand toward her husband—*"is all | I need. He makes me happy. I | shan’t marry again for ages. Besides,” | she added coyly, “no one has asked me.” | We laughed together at this. | “You must want to know what sort | of life I live,” Lila went on, changing | her smile for an expression of be- | witching earnestness. “My life is my | own—but it is also my public’s. What- ever they ask about me, I tell.” So she told. And I listened, spell- bound, to this warm, fragrant, homely, simple record of one woman's life. When not working, she is up with | the lark. A family gathering, a plunge in the pool, her fan mail, and | then off to the bowling alleys—for Lila Vernon has been an ardent bowler ever since the days when, as a tot, she used to set up pins in Hanlon's Barbecue & Sports Palace in Erie. She has other hobbies. She sews, | stuffs owls, collects pewter and paints | miniagures on pinheads. After din- ner, which is likely to feature simple food like pot roast, baked beans or truffles, she sits down to a rubber of | bridge or a friendly wrestling match with her chef. The chef’s day off is a grand day for Lila. On that day her husband goes into the kitchen and cooks fried chicken and hot biscuits; Lila swears that no one can match him for those dishes. “And then my children,” she told me. “My children come first of all. They mean everything to me. Early in the evening, before they go to bed, I have a romp with Susan and little what's-his-name. What is the child’s name, Hugh?” “Leonard,” said her husband. Lila Vernon's eyes grew big with affection. ES, little Leonard,” she said. I| watched, fascinated, as mother Many unpomn‘mh bhave re-|we find him u'l'nu residing oo} -mx‘m bousebold stafl,” ex- mun'wumdommh ing into it early every Spring in order | to escape, as far as possible, the heat of the city. Garfield did not occupy the cottage, but President Arthur, who filled out his term, used it during his administration and enjoyed it to the dent he purchased a country estate on ‘Woodley lane and lived there in warm weather during his two terms. Since then no President has occupled the cottage. ‘Though it is said that President Buchanan occupied the Anderson cot- age during a part of his administra- | tion, from 1857 to 1861. yet this state- that beautiful face. “Little Leonard, | who must be 3 years old now, or 6, or something.” ‘There was silence in the studio gar- den as we thought of the little tyke. growing up like other children in the mad, bright town of Hollywood. | ‘This, I thought, is the real Lila Vernon. Mother—wife—artist. The secretary came back, followed by a small motor truck full of mail. | Lila Vernon climbed out of the pool to watch the men unload. | “My fans,” she told me, her eyes | shining with gratitude, “spend $2.000 | a month for stamps to send me let- | ters. I don't know what I've done to deserve such friendship and devotion. | I do all I can to repay it. I read | every letter. Every letter gets an answer. I must keep faith with them all, Read & few, McGillicuddy. Not too many, I have a headache.” The secretary’s eyes shone with loy- | alty as she ripped open the envelopes. | She read a letter: “‘You have been hurt enough, Miss | Vernon. You have a greater sensitivity | and a deeper versatility than any ac- | tress on the screen. We all love you | here in Kalamazoo.'"” Lila Vernon bent her head slightly and brushed away a tear. The secre- | tary read another letter. ““The trouper and the woman in | you will always shine through, Lila Vernon. Please, please, give us more | plctures like “Midnight Bells” and | “Under the Cheesecloth.” We can't get enough of them.’” Miss Vernon choked down a sob or | two, possibly three, | “Read on,” she said. “This is the | most beautiful hour in my day.” “*“To what purpose,’” read the sec- retary, *‘does this meaningless figure | appear on the horizon of movieland? Lila Vernon's looks and mentality are sufficient proof of the idiotic trend in Hollywood. Confronted with her sac- | charine and feeble attempts to act, the public—"" | “That's enough,” said Lila Vernon. | “Throw it away. Burn it first and | then throw it away.” | I looked with admiration at this| woman. In her countenance there was sorrow and reproach, but no an- | ger. She stood a moment, lost in thought. Then she spoke. Her voice was silvery. Her forehead was clear. “My first duty is to my public,” she said. “Desperately shy by nature, I fight my shyness: for the sake of the people who love me. I must go to theaters and previews because the pro- ducers ask it. But I whisk in and out, disguising myself with a pair of dark glasses or a heavy beard. I'm abnormally sensitive.” And sensitive she looked, as she | stood there poised on the edge of the | pool. Her eyes—were they blue, green, red or yellow?—looked out toward the horizon, seeing and yet not seeing. That was the last glimpse I had of her, ‘That was the true Lila Vernon. As I left the studio & shoe whizzed | past my ear from behind. Lila had thrown it. It was her playfulness, the playfulness of the woman and artist who is still a girl. I picked up the shoe and threw it back, narrowly miss- ing the loveliest jaw in Hollywood. ‘mmn | of | ment is questioned, and the assertion comes from authentic source that it was the governor's house, to the west of the cottage, that was used by Lin- coln's predecessor. LINCOLN'S occupancy of the An- derson cottage. however. is what has given to it the greatest historic value, for it was here, in July, 1862 that he prepared the original draft the emancipation proclamation which he issued following the Battle of Antietam. The accuracy of this statement is vouched for by Mr. Lincoln in his own words. when he says: “I put the draft of the proclamation aside, waiting for & victory. Well, the next news we had was of Pope's disaster at Bull Run. Things looked darker than ever. Finally came the week of the Battle of Antietam. I determined to wait no longer. The news came, 1 think, on Wednesday, that the ad- vantage was on our side. I was then staying at the Soldiers’ Home. Here I finished writing the second draft of the proclamation; came up on Saturday: called the cabinet together to hear it. and it was published the following Monday. I made a solemn vow before God that if Gen. Lee was driven back from Maryland, I would crown the result by the declara- tion of freedom to the slaves.” It is said this cottage was erected in 1810, that it now contains 12 rooms, the same number it contained when Lincoln occupied it, and that it is identical with that period, no changes having been made to the building since then. President Lincoln’s bedroom is on the second floor of the cottage and is the largest room in the house. Two large front windows open directly over the porch, and a splendid view of the city is obtained. Immediately beneath the bedroom is President Lincoln’s sitting room. This opens directly upon the front porch of the cottage. Not only should our own people be familiar with this historic building, but visitors to the city should not go away without seeing it. CORNER which meant much to early Washington, near the Riggs mansion, was the southwest corner of I and Seventeenth streets, now busi- ness property, for here was located one of the first school houses in the city. Its construction was authorized October 27, 1806. and it was soon thereafter erected. It was a one- story building. 50 feet long and 20 feet wide, and cost $1021.72—quite a difference in size and cost from our modern schools. The ground be- longed to the Federal Government, and was not purchased by the Dis- trict until 1821, when the United States was given $100 for the lot, which was used by the Government in building an iron fence to inclose | the park around the Capitol. In 1832 the building and ground were sold by Mayor John P. Van Ness for $309, and, according to the late Albion K. Parris, it served for awhile as a Quaker meeting house, later be- coming a private school. Of this school Mr. Parris has said: “In this building, old and time-worn place, two Northern sisters conducted a private school for small chiidren. We studied litile and played much, as I pleasantly remember, but in the period of my early school life at the Pecks I clearly recollect the day Rich- mond was surrendered to the Federals, xlun.nmncnwu.nwmu- missed for a holiday in honor of the victory, and then few days later, as the sisters, Anna and Julia, were trying hard to impress us with the | importance of a knowledge of the three rules, a :mart young captain, in uni- form, rushed into the school and gave Julia or Anna—no matter which—a good hug and a loud smack, and school was over gain for that day, and the war, t0o. God bless the memory of these good women of so long ago.” This was not the cnly amusing thing which took place on this corner, for an old item tells us that on August 5, 1865, an “inebriated major in full regimentals rode up to the curb, and, dismounting, threw the reins to a colored boy apparently some 12 years old, standing by. On his return, with ditficulty he regained the reins and mounted, and handing a 10-cent pos- tal note to the (wculd be) boy, who failed to reach his hand to receive it, the major indulged in an oath, tell- ing the iron boy, if he was too lazy to reach for it he should not have it.” (For the benefit of those not old enough o be familiar with the days when horses were used in Washing- ton and elsewhere for travel, instead of automobiles, it might be well to explain that these iron boys once served as hitching posts in front of several buildings in this city, and re- sembled a small colored boy in size and featurss.) 'HE old frame school house which stood here for many years was torn down on May 7, 1873, and on the site was.erected the nendsome i home of Anthony Pollok, a patent at- | torney, whose wife evidently enter- | tained lavishly, as might be judged | from a statement made in 1880 that | she gave five “at homes” during the | month of March. A reference to | the house says: “The Polloks’ recently | built residence is a marvel of archi- tectural beauty, and its drawing rooms are filled with objects of art and | bric-a-brac, beyond which is a con- servatory filled with rare and fragrant | plants.” - The writer confesses he is unable to connect this Mr. Pollok with early members of that family name in Washington, the first of whom was | Isaac “Polock.” as the name is spelled by Allen C. Clark in his “Greenleaf | and Law,” where he says: “Morrison | and Nicholson conveyed. December 28, 795, to Isaac Polock, for thirty-four | thousand dollars all their property in the square, and he completed the six buildings.” and in the National Intelligencer of December 28, 1801, we | find him advertising his lots for sale. | In 1797 he bought of Uriah Forrest | the old building on Q street known as Dumbarton House, formerly Bellevue. The census of Georgetown for 1800 | shows that he had a large family, and | Mrs. Thornton, in her diary for that | year, says he had a son David, who, in | turn, had several sisters. Isaac Polock | had as sister-in-law Mrs. Minus, who had a daughter, and a Mrs. Jacobs of the same relationship, from New York The Polocks were foremost people in the District at the period of the re- moval of the Capital to this city, but just what later became of Issac, the original settler, is unknown. Wiliam W. Birth, writing about the Six Buildings in 1901, when he was in his 93d year, says: “Preceding Mr. Rush, Mr. Pollock, a wealthy Jew, oc- cupied this house,” referring to a resi- dence once occupied by Richard Rush. “He died there,” continues Mr. Birth, “and was buried in reservation 4, Ob- servatory Hill. * * * There was a large headstone to Mr. Pollock’s grave. * * * I recall his priest, who was the late Raphael Jones, who, while officiating for Pollock, married & young woman, then an inmate of my home as seamstress. * * * Mr. Jones was a man of considerable learn- ing. He was German-born, spoke and wrote Hebrew, and was acquainted with other languages. After his mar- riage he became a traveling salesman and later entered into the grocery business in Georgetown,” and later “moved to Washiwgton, where he es- tablished himself in the dry goods irade at what is now Kann, Sons & Co's.” [