Evening star., 1925-08-23
From Spain Preceded
Establishment Of SOuSaS Here
nvironmen O Capital Descrbed by Rambe

4 STORY of John Philip Sousa
n will go well in this set of mar
"A ratives about Washington mu-
4 \ sicians. The Rambler wrote
a long account of John Philip
for The Star in July, 1921. but it was
not used as a "ramble," and there is
justification for going over the matter
again. That is, the Rambler feels
justified in rewriting one of his own
stories which some OF you have for
got and which the other subscribers
never read.
The Rambler dug nearly all the
facts from records in the offices of
the recorder of deeds, register of wills
and assessor of taxes and, from old
directories. Nobody else seems to
have had the patience to pick them
out and put them together. and the
Rambler feels that he is entitled to
use them in his work. OF course, If
you object to a story the substance
Of which has been written before, you
are at liberty TO turn your eyes away
from this story or make curl papers
and lamp lighters of it.
Antonio. Sousa. father of John
Philip, was born at Seville, Spain, in
1924. His forebears went from Portu-
gal to Spain and had been settled
there several genera tions before the
birth of Antonio. He went to sea"
when he was ~ years old, and from
1886 to 1850 he sailed, became a mu-
sician. and played in bands. on British
warshipS and later on United States
warships. He joined the band of the
Brooklyn Navy Yard about 1850. and
in that year was married to Elizabeth
Trinkhaus. who was born in Hesse
Darmstadt, in 1926, and went to
Brooklyn with her parents in 1886.
Their first child. Katherine. was born
in Brooklyn. Her pet name was Tiny
or Tina. and when the family moved
to Washington in 1854, all the Sousa
friends on the Navy Yard loved little
Tiny"
The family was Of the congregation
of Christ Church, Navy Yard, and
old men and their wives, who have
not grown old, will tell you happy
anecdotes of Tiny Sousa. When she
grew up she became the wife OF Alex
ander G. Varela OF the Surgeon Gen
erals Office. When the Rambler was
hunting up the Sousas four years ago
he found Tiny living with one of her
sons at 5416 Eighth street northwest,
and in the phone book I see Alex
ander r. Earela, 5519 Connecticut
avenue, and Katherine G. Varela at
the same address. ! feel sure that is
little Tiny living with her good son
Alexander. The second child of the
Sousas. Josephine, was born in Brook
lyn and died in infancy.
*
WHEN the Sousas came to Wash
w ington, in 1854, they rented two
story brick house on @ street south
east, No. 636. 1t is the third house east
of Christ Church. There John Philip
Sousa was born, November G, 1854.
The block Is bounded by Sixth, Sew
enth, T. and G streets southeast, and
the lot owners in the square. the year
of John Philips birth, We're James
Mcfarland, r. I. Robertson, James
Gordon. Jessie Ergood. Malinda Smith,
Philip Beigler. Samuel A. II. Marks.
Samuel Nelson, Thomas Dennis.
William Richards, NJ. II. Mcknight.
Mary Prout. Robert Prout, Jonathan
Prout, William Hodges, r. S. Walsh.
Elizabeth Herbert, Thomas Hutchin-
son. w. II. Cook, Joseph NJ. Carrico,
D. Rupert, Martin King. w. c. God
dard. Robert Beale, Thomas +. Jacobs.
Samuel Arnold and Richard Boarman.
Taking the tax list for 1859, the lot