Known Information
Bruce Dent was listed as a huckster on the 1860 Census.
Sources
Quote about Market
Washington Times, 26 Mar 1922, p 16
Tax Assessments
The National Archives and Records Administration; Washington, D.C.; Internal Revenue Assessment Lists for the District of Columbia, 1862-1866
City Directory
Washington, District of Columbia, City Directory, 1864
The Seventh Street Market. United States Washington D.C, None. [Photographed between 1861 and 1865, printed between 1880 and 1889] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2013651861/
Although the canal which ran in front of the market was sluggish and unsightly in many respects, … Sailboats and small rowboats were constantly coming to the market bringing men and shining masses of fish. These fish had often been caught during the night and brought to the market at the dawn of the day to entice the busy housewife into the purchase of the delicious Potomac Shad, trout, bass, and other fish. Men in rubber coats stood on the banks of the canal quietly smoking their old brown pipes, while others stood by their stands encouraging the purchase of vegetables, fish or other products.
Centre Market
The Centre Market was located north of the Mall, where the National Archives now stand. Located off of Pennsylvania Avenue, halfway between the Capitol and the White House, near the hotels and boarding houses for congressmen, the market was a bustling place on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
It was also called the Marsh Market as it was adjacent to the Tiber Creek, which the fish vendors used to store their wares in wire baskets. The market was often dirty, noisy, and flooded.
Huckster
Street vendors or “hucksters,” farmers, and market men sold fruits, vegetables, and live animals to city-dwelling Washingtonians.
Exhibit on Center Market | national archives
Tax Assessments (1862-1866) listed Bruce Dent alternatively as a retail dealer and a produce dealer. He had licenses for both Center Market and Northern Liberty Market (north of Center Market on Seventh Street). The 1864 Tax Assessment and the 1864 City Directory records stall 284 as Bruce Dent’s.
Further Research Needed:
- Locate Dent in other censuses
- Determine how he became free (via manumission, purchase, or descent from a free woman)
stories of Then 