1930s

Unexpected joy on Christmas morning.

During the depths of the Great Depression, young Lusynthia Johnson wrote this Christmas short story set in a thinly veiled Wilson.

The Afro-American (Baltimore, Md.), 26 December 1936.

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Lusynthia Page Johnson was born in 1922 in Wilson County to Theodore Roosevelt Johnson and Rachel Bynum Johnson. In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Mamie Bynum, 50; daughter Mozell Jeffrey, 23, maid; daughter Rachel Johnson, 25, hospital maid; son-in-law Rosevelt Johnson, 23, orchestra musician; roomer Namie Lasitor, 22, servant; and granddaughter Lucinda Farmer, 8.

Helen Tate Huggins marries in Atlanta.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 16 December 1939.

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In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: barber Noah Tate, 28; wife Hattie, 24; and children John P., 3, and Helen, 2.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 208 Pender, barber Noah Tate, 42; wife Hattie, 34; boarder Mary Jennings, 28, a public school teacher; and children Helen, 13, Mary Jane, 8, Andrew, 11, and Noah Jr., 3.

In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Tate Helen (c) sch tchr 307 Pender

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 307 North Pender, seamstress Hattie Tate, 44, widow, and children Hellen, 23, insurance agent, and Andrew, 21, hotel bellboy, as well as lodger Lucy Davis, a public school teacher.

In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Tate Helen (c) clk r 307 Pender

In the 1941 and 1947 Atlanta, Georgia, city directory: Huggins Edw (c; Helen) tile str h 713 Greensferry Av SW

In the 1951 Atlanta, Georgia, city directory: Huggins Edw (c; Helen T) tile str Albert W Cook h 657 Greensferry Av SW

Andrew Tate died 16 May 1977 in Wilson. He was born 8 September 1908 to Noah Tate and Hattie Pierce; was married to Helen Whitfield; lived at 506 East Vance; and was buried in Rest Haven cemetery. Informant was Helen Tate Huggins, Atlanta, Georgia.

Atlanta Constitution, 18 September 1981.