Helen Williams is too common of a name, so we’ll make this quick.
The Helen Williams found in the 1920-1940 census in Truxton Circle was an African America girl, born in North Carolina, who lived on 3rd St NW.
In the 1920 census she was the 3 year old daughter of Joseph Williams and Ollie Rhyne. She was one of three young children living in the home of a government laborer. Also living in the house was their father’s uncle and 6 lodgers. They lived at 1621 3rd St NW.
By 1930 the family had seven children living at 1635 3rd St NW. The father managed to support the whole family still working as a government laborer. Somehow they managed to live without lodgers.
Helen was still at 1635 3rd St NW for the 1940 census. Her mother was a widow and she lived with her two brothers, three sisters and one lodger. She worked as a maid, whereas one of her brothers worked as a messenger boy and a sister worked as a clerk for the W.P.A.
Then the trail goes cold.
Thousands of people have lived in the Truxton Circle neighborhood for over 100 years and they have thousands of stories. The goal of the Truxton Circle History Project is to find every man, woman, and child who lived in the neighborhood using every available source. The Project uses the 1880-1950 censuses, the power of Ancestry and every other online resource to discover and uncover neighborhood history.