#TLJohnson January 30

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For January 2024 several of us will be participating in the “30-Day 6 Degrees of Separation Coach4aday Challenge”-today we dive into connections between two Lumberton NC residents T.L. JOHNSON and Angus Wilton McLean.

In August of 1998, my family returned to Robeson County after a 6-year absence and undertook the project of restoring a multi-family structure back to a single-family home at 1209 North Elm Street in Lumberton. The first owner of that home was T.L. JOHNSON.

Thomas Lester Johnson was born on November 13, 1884, in Buncombe County, North Carolina. During World War I, Johnson served as chairman of the Robeson County Exemption Board, No. 1. A lawyer by training, Johnson went on to serve as a state legislator, Superior Court judge, and solicitor of the 19th district. He died in Lumberton on April 14, 1956.

In 1910 he moved into a house he had built for him his new wife Jessie Moser Johnson. They had gotten married on December 22, 1909, and moved into their new home in January 1910. He also had a number of his siblings move into that new home. Those siblings included James Floyd Johnson Ervin Mosby Johnson (former Mayor of Lumberton NC) Agnes Johnson Sams Lula Mae Johnson Whiteside Sarah Bessie Johnson Watkins.

Rules of the Challenge

Many people have heard of this concept. The notion of six degrees of separation grew out of work conducted by the social psychologist Stanley Milgram in the 1960s. It then became a 1993 film named appropriately “Six Degrees of Separation.”

Organizing a six degrees of separation challenge involves creating a chain of people, each connected to the next by a mutual acquaintance. The goal is to demonstrate that any two people in the world can be connected through a chain of six or fewer personal connections.

How to Participate

Here is how to participate:

1. Identify the First and Last Person in the Chain.
2. Go thru the connections with a brief explanation.
3. Do this daily for 30 Days posting on social media with the hashtag #Coach4adayChallenge

January 30-T.L. Johnson -Angus McLean

2 Degrees of Separation-T.L. Johnson-Angus McLean

1. T.L Johnson was an attorney in Lumberton NC which also happens to be the city where a good friend of his Angus Wilton McLean was from. McLean would become Governor of NC. In 1932 TL Johnson attempted to do the same thing. He did not get past the primary.
2. Angus Wilton McLean was Governor of North Carolina from 1925-1929. He was the governor in between Cam Morrison and O. Max Gardner. Great story about Angus McLean impact at this link. His son Hector McLean would live most of his adult life up the street from my home also on Elm Street.

History of Home T.L Johnson Built

In August of 1998, my family returned to Robeson County after a 6-year absence and undertook the project of restoring a multi-family structure back to a single-family home at 1209 North Elm Street in Lumberton. Some twenty years later we still call it home. The home has been good to us and has let us experience many things including weddings, parties, marriage proposals, fundraisers, birthdays, anniversaries, and countless dinners with family and friends.

In 2000 I wrote a story for The Robesonian as part of series the newspaper called “Robeson Remembers”

The story was about the man who first lived in the house. You can read the entire blog post at this link.

Here is a photo of house from 1966 at 56 years old that was the year the founding brothers of Phi Sigma Chi the first fraternity at then Pembroke State College moved into the house.

Here is a picture of house from same angle in 2024 now 114 years old.