Town of
Hillsdale
NEW YORK

Johnson family on Hillsdale porch

The Roeliff Jansen Historical Society received the following email from Chris Johnson on Friday, June 30, 2012:

“I read with interest in the Town of Hillsdale Newsletter about your exhibit.  I just thought I’d pass along some notes – my family lived in Hillsdale from 1795.  I’m writing in particular about my great grandfather who was born in Hillsdale, Theophilus Johnson, who as a retired New York City school principal, took it upon himself to work at getting your central school approved.From my father’s notes, “Grandpa was cheerful, determined and had a great deal of energy.  After retiring he got a drivers license and learned to play golf, keeping both up until 80.  He organized the Roeliff Jansen Central School in Hillsdale and was its principal for five years.  He served two terms as justice of the peace.  He joined the masons (Hillsdale Lodge No 612) and shortly was District Deputy Grand Master.  During all this he kept up the garden. He always seemed to me to be a genuine link to an older smaller more rural pre industrial revolution land.”I grew up hearing about his driving from farm house to farm house around the county trying to persuade people of the benefits of a central school. As a teacher and later principal, he was active in teacher’s rights and had co-formed the United Federation of Teachers in NYC and led a famous train of 800 hundred teachers from NYC to Albany to fight for teachers pensions.  So it was not surprising that he got involved in education reform in his retirement.I’ve attached a few photos (with his family on the porch in Hillsdale, his burial spot in the Hillsdale Rural Cemetery and another shot in his parlor.I currently live in Manhattan, but I get to Hillsdale from time to time and I will try to see your exhibit.  Best luck with it.Many thanks, Chris Johnson”

Link to the Roeliff Jansen Historical Society Website and Summer Exhibit

Theophilus Johnson, Roe Jan's First Principal