January’s 350th calendar theme
Clifton Johnson
(1865-1940)
About Clifton Johnson
Clifton Johnson was born on the
family farm in the Hockanum section of Hadley in 1865. He
was the fifth generation Johnson to live in the family
homestead. Clifton resided
in the same house until his death in 1940, at age 74. He
attended
and later taught at the one room Hockanum Schoolhouse. Clifton
dropped out of school at age 15, rowed across the river, walked
into Northampton, got a room in a boarding house and a job in a
stationery store in order to pay off the mortgage on the farm.
His spare time was spent immersed in books and he said he got
the equivalent of a college education as a result.
He married Anna McQueston of Hadley, who had also attended and
later taught in the Hockanum schoolhouse. They raised five
children in Hockanum. Clifton's talents in drawing, photography
and writing led to a lifelong career in those areas. In addition
to farming in Hockanum, Clifton traveled the country, talking
with everyday folks, and then writing about his adventures. He
traveled to Europe as well, writing about England, Ireland,
Scotland and France. His books, which number over 125, capture
the attitudes and dialects of every day life in the late 1800s
and early 1900s. Clifton wrote many books about New England
life. In Hadley, he was very involved with Hadley's 250th
anniversary celebration in 1909, editing the commemorative book
for the celebration. Clifton was on the school committee in town
for years, and with his brother Henry R., he helped found
Johnson's Bookstore in Springfield and the Hadley farm museum.
He was an active member of the First Congregational Church of
Hadley. Many people in town will remember Clifton's sons, Irving
Johnson and his famous sailing adventures, and Roger Johnson and
Johnson's Bookstore and Roger's wonderful collection of antique
bicycles.
"Grandpa Pease's housekeeper knitting a rag rug"
The Clifton Johnson Collection at the Jones Library
The Jones Library in Amherst houses the Clifton Johnson
Collection. The collection has grown to over 7000 items through
purchases by the library and generous donations by the Johnson
family. The items consist of photographs, paintings, sketches,
journals, books, and notes. The
collection is well organized, thanks to the work of several
members of the Johnson family and the special collections
department of the Jones Library. Clifton's great-granddaughter,
Kirstin Kay, has created a finder's aid that helps the inquirer
find notes and journals of interest to them. There are many
notes and stories about Hadley events, places and people, mostly
written by hand. The finder's aid can be reviewed on line by
going to
http://www.joneslibrary.org/specialcollections/collections/johnson/.
The Jones Library will have a special exhibit on Clifton Johnson
on the main floor of the library in June, 2009.
"Some fun in a boat-Russell's Cove, Hockanum"
Click here for
more Clifton Johnson photographs online
Quotes from people who knew Clifton or enjoy his writings and
photography:
Charlie Johnson writes: "I never really got to know my
grandfather until now. Working on his
collection has given me a wonderful insight into the life of
someone who has
been referred to, and I believe rightly so, as a "Renaissance
Man". I am
even more convinced that he never got or wanted recognition for
his amazing
output of articles, books, beautifully composed photographs, and
elegant pen
and ink drawings. Eventually we hope to have someone write and
publish a
biography on CJ. Ideally, there could also be a coffee table
book of his photographs and
art work like the one on the Allen Sisters of Deerfield. I learn
even more
about him as I continue working on the Collection."
Mary Thayer has read many of Clifton's books, and she writes "I
love reading his stories about everyday life in the late 1800s.
I am amazed how he was able to get strangers to talk with him
and take him into their homes, and how he was able to write down
the stories so thoroughly, complete with dialects. Many of his
books tell of Hadley and of New England life. His photographs of
Hadley are precious, capturing a time long gone by. My favorite
book is " A Book of Country Clouds and Sunshine", which contains
stories about every day life in the
area here."
Marge Barstow recollects "I was kind of scared of him.
He was very stern looking and I was just a kid. I worked picking
currents for him and he paid us 2 cents a basket. My mother did
his typing for his books. He would write his script out in long
hand. She would try to decipher his writing and type it up. I
was the runner. I’d go pick up the script and bring it home.
When it was done, I’d bring it back. I’d hand it to his wife and
she’d give me a handful of raisins and one walnut."
Dick Thayer remembers "Clifton Johnson was considered a
bit eccentric by some of the neighbors. I remember him taking
pictures at the [Hockanum] schoolhouse. He had a big old camera
with big glass plates. He’d put the shroud over his head and
take the picture. You had to be quiet, it took a while to take
the picture. He raised asparagus at one time, labeled it Valley
Vista. He was very learned, intellectual."
Ted McQueston was related to Clifton Johnson, Clifton’s
wife and Ted’s father were sister and brother. Ted lived on West
Street. Ted said he was kind of afraid of Clifton, too. Clifton
didn’t warm up to kids. He remembers that "He was a very serious
person. He had strict rules. You didn’t touch anything unless he
said you could. On the table was a bowl of raisins, and you
didn’t dare touch them unless he said so. My father got his
field corn seed from Clifton." When asked if he was aware of the
photography and writings that Clifton did, Ted said "We didn’t
realize all these things that he did."
"Hockanum Ferry - Northampton bound with Sam Russell on a
load of hay"
Sample short writings:
Here are two stories that have been typed up for Hadley’s 350th
website. The originals are at the Jones Library, in Clifton
Johnson’s handwriting. This may be the first time they’ve been
read by anyone except a few researchers at the Jones Library.
Clifton was a master of writing about every day events and
places.
Canoe Club
About 1882 some Northampton young men organized a canoe club and
put up a rough little building on the Hockanum bank of the river
in the Nooks. High water in the spring of 1886 set it afloat,
and it was caught and tethered at a farm below. When the water
went down it was put on rollers and taken back, but set on
higher ground east of the road. A year or two later the
canoeists erected a wide spreading rounded building near the
ferry, painted it gaudily, and made an inclined platform down
which they could slide their canoes to a floating wharf. The
incline and the wharf had to be drawn up on the bank in the fall
to keep them from going away in high water. An active member of
the club was a young lawyer, Calvin Coolidge, later president of
the United States. He once expressed the opinion, in recalling
his canoeing days, that Hockanum was the coolest place he knew
of in summer.
Water
For water the village homes have depended in part on wells and
in part on mountain-side springs, most of the wells have been
gradually abandoned. The water-shed between the mountain and the
meadow levels is narrow, and particularly at the south end of
the village and in dry times, some of the springs fail and water
has to be brought from the homes of neighbors where the supply
is more ample.
Once two of the south end farmers attempted to locate a well
with the aid of a South Hadley man who claimed the ability to
find water by using an elm crotch. This crotch consisted of two
long limber branches which at their junction were no larger than
his fingers. He wound the tips about his palms and grasped them
very tight with the palms turned upward and the crotch rising
perpendicular. Then he walked about the hillside with great
thoroughness. When he came over water the crotch tipped outward
and downward, and when it tipped downward the farthest was where
water was most abundant. He said the crotch was not affected by
water in a stream or in a pail. One of the farmers tried the
wand, but it wouldn’t work with him unless he pressed with his
fingertips the parts that he clasped. The water finding expert
said that such manipulation spoiled the test. His own
experiments indicated that a spot in the corner of a cornfield
was the best place. “You’ll find a spring there,” he said, “and
a good one, only you’ll have to dig twelve feet for it.”
The farmers paid him three dollars and he went his way. They cut
the corn from a space as large as the floor of a good-sized
room, and got to work digging with a hired man to help. Two days
they kept at it, and dug a great circular pit sixteen feet deep
and found nothing but the ground and stones of an old glacial
moraine.
They sent for their water-finding expert, and he came and looked
down the hole and said he couldn’t understand the waterless
condition. Then he saw yellow stains in the ground. That
explained the mystery. He said there was iron ore in the ground
there, and that was what had attracted his elm crotch. But he
kept the three dollars they had paid him.
"October in Fort Meadow"
Where to find Clifton’s books:
Many of Clifton Johnson's books can be read at the Goodwin
Memorial Library in Hadley and the Jones Library in Amherst. Or
go to the following website for many of his books in a readable
format.
http://books.google.com/books?q=Clifton+Johnson
If you are interested in purchasing his books on ebay go to
http://www.ebay.com/
choose the "book" category and
type his name
in the search window,
or on bookfinder go to
http://www.bookfinder.com
and type his name in the search window.
Above photos are by Clifton Johnson (except the portrait of
Clifton) and all are courtesy of the Clifton Johnson Collection,
Special Collections, Jones Library, Amherst, Massachusetts.
Do you have recollections or comments about Clifton Johnson?
Please email us at hadley350@gmail.com. We would like to add to
this page during the month of January.
