Justus Kendall Jillson (1839–1881) was an American educator and politician. Jilson was born in

Gardner, Massachusetts Gardner, officially the City of Gardner, is a city in Worcester County in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The population was 21,287 in the 2020 census. Gardner is home of such sites as the Blue Moon Diner, Dunn State Park, Ga ...

, in 1839, to parents Mary and Sylvester Jillson. His brothers were Henry and Leander. Jillson married Ellen Gates in 1858. He moved from Massachusetts to South Carolina in 1866 to teach for the

Freedmen's Bureau The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was an agency of early Reconstruction, assisting freedmen in the South. It was established on March 3, 1865, and operated briefly as a ...

. He served four terms from 1868 until 1876 as

South Carolina Superintendent of Education The South Carolina superintendent of education is the executive of the South Carolina Department of Education. The superintendent is responsible for overseeing the 1.5 billion dollar budget of the department and ensure that schools and schools dis ...

, head of the

South Carolina Department of Education The South Carolina Department of Education is the state education agency of South Carolina. It is headquartered in Columbia at the Rutledge Building. The agency is overseen by an elected Superintendent of Education, currently Ellen Weaver. Pre ...

, and was the first to hold the title. He reportedly struggled with corruption in state government. Jillson was a member of the

South Carolina Senate The South Carolina Senate is the upper house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the lower house being the South Carolina House of Representatives. It consists of 46 senators elected from single member districts for four-year terms at the sa ...

from 1868 to 1871,https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=pubhist_books page 28 and chaired the education committee. During his political career, Jilson was affiliated with the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

. He issued the first Annual Report of the State Superintendent of Education of the State of South Carolina to the Governor of South Carolina and state legislature. His efforts at integration included a deaf school. Its leaders resigned instead of accepting African American deaf students. Jillson moved to

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...

, in 1876 and died by suicide in 1881.

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* Republican Party South Carolina state senators Schoolteachers from South Carolina Schoolteachers from Massachusetts Freedmen's Bureau schoolteachers Suicides in Massachusetts 19th-century American legislators American politicians who died by suicide People from Gardner, Massachusetts Politicians from Springfield, Massachusetts South Carolina Superintendent of Education 1839 births 1881 deaths {{SouthCarolina-politician-stub