USA > Pennsylvania > Cambria County > History of Cambria County, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 8
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HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.
ers of the Declaration of Independence. This fact was the mov- ing cause which influenced Prince Gallitzin to locate at Loretto and establish a Catholic colony on the western slope of the mountains. The following letter from Bishop Carroll to Prince Gallitzin is pertinent:
"Washington City, March 1, 1799. "Rev. and Dear Sir:
"I fear you have been disappointed in not receiving an ear- lier answer to your letter, which covered a list of subscribers in Clearfield, Frankstown and Sinking Valley. I had come hither on immediately before the arrival of yours at Baltimore.
"Your request is granted. I readily consent to your pro- posal to take charge of the congregations detailed in yours, and hope that you will have a house built on the land granted by Mr. (Michael) McGuire and already settled or cleared, or if more convenient, on your own, if you intend to keep it. * * * I meant to have offered you with your present congregations that of Emmitsburg and the mountain (Mount St. Mary's) united in one.
"JOHN, Bishop of Baltimore."
Captain Richard McGuire was also a pioneer of northern Cambria: He was a son of the preceding, and was born in Frederick county, Maryland. December 12, 1771, and died at Loretto. January 13, 1855. He was seventeen when his father located the "McGuire Settlement" at Loretto, and on May 15, 1800, he and Eleanor, daughter of John and Ann Byrne, were married.
Captain Richard McGuire, like his father, was a farmer and a patriot; he organized a company at Loretto and commanded it in the War of 1812.
Joseph Johns, the founder of Johnstown, was a native of Switzerland. He and a sister named Frainie Johns came to this country about 1768, when he was near nineteen years of age, and first located in Berks county, where he and Frainie Holly were married. His sister Frainie married Joseph Crisner, and they located on a farm in Elklick township, Somerset county, near Meyersdale. Their children were: Peter, Eli, Jonas, David, Joseph, Benjamin, Christian, Gabriel, John and Daniel. The name Frainie was originally spelled Frainie, but subse- quently changed to Frany, Franie, Vronie, and Fannie.
Joseph Johns bought a farm near Berlin, Somerset county, which was afterward owned by Martin Myers, who was county surveyor at one time. In 1793, he sold it, and on the 13th of
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HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.
September, 1793, he bought from James McLenahan the Camp- bell tract of land, on which most of Johnstown is now situated, including the first four wards. excepting the upper part of the Fourth, and parts of the Ninth and Tenth and a part of the Thirteenth wards. At the same time he purchased the "Henry Wise" tract. of which the Twelfth ward is a part. At that time it was a forest, and as late as 1828 that portion west of Market and Vine streets was in woods.
In the fall of 1793, or the following spring, he erected a one- story log house on the Campbell survey, which consisted of two hundred and forty-nine acres, near the corner of Levergood and Vine streets.
The land of Mr. Johns' final homestead near Davidsville
DEACOR
First House in Johnstown, Built by Joseph Johns, Probably in 1793.
was surveyed on a warrant issued by the commonwealth to Jacob Barge for three hundred and sixty acres, and allowance, on March 14, 1776, the warrant being dated February 7, 1776, by Thomas Smith, deputy surveyor.
The survey has the following certificate attached :
"A Draught of a Tract of Land called the "Stock Farms," situate on the West side of Stony Creek, about a Quarter of a Mile Distant from it, on the East side of Adams' Path, where the same crosses the Maple Swamp adjoining lands of Clement Biddle & others in Quemahoning Township, in the County of Bedford, containing three hundred and Sixty acres & the usual Allowance of six per cent. for roads, &c., surveyed the 14th Day of March, 1776. for Jacob Barge. in Pursuance of a warrant dated the Seventh Day of February, 1776, by Thomas Smith, Deputy Surveyor.
"To John Lukens, Esq., Surreyor General."
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HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.
Reuben Haines purchased the warrant, and on June 24, 1776, the commonwealth granted a patent to him for the Barge survey. Haines sold it to Abraham Lidden on August 19, 1776; Lidden sold it to John Lehman, Jr., on February 12, 1799, and Lehman sold it to Jacob Stover on March 1, 1800, for £141 and thirty cents.
On December 12, 1804, Jacob Stover and Joseph Shantz, or Johns, entered into an article of agreement by which the former agreed to convey "all that tract of land whereon the said Jacob Stover now lives with his family, it being one hun- dred and eighty acres and allowance," for £700.
The compact was skillfully drawn by Abraham Hildebrand, an eminent justice of the peace of this place and subsequently one of the associate judges of the county, and was witnessed by him and Daniel Wertz on April 5, 1805. John McClean made a survey of the same for Mr. Johns.
On April 9, 1805, Jacob Stover and Catharine, his wife, executed and delivered a deed to Mr. Johns for this land.
On the 16th of October, 1807, Joseph Johns purchased another tract of land, containing eighty-eight acres and allow- ances, situated in Conemaugh township, Somerset county, from David and Barbary Yoder, for £59 10s. The commonwealth issued a patent to David Yoder on February 27, 1806, for this piece, which was described as bounded by the land of "Widow Lehman," "the Stonycreek River," and "vacant Stony Hill." In the Yoder deed the name of Mr. Johns, the grantee, is spelled "Shontz."
Joseph Johns also owned the Robert Morris farm, located on the Quemahoning, about three miles above its mouth, but he sold it to John Borntrager, on April 9, 1812, for 350 pounds, Mr. Joseph Reininger is now the owner.
Robert Morris, although not a native, was one of the great American patriots. He was one of the signers of the Declara- tion of Independence. He was the great financier for the coun- try during the Revolutionary War, but misfortune came in a financial way, and he spent his later years in a debtor's prison. He died in Philadelphia May 8, 1806. He deserved a better fate at the hands of his countrymen.
The farm in question is known as the John McSweny, or Sweny, warrant. which was dated April 3, 1769, for "three hundred acres of land, called Kiekenypawlings Old Town, situ- ate on the Quemahoning creek, where the old road from Bed- Vol. I-6
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HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.
ford to Fort Pitt crosses said creek, now in Quemahoning town- ship, in the county of Bedford." This seems to be good proof that the Indian village of Kickanepawlin was not at Johnstown.
McSweny, or Sweny, sold to William Hunter, of Peters township, Cumberland county, on January 22, 1772; Hunter conveyed it to Thomas Smith, of Bedford Town, for £200, on May 9, 1778, and on the 21st of April, 1779, Smith sold it to "Robert Morris, of the city of Philadelphia, merchant," for £765.
In 1813, three years after Mr. Johns' death, he having died without a will, partition proceedings were commenced in the orphans' court for Somerset county, and under date of No- vember 3, 1813, Alexander Ogle, clerk of the Orphans' court, certified that Joseph Johns, "the eldest son and heir at law," was the highest bidder, and awarded to him the one-hundred- and-eighty-acre tract at $10.71 per aere, and the eighty-eight- acre parcel at seventy-six cents per acre.
The adjoining owners on the eighty-eight-acre tract were John S. Miller, Tobias Yoder, the Stonycreek river, and land of Carl Von Lunen.
Joseph Johns, the second, held both tracts of land until April 22, 1867, a few months after the death of his wife, and less than a year before his death, when he sold the two hundred and sixty-eight acres to his son-Joseph Johns, the third-for $2,800.
This deed is in manuscript in its entirety and is skillfully drawn, plainly and neatly written by Peter Levy, Esq., who al- ways did his work in that manner. Mr. Levy was a justice of the peace at Davidsville, within a mile of the Johns' homestead, for many years, and was probably as well acquainted with the family as any person could be, and, being a gentleman of in- telligence and education, his judgment should have great weight on questions not conclusively settled. In this deed he describes the parties thereunto as follows: "Between Joseph Shantz (Johns), widower, of the first part, and Joseph Shantz (Johns), his son, of the second part."
This was within the past forty years, and at that time in the judgment of 'Squire Levy the correct way to spell the name in a legal document was "Shantz," while it was com- monly known and used by the grantor and his neighbors as "Johns." as the latter name is within parenthesis, incorporated for the purpose of explanation.
Joseph Johns, the first, with his unmarried sister Frainie,
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HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.
came to this country in 1769, as will appear by the following registry made at Philadelphia, where they disembarked: "List of foreigners imported in the ship Nancy. Captain William Keyes from London. Qualified September 1, 1769, * Joseph Schantz." Their descendants of the present do not know anything in reference to their ancestors in Switzer- land, nor do they have any information as to what part of Switzerland they hailed from, as the brother and sister are the only persons of that family who embarked from the Old World for the New, and they located in Berks county. It is known, however, that Joseph Johns was born November 8, 1749.
At the time of his death he resided on the Jacob Stover farm, on which place he was also buried in a private graveyard located on a knoll, which can be seen from the Davidsville Road. His wife and some of his descendants rest by his side. The inscriptions on the tomb-stones of the husband and wife are simply this :
JOSEPH JOHNS, Died Jan. 18, 1810. Aged 60 yrs. 2 mon. 10 d.
FRANEY JOHNS, Died Dec. 15, 1833. Aged 76 v. 8 m. 18 d.
The family of Joseph Johns. and all publications relating to his death, fix the date as of January 18, 1810, it even so ap- pears on the tombstone, but is an error. It should be 1813, when he was sixty-three years of age instead of sixty. The evidence of this appears on the records in the Somerset court. For instance, on April 9, 1812, Joseph Johns and Franey his wife conveyed to John Burntrager the Robert Morris farm called the "Quemahon," on the old road from "Bedford to Fort Pitt." Both signed this deed, which shows it was two years after the date usually given as the date of his demise. Furthermore, on March 9, 1813. letters of administration were granted to Chris- tian Miller and Peter Blongh for his estate, and on the same day they filed their bond for $2.000 with Abraham Morrison and Frederick Neff as sureties. Also, Franey Johns, the widow, was entitled to the letters, but on March 8, 1813, she executed a renunciation of her right in favor of these gentlemen. The custom was and is vet to probate wills or take out letters of ad- ministration soon after the death.
Joseph Jolms, the Third, when his attention was called to this fact, admitted it might be true as they did not have a record
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HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.
of the date, and the gravestone was not erected for a great many years after his death and likely they were mistaken. The administrators' final account disclosed that the decedent has in his possession personal property to the value of $2,- 125.531%, in addition to his real estate.
Frainie Johns, his wife, who was Frainie Holly, of Berks county, was born March 27, 1757, and died December 15, 1833, aged seventy-six years eight months and eighteen days. Mr. and Mrs. Johns had two sons-David and Joseph-and three daughters-Barbara, Vronie, and Sarah.
. David was born July 30, 1779, and died when he was sev- enteen years old, while his parents lived in Johnstown.
Barbara Johns, born January 22, 1782, married John Born- trager, then a farmer, in Conemaugh township, Somerset county, but they moved to Lagrange county, Indiana, many years ago. She died May 4, 1870, aged eighty-eight years three months and twelve days.
Vronie, or sometimes called Frainie, her mother's name, was born January 22, 1786, and married John Holly, a son of David Holly, of Conemaugh township, Somerset county. They subsequently moved to Canada, where Mr. Holly died. His widow then married a Mr. Nell. She died in Peru, Indiana, in October, 1869, in the eighty-third year of her age.
Sarah, born January 27, 1794, in Johnstown, married Chris- tian Eash, a farmer, of Conemaugh township, Somerset county.
Joseph Johns, second in descent, married Nancy Blough. daughter of John Blough, a farmer of Quemahoning township. He was born January 19, 1792, and died December 5, 1868, aged seventy-six years ten months and sixteen days, and Nancy, his wife, was born August 26, 1799, and died February 14, 1867, aged sixty-seven years five months and eighteen days. They had three sons-Daniel, John, and Joseph-and four daughters- Catharine, Sara, Annie, and Christina. Daniel, the eldest son, was born August 20, 1819, and he and Polly Yoder, a daughter of Joseph Yoder, of Somerset county, were married October 26, 1841, and have resided near Middleburg, Elkhart county, In- diana, for many years. They have three daughters-Maria, born May 28, 1843; Lizzie, born December 3, 1845, married to John Stahley in December, 1868, and Catharine, born October +, 1860, married to Joseph D. Miller in March, 1879. Both mar- ried daughters reside near Middleburg, Elkhart county, Indiana.
Catharine Johns, born November 1, 1820, married Samuel
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HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.
Shrock, of Somerset county, on March 19, 1850, and died Novem- ber 12. 1896. They moved to Lagrange county, Indiana, soon after their marriage. They had three sons-John, born August 15, 1852, now residing in Battle Creek, Michigan; Joseph, born May 1, 1854, in Ligonier, Indiana, and Samuel, born February 21, 1856, in Cleveland, Ohio.
John Johns, born January 20, 1824, on November 17, 1844, married Catharine Yoder, a daughter of Christian Yoder, of Brothers Valley, Somerset county, and they also located in La- grange county, Indiana, where they now reside. They have two sons and five daughters : Judith, born April 11, 1847, married to Martin Baer in February, 1872, resides in Wellman, Iowa; Rosina, born November 4, 1848, married to John C. Hershberger in 1871, lives at Inman, Kansas; Daniel J., born September 8, 1850, married to Nancy Yoder in May, 1875, lives at Goshen, In- diana; Lena, born November 13, 1853, married to Peter C. Schrock in 1870, resides in Lagrange county, Indiana ; Jacob J., born July 24, 1856, died December 30, 1894, was married to Ma- linda M. Mehl in November, 1876, who died August 17, 1890, and in February, 1891, he married Mary Sunthimer, who survives him; Amanda, born June 30, 1860, married John E. Miller in July, 1882, and now lives at Shipshewana, Lagrange county, Indiana; and Catharine, born February 13, 1868, married to Elias A. Borntrager in May, 1885, resides at Middleburg, In- diana.
Sara Johns was born November 22, 1822, and on December 29, 1850, married Joseph Thomas, of Conemaugh township, Somerset county, where they now reside. They had three sons and one daughter: Valentine, born October 31, 1851; Aaron, born July 23, 1853; Christina, born September 7, 1857, and Sam- uel, her twin brother, who died April 21, 1890. They reside in Somerset county.
Annie Johns, the sixth child, was born May 13, 1831, and died November 7, 1891. She and Samuel Yoder, a son of Dan- iel Yoder, of Cambria county, residing in that part now known as Upper Yoder, were married October 17, 1851, and have three sons : Joseph S., born February 3, 1853; Daniel S., born October 3, 1856, and Samuel S., born February 3, 1860.
Christina Johns, the seventh child, was born February 11, 1834, and on December 5, 1852, she was married to Sem Kanf- man, Jr., of Conemangh township, Somerset county, where the couple have always lived. They had fourteen children -- ten boys
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HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.
and four girls : Joseph, born February 19. 1854-died March 11. 1854; Isaac, born June 28, 1855; Noah, born March 17. 1858; Anna, born July 21. 1860; David, born August 24, 1862-died October 9, 1862; Bennett, born February 13, 1864; Eleasannah, born March 9, 1866-died May 28, 1889; Lizzie, born August 24. 1868; Katie, born September 7, 1870; Sem, the third, born May 18, 1873-died May 19, 1873: Daniel, born May 27, 1874; Amos, born July 29, 1876-died February 1, 1877 ; Menno, born May 2, 1878-died April 16, 1879; and Austin, born May 27, 1883, and died on the same day.
Joseph Johns, the third in descent, was born June 14, 1826,
Joseph Johns, III.
on the farm where he now resides, and where his grandfather lo- cated after he moved from Johnstown. He and Lydia Kaufman, a daughter of Mr. Sem Kaufman, lately deceased, of Conemaugh township, were married April 7, 1850. Mrs. Johns was born No- vember 18. 1832, and died November 9, 1896, aged sixty-three years eleven months and twenty-one days. They have had three sons-Sem K., Moses K., and David K., and three daughters- Lizzie. Barbara and Fannie.
Sem K. Johns was born February 25. 1851, and now resides on a farm in C'onemaugh township, Somerset county.
Moses K. Johns was born July 22. 1852, and lives at Hills- boro, in Paint township, Somerset county.
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HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.
David K. Johns was born December 15, 1855, and died Octo- ber 29, 1872.
Lizzie Johns was born December 13, 1858, and on November 14, 1875, married Mr. Aaron Swank, a farmer, who for the past fourteen years has resided on the Johns homestead, and culti- vates it.
Barbara Johns was born June 21, 1861, and married Mr. Henry Rish, a merchant of Davidsville, Somerset county.
Fannie Johns was born December 31, 1864, and on January 22, 1882, she married Mr. Harry Custer, of Ingleside, Cambria county.
Joseph Johns the founder, was among the pioneers who cul- tivated the land about Johnstown, probably being preceded only by Samuel and Solomon Adams, who located on Solomon's Run, in the Seventh ward of the City of Johnstown. He was a self- made man, arriving in Berks county with no friend or acquaint- ance, except his sister; no wealth, saving good health and a strong character for honesty, industry and frugality. He, as well as most of his descendants, was, and are, members of the Amish congregation.
Joseph Johns, the third. has the family Bible of his grand- father. with the memoranda of the family records in his writing. It is a German Bible printed in 1776, by Christoph Saner, of Germantown, who was the first publisher of the Bible, printed in German, in America.
Mr. Johns, the elder was a Federalist, a follower of Alex- ander Hamilton. and his children and grandchildren were Whigs. Those living now are Republicans.
There is some confusion in the orthography and pronuncia- tion of the family name. The early records seem to indicate that it may have been spelled, using the English letters, as Yontz. In some of the deeds signed by the founder the J's in Joseph and Johns are not made alike, and it may be that the latter is intended for a Y, or probably an S, as it is conceded by his people that in the early days the name was pronounced Shonz. But for many years it has been and is now correctly spelled J-o-h-n-s.
Joseph Johns, the elder, was five feet six inches in height and weighed one hundred and seventy-five pounds. He was small in stature, but large in bone and sinew, and had great strength and endurance. His wife-Frainie Johns-was a large woman, and, in her later years, never so well contented as when
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HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.
knitting or preparing flax thread and making clothing. Mr. Johns, the third, has two small balls of linen thread, one white and the other an indigo blue, which she spun from flax and colored over seventy-five years ago. It is very smooth and even, without knots or defects, very strong, and has a delicate lustre notwithstanding its age. He has also a deerskin from a deer shot by his grandfather while he lived in Johnstown. It ex- hibits the holes where the bullet penetrated and passed out of the deer's body in the hind leg. The skin was tanned by his grandfather by what was known as the alum process, and is yet as soft and velvety as the finest chamois. He had three deerskins and gave one to his son Joseph, who gave it in turn to his son Joseph. The others are in other branches of the family.
Joseph Johns, the first, was, like all the pioneers, an expert marksman, and while living in Johnstown shot many bears, deer, wolves, and much smaller game. On one occasion he shot what he believed was a wolf, but, after a closer examination, he was undecided, as it looked very much like a dog belonging to one of his neighbors. To clear up the doubt he went to the neigh- bor's house, and there found the dog in good health. When he lived at what is now the corner of Vine and Levergood streets, many articles of wearing apparel, such as coats, vests, and trousers, were made for himself and sons from skins which he tanned, having previously killed the original wearer.
Joseph Johns, the second, was five feet seven inches in height -- one inch taller than his father-and weighed about two hundred pounds.
Joseph Johns. the third, is five feet seven and one-fourth inches tall, and ordinarily weighs one hundred and sixty-five pounds. In his eighty-first year he is in good health, with a strong constitution, a ruddy complexion, and an abundance of silvery hair.
The most eventful incident in the lives of Joseph Johns, the second and his son-Joseph Johns, the third-was the brutal robbery committed at their home on Saturday night, May 15, 1852.
About 9 o'clock that evening six men from the town where Joseph Johns, the founder, had dedicated to the public the squares, playgrounds, school lots and other popular places of resort and use, went to the farmhouse built by him and asked for something to eat, which was handed to them from a sliding
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HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.
window. Presently they threw their weight against the door and broke in, when a struggle took place, and the father and son were brutally beaten, the nose of the son being broken, which mark he carries to this day.
Both of them were overpowered, bound hand and foot, and laid on the kitchen floor, after which the robbers went through the house and procured about $300 in money. The son succeed- ed in freeing himself, and started to Davidsville for assistance. Going to the hotel kept by Cyrus Shaffer, he made known what had just occurred at home. He, with his broken nose and bloody appearence, and a number of gentlemen, among them being Josiah and Samuel Waters, Daniel and John Border, John Seigh, Nelson and Leonard Fear! and John Inscho, at once started for the Johns homestead, but the burglars had departed and the elder Mr. Johns was lying on the bench, bleeding pro-
Johnny Jantar, Joseph Johns Den 16 1905
Fac-similes Joseph Johns III. First one in German.
fusely from the wounds inflicted in the struggle. A large bowie knife and some clubs had been left at the house.
The robbers were at this time unknown, but the next morn- ing the neighbors were on the alert and roads and fields were closely examined for marks in the mud on the road and in the freshly-plowed fields. A short distance below the farmhouse of Isaac Kaufman Josiah Waters found a footprint alongside the plank road, and, it being a peculiar one he examined it close- ly and said it was "Yell Zook's crooked foot." His associates came to the same conclusion, and they hastened to Johnstown and arrested Zook, who was taken to the Mansion House, on the corner of Main and Franklin streets, where the Dibert building now stands. Zook at once made a confession and said his com- panions in the crime were John Shaffer, known at that time as "Bully Shaffer," a boatman with a great reputation as a rough- and-tumble fighter; Daniel Ewing, and three others, named James W. Miller, Jacob Patton, and Andrew J. Young.
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HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.
Ewing was arrested at Coshun's coal bank, now in Cone- mangh township. Cambria county, by sending in a bloodhound and scaring him out. Shaffer was apprehended at Columbia, Pennsylvania, and the others. excepting Young, were soon in Somerset jail. Before the trial Ewing broke jail and was never heard of afterward.
The trial took place in Somerset in August of that year before Judge Kimmell, when John R. Edie, Esq., subsequently a member of congress and a colonel in the regular army, was district attorney. Zook was not indicted, but betrayed his con- federates and went on the witness stand for the commonwealth, although it was he who planned the robbery and procured their help to carry it out. Shaffer, Miller and Patton were sentenced to seven years' imprisonment, but Shaffer was pardoned after a period of three years, and for many years afterward kept hotel at Duncansville, Blair county.
A portion of the $300-about one-third-was the savings of Joseph Johns, the third, in five and ten-dollar gold pieces. It seems Shaffer did the dividing of the spoils in a house over the basin waste weir, between the corner of Clinton and Wash- ington streets and the Gautier Works, in Johnstown and, shak- ing some of the gold pieces, said, "these pennies are not much account," and put them in his pocket, thus defrauding his criminal associates, as he had Mr. Johns.
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