Johnstown High School - Spectator Yearbook (Johnstown, PA)

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AN APPRECIATION In compiling this department of our hook it became necessary to make a wide search for ma- terial. This task was greatly lightened by the ready response to our inquiries for pictures and cuts of Old Johnstown. Those who so willingly aided us in our quest for information are Mr. Dwight Roberts, Air. IV. F. Cleaver, Mr. Cramer City Clerk, Mr. Fred Krebs, Air. David Barry, the Schubert Printing Company, and the Chamber of Commerce. IVe wish to acknowledge our in- debtedness to these people who greatly contributed to the subject matter and to the valuable pictures and cuts found in our book.

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OUR THEME THE SPIRIT OF JOHNSTOWN

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■i—--. 1|£ THE SPECTATOR THE FOUNDER OF JOHNSTOWN Polly Barnhart The name Shantz is probably unfamiliar to many of us, but when the German name Shantz is changed to Johns we have a name which every Johnstowner knows and respects. Joseph Johns was not the first white man who attempted settlement in Cambria County. At the date of his coming in 1793, there existed three small villages, Ebensburg, Loretto, and Beulah. More than twenty years earlier, the Adams family, two brothers and a sister, occupied and improved land in what is now Seventh ward. It was a period of Indian troubles. The Adamses repeatedly fled for protection to one or other of the nearby forts at Bedford, Ligonier, or Fort Palmer, and it was in encounters with hostile Indians that both Samuel Adams and his sister Rachel lost their lives. Although the Adams family established no permanent settlement, they left their impress upon the vicinity in the names of Sam’s Run, Solomon’s Run, and Ben’s Creek; and in the name of a hill beyond Geistown, known as Rachel’s Hill. The imperfect records of that pioneer period leave the dates of the activities of this family in doubt. Quite as unfortunate is the indefiniteness of the dates in Joseph Johns’s life, for neither the date of his birth nor that of his death can be proved by documentary evidence. The inscription upon his tombstone reads Joseph Johns Died Jan. 18, 1810 Aged 60 yr. 2 mo. 10 d. This makes the date of his birth 1794. However, a deed later disclosed the fact that he sold property during March, 1812; and the papers of administration for his estate were not issued until May, 1813. A possible error was admitted by his grandson, Joseph Johns, III, because the marker was not erected until many years after the death of Joseph Johns. We know, however, that this Joseph Johns was a man of German descent, and a pioneer such as at that time came from Switzerland and the Palatinate. Un- certainty again arises when we try to determine the date of his arrival in America, since there were several persons bearing the same name who immigrated within a few years of each other. According to family tradition, Joseph and his sister Veronica came to this country together. Of their first few years in America we know little, except that they lived in Berks County where Veronica met and mar- ried Joseph Crisner. The couple later came to Somerset County where they settled. Joseph Johns, while in Berks County married Miss Veronica Holly. They, too, moved to Somerset County where Shantz bought a farm near Berlin. In 1793 lie sold this farm to buy from James McLcnahan land at the confluence of the [7]