BIOGRAPHY: Joseph JOHNS, Cambria County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Lynne Canterbury and Diann Olsen. Portions of this book were transcribed by Clark Creery, Martha Humenik, Betty Mirovich and Sharon Ringler. USGENWEB ARCHIVES (tm) NOTICE All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information are included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cambria/ ____________________________________________________________ From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 160 ____________________________________________________________ JOSEPH JOHNS, the first permanent settler in the vicinity of Johnstown, was born in Switzerland in 1750. He emigrated to America and located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he was employed for a short time. Thence he went to Berlin, Somerset county, Pennsylvania, removing to what is now Cambria county, in 1791, when he located on what is known as the Campbell tract of land. He built a log dwelling on the flats, near Stony creek, a short distance from where the house of Doctor Caldwell now stands. There he resided with his wife and four children about sixteen year, when he removed to a farm he had purchased in 1804, from John Stover, eight miles up the Stoyestown turnpike, and one mile east of Davidsville. He died in 1810, and was buried on the farm. A board fence encloses a plat thirty feet square, on the summit of a hill commanding a superb view, in one corner of which slumbers the pioneer, his faithful wife by his side.