View source for Johns, Joseph (1749-1813)

Joseph Johns (Schantz)(1749-1813) was a Swiss Amish immigrant of 1769 who located in the angle formed by the converging Stony Creek and Conemaugh River on the present site of [[Johnstown (Pennsylvania, USA)|Johnstown]], [[Pennsylvania (USA)|Pennsylvania]] in 1793. In a charter of 3 November 1800, he deeded most of his farm, together with a plot of 141 lots (with instructions for public buildings including a school and courthouse), for a town, Conemaugh. The name was later changed to Johnstown in his honor and made legal in 1834. During the 1950s the city's population held steady around 67,000 people. Johns, like other Amish men, moved away from the growing town to a farm nine miles (15 km) south, near the present village of Davidsville (named after Amish man David Stutzman), in 1807, where he and his descendants, including his son John and grandson, also named Joseph Johns (Amish members), are buried. A statue of Joseph Johns (by J. Otto Schweizer) was erected on the town square in 1913 on the occasion of the first centennial of Johnstown.


= Bibliography =
Mook, Maurice A.. "Amishman Who Founded a City." <em class="gameo_bibliography">Christian Liv</em><em class="gameo_bibliography">ing</em> 2 (July 1955).

Somerset County Deed Book: II, 246-247.


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