African-American Settlement in Cambria County

This Settlement was founded in the late 1790's by Edinborough Smith and William Harshberger - whose families have called the Johnstown Area home for over 200 years.










Laurel Hill Cemetery Listings - Known Burials

1. The first known recorded burial is Elizabeth Harshberger (abt 1740 - November 1827). Mother of William (abt 1765-1832). She was a member of the wagon train that made their way from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in the fall of 1827.

2. Keziah (Harshberger) Smith (abt 1800 - Nov or Dec 1827). She was married to Edinborough Smith (abt 1780 - 24 Aug 1865). She died a short time after their only son John Edinborough Smith was born in 1827.

After this - there is really no proper order of family burials. Which means the rest are in the process of being verified by either Obituary Listings or Oral History. And the number listings are solely to help with the final count of burials.

Hershberger Family

3. William Harshberger (Black) birth abt 1865 - 1832
4. wife Jane(White) birth abt 1785 - death between 1840 and 1850. She disappears after the 1840 Census.
Their children are
5. Keziah (Jane) Smith (Mulatto)- mother of John E. Smith
6. John Harshberger (Mulatto) birth 1800 - 1851
7. wife Nancy (White) born abt 1803 - death sometime between 1850 and 1860.

More burial records are on the way and will be posted soon.
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