A Johnstown Flood victim

Although occupancy of a grave at Hice-Pershing Cemetery was temporary, the little graveyard along the north shore of the Conemaugh did contain for a time the remains of a victim of the great 1889 flood at Johnstown, some 12 miles upstream.

The great flood occurred on May 31, 1889, when massive rains resulted in collapse of the compromised Lake Conemaugh dam, high above Johnstown, and a massive flood swept down the river valley. In all, an estimated 2,200 people died. Hundreds of bodies washed downstream, were recovered and buried temporarily near where they were found.

At old Nineveh village and the newer Nineveh Station (now Seward), two miles upstream from Hice-Pershing on opposite sides of the river, approximately 250 bodies had been recovered. A few were identified, claimed and shipped elsewhere for burial. But 206 remained. Undertakers worked around the clock and physical characteristics, clothing and accessories of the unknowns were carefully noted.

Twenty-four were buried in the old riverside cemetery at Nineveh village, on the north bank; 182, near Nineveh Station on the south bank, where there was no cemetery but an acre of ground was purchased hurriedly for that purpose and trenches dug.

During late November, after colder weather arrived, those bodies were raised and transported back to Johnstown for burial, most in the field of the unknowns at Grandview Cemetery.

The bodies near Nineveh Station were raised first, transported by rail to Johnstown, then hauled by wagon to Grandview. Nine of these victims had been identified before burial, 11 were identified upon reaching Johnstown; and 162 were buried as unknowns.

Next, the bodies in the old Nineveh cemetery were raised, the body exhumed at Hice-Pershing brought to join them, then all 25 were taken across the river to Nineveh Station for shipment to Johnstown. Of the 25, one was known before burial, one was identified upon exhumation and 23 were buried as unknowns.

Odds are, the remains recovered from Hice-Pershing now are among the unknowns at Grandview, high above Johnstown and safe from the waters of the Conemaugh.