Harmon Husband - Pennsylvania Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

The marker reads: "Leader of North Carolina revolt against the British, he fled under an assumed name in 1771. Somerset's first settler; lived at Coffee Springs farm some years. Became a pamphleteer and active in the Whiskey Rebellion. Died in 1795."

Harmon Husband, a native of Maryland, was living in Orange County, North Carolina in 1771. Shortly after the repeal of the Stamp Act, Husband and others from patriotic Orange County formed a small group called the "Regulators". The Regulators banded together to propose opposition to the growing injustice of the courts in Hillsborough, Orange County, North Carolina. Husband was a devout Quaker and was against violence of any kind. However, the Regulators were more prone to violent acts against the governing justice system and rioted in the city streets.

Husband, was a well known legislator in Orange County, and tried without success to change the law by peaceable means. However, Husband, was arrested for protesting unjust collection of taxes and later was declared by "ex post facto" an instigator in the Hillborough riots.

The Governor, wanting to try Husband for treason, in the hopes of squelching more riots, jerry-rig a jury and pronounced Husband guilty. The growing tensions between the Governor's forces and the militant Regulators erupted in the Battle of Almance. The Regulator's were severely defeated and the leaders of the rebellion were executed. Husband was forced to flee pending immediate execution. He left North Carolina and returned to his homeland of Maryland. However, word had been spread about him and the Governor of Maryland gave stern warning to anyone in Maryland and Virginia who had thoughts of harboring any of the fugitives of the Battle of Almance.

Harmon Husband, stayed in Somerset County (then Bedford) and built a cabin six miles from preset day Berlin. Husband, fearing the use of his real name, went by the pseudonym of "Tuscape Death" (To Escape Death). Locals, however, preferred to call him the "Old Quaker".

Husband acquired several thousand acres of land, most of present day Somerset. Husband, later became one of the first Assemblymen to the Pennsylvania Legislature from Bedford County following it's organization after the Declaration of Independance.

In 1776 he plotted most of the town of Somerset. In 1790, he presented the petition to the legislature requesting the formation of Somerset County. He died in 1795, following an unjust imprisonment in Philadelphia, only a few months short of seeing Somerset chosen as county seat.

Marker Name: Harmon Husband County: Somerset Date Dedicated: 10/24/1947 Marker Type: Roadside Location: U.S. 219 E of Somerset Category: Military, American Revolution, Whiskey Rebellion Website: Not listed

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