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| This volume contains a treasure trove of Somerset County, PA, history once thought to be lost to the ravages of time. As anyone with a passing interest in the history of this county knows, Herman (Harmon) Husband was one of the very earliest settlers here. He kept a journal of his exploits when this land was inhabited by only a handful of white hunters in the early 1770s. That journal and his other writings —undoubtedly the earliest documented observations of pioneer life here at that time—were destroyed in a fire at the home of Florian Husband many decades ago. Current-day historians have long been tantalized by references to that "journal" in various historical writings, but until now have only been able to speculate about what it contained. With publication of this volume, they now have the opportunity to read extensive passages of Husband’s own descriptive words of his arrival here and the early years of Somerset County, as recounted in a series of 52 articles written by David Husband, who had access to the "journal" and other private papers. (Note: Although most local historical references to Husband call him "Harmon," David refers to his father as Herman. This volume follows his nomenclature.) In 1869–70, the Somerset Standard published David Husband’s articles. Some 24 years later (1893–94), the Standard reprinted the series along with at least 14 additional chapters, some of which were written by Florian Husband and some by noted historian W. H. Welfley. Virtually all of those newspapers containing that series disappeared over the next century, but two boxes containing issues of the weekly Standard from 1893 and 1894 turned up among copies of the Somerset Daily American when the Daily American sold its bound, archived copies in 2000. While purchasing a volume of bound Daily American issues from the 1960s, I learned that copies of the Somerset Standard from 1893–94 also were available. I quickly purchased one of two boxes (the other box being purchased virtually simultaneously by Bill Lehman). I’ve long had an interest in genealogy and this county’s history, always on the lookout for anything that might shed light on the arrival of my great-great-great-great-great grandfather, Ulrich Bruner, here in the early 1770s. Little did I know at the time the historical importance of what I had purchased! As you can imagine, 100-year-old newspapers are very, very fragile. As I explored my purchase, gingerly turning the crumbling, yellowed pages, I soon discovered the series of articles described above. In due time, each article in the series was carefully photocopied and then retyped to produce the manuscript for this book. A surname index was compiled to aid genealogical researchers, and a descriptive Table of Contents was created to help readers find specific passages. To maintain the authenticity of the original articles, they have been reproduced verbatim, complete with inconsistencies in spellings of names, obvious typographical errors, etc. A special "Thank You" is in order to Bill Lehman for helping to preserve this valuable historical record. The box I purchased contained newspapers with Chapters 1–55. Fortunately, his box contained issues sequential to mine, allowing the addition of Chapters 56–66 to this body of work. He graciously loaned his issues of the Standard to me for photocopying and subsequent retyping/indexing. As I read Husband’s narrative and typed his words on pages of this manuscript, I marveled at how our pioneer forefathers survived in what was then very much a wilderness—albeit a beautiful one, according to him. And as you read this book, I’m sure you, too, will stand in awe of those who endured incredible hardships and dangers to help settle what we now know as Somerset County. — Ronald G. Bruner, Publisher |
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