Home
Contents
Townships

History of Bedford and Somerset Counties

Table of Contents

Preface

Introductory

CHAPTER I Page 1

• The Indian Occupation
• Indian Trails and Paths
• First White Man is Somerset County
• Washington in Somerset County

CHAPTER II Page 10

• The Mission of Rev. John Steele to the Region West of the Allegheny Mountain 
• Treaty of Fort Stanwix, and Opening of the Country for Settlement 

CHAPTER III Page 18

• The Forbes or Boquet Road

Chapter IV Page 21 

• Earliest Settlements in Somerset County, and When They Were Made
• Captain Andrew Friend, Pioneer and Indian Fighter
• The Jersey Settlement

CHAPTER V Page 48 

• Brothers Valley and Stony Creek Glades Settlement
• Trades and Occupations
• Attempt to Lay Out a Town
• Places of Defense Against the Indians
• Grist Mills.
• Summit Township
• Elk Lick

CHAPTER VI Page 73 

• Settlement Along the Forbes Road, in Northern Part of County

CHAPTER VII Page 80

• The Cox's Creek Glades or Somerset Settlement
• Period of the Revolutionary War
• Attempt of Indians to Capture James Wells
• The Settlers Who Fled Return
• Tories Come into the Settlement
• Non-Resistants in the Settlement
• A Mill is Built
• Troubles on the Frontier Continue
• Reminiscences of Joseph Ankeny
• Reminiscences of Mrs. Susan Ferner
• Slough and Deer Licks

CHAPTER VIII Page 133 **NEW**

• Life Among the Pioneers

CHAPTER IX Page 138

• From the Court and Commissioners' Records of Bedford County

CHAPTER X Page 149

• The Whiskey Insurrection

CHAPTER XI Page 156

• Progress That Had been Made in the County Up to the Time of Formation

CHAPTER XII Page 159

• The Organization of Somerset County.---The First Term of Court

CHAPTER XIII Page 164

• Public Buildings
• Court Houses
• Jails
• Poor Houses or County Home

CHAPTER XIV Page 172

• Londonderry Township Annexed
• Creation of Cambria County

CHAPTER XV Page 176

• Progress Made from 1800 to 1830

CHAPTER XVI Page 191

• Internal Improvements
• Roads and Highways
• The Braddock Road
• The Forbes or Boquet Road and Its Successor
• The Glades Road
• The Berlin Road from Eastern Side of Allegheny Nountain to Fayette County Line
• The Old Cumberland Road
• Road from Somerset to Turkeyfoot
• The Turkeyfoot Road Through Elk Lick
• The Beulah Road
• The Felgar Road

CHAPTER XVII Page 201

• The Turnpike
• Stoyestown and Greensburg Turnpike
• Somerset and Bedford and Somerset and Mt. Pleasant Turnpikes
• Old Taverns Along Them
• Somerset and Cumberland Turnpike.
• Wellersburg and West Newton Plank Road
• Somerset and Conemaugh Turnpike
• Stoyestown and Johnstown Turnpike
• The Mud Pike
• The National Road

CHAPTER XVIII Page 218

• Railroads
• The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
• The Pittsburg & Connellsville Railroad.
• Somerset & Mineral Point Railroad
• Johnstown & Somerset Railroad
• Buffalo Valley Railroad
• Salisbury & Baltimore Railroad
• North Fork Railroad
• Confluence & Oakland Railroad
• Drony Lumber Company Railroad
• Quemahoning Branch Railroad
• Windber Branch Railroad
• Pittsburg, Westmoreland & Somerset Railroad
• Street Electric Railway
• The South Penn Railroad

CHAPTER XIX Page 235

• Military History of Somerset County
• French and Indian War---Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and Mexican War
• Somerset County in the War for the UnionSpanish-American War
• Old Time Militia and Volunteer Company

CHAPTER XIX---PART II. Page 258

• The History of Somerset County in the War for the Union, 1861-1865

CHAPTER XIX---PART III. Page 275

• Somerset County Men in the Fifty-Second Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers

CHAPTER XIX---PART IV. Page 339

• The Old-Time Militia and Volunteer Companies

CHAPTER XX. Page 351

• Education

CHAPTER XXI. Page 408

• The Bench and Bar

CHAPTER XXII. Page 438

• Civil List

CHAPTER XXIII. Page 448

• The Early Medical Profession in Somerset County

CHAPTER XXIV. Page 457

• The Press

CHAPTER XXV. Page 467

• Church History
• The Lutheran Church
• Reformed Church
• The Baptist Church
• The Christian, or Disciple Church
• The Methodist Episcopal Church
• Protestant Episcopal Church
• Roman Catholic Churches
• Presbyterian Churches
• The German Baptist or Tunker Church
• The Brethren Church
• Free Will Baptist Church
• The Mennonite Church
• The Amish Church
• The Church of God
• The United Brethren Church
• Evangelical Association of North America

CHAPTER XXVI. Page 508

Societies

CHAPTER XXVII. Page 514

Agriculture

Improvements in Implements and Methods

CHAPTER XXVIII. Page 521

Coal Companies

CHAPTER XXIX. Page 532

Criminal History of Somerset County

CHAPTER XXX. Page 584

Townships of Somerset County

CHAPTER XXXI. Page 686

Presidential and Gubernatorial Vote for Somerset County From 1816 to 1904

ADDENDA. Page 690

INDEX. Page 692

[Source: The History of Bedford and Somerset Counties by Blackburn and Welfley, published in 1906. Transcribed and donated by Batha Karr.]

Return to the top of this page

This county is part of the USGenWeb Project, a non-profit genealogical resource web system, and is maintained by April Phillips and Connie Burkett with help and information provided by other volunteers.

Last Revised: March 18, 2008

Copyright © The Somerset County, PAGenWeb Project.