Index for Ward and Associated Families of Sassafras Neck, Cecil County, Maryland

I can't take credit for this wonderful amount of research. Many thanks for this information go to:

• Dennis E. Ward
• Dan Harding
• Gene and Mary Anne Vittone; see bottom of page for compilation information and resources. I'm using their numbering as a guide.
• Thomas Shawcross

According to Dennis E. Ward, it seems that a William Ward (I think William Ward son of William Ward and Anne Douglas and grandson of William Ward the First of Woodlawn) and Herman Husband appeared on Sandy Creek in Orange Co NC at about the same time, about 1750. Dennis has not found any evidence that either one came with a wife. He has never found their marriage records. Both apparently had been married and came with children. William Ward later married a widow Elizabeth Barnett by whom he had no children. William outlived all his children from any previous marriage (if there was one - I suspect that he arrived in NC with his siblings after both his parents died. I have no proof of this however.)

Herman Husband, son of William Husband Jr and Mary Kankey, figured historically in the pre-Revolutionary War problem and conflicts in Alamance Co., NC and in the Whiskey Rebellion after he moved to Somerset Co., PA There are records of Herman at the Alamance Battleground Historical Site and at Somerset Co. State Park site.

Herman was a Quaker finally, after being of the Church of England, and then a Presbyterian. He was Trustee of Bush River Meeting of Quakers Society of Friends around 1750 [documented by Baltimore Families book]. He became a Quaker along with his brother Joseph. It is not known definitely when Herman became a Friend but on December 6th 1755, six years before Joseph was admitted to Deer Creek meeting, he presented a Certificate of Removal to Cane Creek monthly meeting, in North Carolina.

Husband was also a disciple of Benjamin Franklin, and circulated political pamphlets of a patriotic nature in seeking to effect reform peacefully by influencing public sentiment. He was a leader and believed in rightful treatment of all, especially the oppressed.

He was disowned on January 7, 1764 by the Quakers because of his activities in the Regulators, even though he actually was a peaceable man who tried to avoid violence. His offense being "guilty of making remarks on the actions and transactions of the meeting". His disownment may have restored him in his father's good graces. It is certain that he is mentioned in his father's will made in 1767 while Joseph is not.

Husband, most notable of the early settlers to Somerset County, was heading for a friend's hunting cabin in the nearby mountains. Isaac Cox, a former neighbor of Husband's kept a small hunting cabin in Western Pennsylvania and was living there at the time of Husband's visit.

Herman Husband, a native of Maryland, was living in Orange County, North Carolina at this time. 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, jury-rig a jury and pronounced Husband guilty. The growing tensions between the Governor's forces and the militant Regulators erupted in the Battle of Alamance. 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 Alamance.

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

Isaac Cox later sold his land to Herman Husband (known later as BARRON Farm) and moved west. 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 Independence.

In 1776 he plotted most of the town of Somerset. In the tax records for Turkey Foot Township, Bedford Co., PA Herman Husband has 900 acres, 9 head of cattle, 2 horses, but did not live there. In Ouemahoning Township, Bedford Co., PA he is listed as owning 400 acres but did not live there. In 1790, he presented the petition to the legislature requesting the formation of Somerset County.

He was arrested for being a leader of the Whiskey Rebellion, was walked to Philadelphia in chains.

He died in 1795, following an unjust imprisonment in Philadelphia, only a few months short of seeing Somerset chosen as county seat.

From the book "Herman Husband, A Story of His Life" by Mary Elinor Lazenby; Old Neighborhoods Press, Washington, D.C., 1940: "It was on May 12 that Herman Husband with seven others was released from prison, without leaving a court record behind him to which the curious mind might refer. He was a dying man. One of the friends he made in Philadelphia that winter was Elizabeth Peters, wife of Judge Peters. The lady was an Irish Quakeress and in her visits to Husband in prison the two must have found congenial subjects of intercourse. Her woman's quick intuition must have sensed the failing health of the old spiritual warrior and to her a family tradition credits the expedition of his release. But this seems improbable, as others were released before him. He started at once to his beloved home beyond the mountains but could travel no further than a tavern on the outskirts of Philadelphia. There Emy Husband come to be with him. John came up from North Carolina. For more than a month he lingered with a fever. Emy must have told him in the long watches about the new county of Somerset that was being set up, the petition for whose formation he had placed first before the legislature five years before The bill had passed on April 17, 1795. The old man may have sensed that his will, made out in November, 1789, just before coming to the meeting of the Assembly in Philadelphia, would be the first to be recorded there, as it was. Curious, he may have reflected, how he had associated Philadelphia with his death. He was buried there on the afternoon of June 19, 1795"

By this time George Washington was President. George recalled the Alamance Battle etc and apparently credited the Regulators as the first Americans to shed their blood for freedom from the English Crown. George Washington did not sign the pardon until July, 1795, after Herman had already been released from prison and died.

His first marriage may have been to Elsey Cox in about 1745. I have seen mention of this in correspondence but have not seen it in a book or document yet.

D-2-1- 1 William HUSBAND
D-2-1- 2 John HUSBAND
D-2-1- 3 Sarah HUSBAND
D-2-1- 4 Hannah HUSBAND
D-2-1- 5 Elizabeth HUSBAND
D-2-1- 6 Mary Ann HUSBAND
D-2-1- 7 Barbara HUSBAND
D-2-1- 8 Harmon HUSBAND
D-2-1- 9 Jacob HUSBAND
D-2-1-10 David HUSBAND b 6 May 1805 d 20 Nov 1881 m Sarah MATHIAS b 1812 d 1906
Son:

D-2-1-10-1 Samuel HUSBAND b 29 June 1850 d 28 Mar 1915 m 23 Feb 1888 Amanda CHRISTNER 1867 d May 1932
Among children:

D-2-1-10-1-1 Grace Lucile HUSBAND b 19 Aug 1893 m 8 Apr 1914 Charles Harrison BRALLIER b 23 July 1888 d 12 Dec 1942
Son:

D-2-1-10-1-1-1 Charles Husband BRALLIER b 3 Sept 1919

Mary Husbands died young and Herman married again before Alamance, at which time he had to flee for his life to PA and hide out. Later he got involved in the Whiskey rebellion and it seems that he was about to be hanged. By this time George Washington was President. George recalled the Alamance Battle etc and apparently credited the Regulators as the first Americans to shed their blood for freedom from the English Crown. He pardoned old Herman after which he got pretty quiet for the rest of his stormy life.

He married third 10 May 1765 Amy (Emy) ALLEN, d/o John ALLEN and Phoebe SCARLET
Located on the grounds at the site of the Alamance Battleground is the Allen House, a log dwelling characteristic of those lived in by frontier people on the western fringes of the colony. Family sources suggest that John Allen constructed the house around 1780. John's sister, Amy, was the wife of Herman Husband, the agitator, pamphleteer prominent in the Regulator movement. The Allen House was donated by descendants of the family and moved from nearby Snow Camp to the site, where it was restored and refurbished with its original furnishings. The family papers, books, and documents tell an interesting story, portraying an authentic example of living on the frontier during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Children: