Somerset County

The farm now owned by Jacob Sterner, situated at Confluence, was once the site of an Indian village. Mr. Sterner has unearthed a number of Indian skeletons in plowing, also ashes and traces of campfires. In 1878, as John S. Stanton and John H. Glisan were plowing on this farm, they turned up a flat … Read more

Many years ago on the Anstead farm, now owned by Adam Anstead, son of Godfrey, there was a distillery to which the men for miles around were accustomed to resort. It was a general custom to pitch horseshoes at a peg for the drinks. The winner always received a tin cup full of whiskey, which … Read more

A man named Tissue, who probably came from New Jersey, and was the first settler on the land where Confluence now is paid a convict’s passage from Baltimore, having employed him to work on his farm. One day, when Tissue was away from home, the man took advantage of his absence, shut Tissue’s two little … Read more

The beautiful Lewis valley begins on the head waters of Dark Shade creek, near where Jeptha Potts use to live, and takes its name from its having been the haunt at one time of the noted robber, David Lewis. There is also a cave somewhere in this region in which he is said to have … Read more

Joseph Buck was one of the first pioneers of the northern part of the county. In 1790, he purchased a tract of land, warranted under the name “Sportsman’s Hall”, for eleven pounds, three shillings and sixpence. Tradition states that Buck, while pretending to be friendly to the Indians, was in reality their most bitter enemy. … Read more

Probably the most remarkable manner ever used to extinguish a fire occurred at the mining town of Boswell, Pennsylvania in the early morning hours of January 16, 1908. Ten buildings were ablaze and the flames, which had practically destroyed one building, were making rapid headway toward another in which was stored a large quantity of … Read more

John Hyatt, one of the early settlers of this township, was a native of Maryland. He came with several others, accompanied by a number of slaves, to Turkey-Foot soon after the settlement began. While crossing the Negro mountain, a party of Indians fired upon them and mortally wounded one of the negroes, the strongest man … Read more

The first blacksmith shop in Berlin that is remembered by the old residents of that place was conducted by one Schmidtbarndt. This old shop stood on Main street at about the center of the second square east of the lower diamond. and opposite the graveyard of the Reformed Church. The people of that day were … Read more

Fort Hill is one of the many peculiar natural mounds belonging to the terrace formation, which are found in various parts of the United States. It is a hill of considerable altitude, having an area of about one hundred acres, of which seven acres, nearly level, but sloping toward the center, from the top. Its … Read more

One of the original settlers of the township, Joseph Markley, became the owner of a tract of land along the Casselman River. He also claimed a portion of the land on the opposite side of the river which a man named Judy also laid claim to. One day the two claimants met on the hill … Read more