Skip to content
Orange County Public Library (opens the library’s website in a new tab)

Key local figure

Herman Husband

Herman Husband (1724 to about 1795) acquired more than 10,000 acres in Orange and Rowan counties and settled on Sandy Creek. He was the Regulators' spokesman and pamphleteer and represented Orange County in the Assembly in 1769 and 1770, when he was expelled. After the Battle of Alamance in 1771 he fled the province as a proscribed traitor.

Source: NCpedia: Husband (or Husbands), Herman (or Hermon, Harman)

Also found in catalogs as Hermon Husbands, Herman Husbands, Hermon Husband.

1724–1795 · Dates from the Library of Congress · On the Friends’ Local Authors roster → · Library of Congress authority record ↗

14 works about Herman Husband are indexed here.

Search these works Research sources View indexed works ↓

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each has its own page.

StorylineThe sheriff and the taxes: Orange County's sheriffs, 1752–17771752–1777 · 19 events · In colonial Orange County the sheriff collected the taxes, and how sheriffs and their deputies collected them became a grievance that fed the Regulation. The governor chose sheriffs from names the county court sent him, beginning with Alexander Mebane, who returned 1,113 tithables for 1752 and 1753. Thomas Hart's short account and the Assembly bill excusing him from taxes, deputies' seizures of deer skins and livestock, and Tyree Harris's extra charge on late payers came before the 1768 depositions and the rescue of a seized horse at Hillsborough. Regulators whipped Sheriff John Lea in 1769. In 1777 the first court under statehood named Mebane's son sheriff. StorylineThe Hillsborough district superior court, 1767–18061767–1806 · 18 events · The district superior court made Hillsborough a court town, and in the Regulator years it became the place where the Regulators' quarrel with the county officers was fought out. Set at Hillsborough by an act of 1767, it first sat in March 1768. Its September 1768 term tried William Butler and Herman Husband and found Edmund Fanning guilty; later terms threw out the Regulators' bills, and in September 1770 about 150 Regulators broke up the court. Shut by the court-law quarrel after 1772, it sat again on March 24, 1778, and Hillsborough kept its hold on the circuit until the act of 1806.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 40 dated events in the chronology →

During their lifetime

  1. Herman Husband, the Regulators’ pamphleteer, was born Herman Husband was born in Cecil County, Maryland, to an Anglican family and later became a Quaker. He settled at Sandy Creek, then in Orange County and now in Randolph County, where he reprinted and circulated political pamphlets and became a leading voice of the protest against county officers. Place: Countywide · Also mentions: Sandy CreekSearch the index · Documenting the American South: John Spencer Bassett, The Regulators of North Carolina (1765-1771) (1894), "The Leaders"
  2. Herman Husband buys two town lots from William Churton Years before he became a Regulator leader, Herman Husband bought two lots in Corbinton from William Churton and built a house on them. He lived in the town only a few months. People: Herman Husband, William Churton Place: HillsboroughNash, Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionary (1903), p. 19
  3. Cane Creek Monthly Meeting disowns Herman Husband The Quakers of Cane Creek Monthly Meeting disowned Herman Husband for openly criticizing the meeting's grant of a certificate of removal to Rachel Wright, a member who had committed some disorder. Place: Cane Creek Monthly Meeting, then in Orange County (now Alamance County) · Also named: Rachel WrightSearch the index · Internet Archive: Archibald Henderson, ed., "Hermon Husband's Continuation of the Impartial Relation", North Carolina Historical Review 18 (1941), p. 57
  4. A Deep River meeting drafts Regulator Advertisement Number Two Meeting in Herman Husband's neighborhood, settlers wrote a second paper and chose William Cox and William Masset to attend the Maddock's Mill meeting on October 10. It asked the county's assemblymen, vestrymen and officers to come and answer their questions. People: Herman Husband Place: Deep River · Also named: William Cox, William MassetLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 30
  5. The Regulator movement organizes in Orange County Orange County farmers first organized in 1766 to question county officers about taxes and fees, a Sandy Creek effort that Herman Husband led and that lapsed in 1767. In early 1768 a new association, soon called the Regulation, pledged to pay no taxes or fees beyond what the law allowed. People: Herman Husband, Edmund Fanning, William Tryon Place: Countywide · Also mentions: Sandy CreekColonial and State Records of North Carolina, vol. 7, pp. 671-672: Regulators' Advertisement No. 4
  6. Deputy attorney general John Williams signs the order jailing Herman Husband and William Butler Appointed deputy attorney general for the Hillsborough district in 1768, Williams signed the order that sent the Regulator leaders Husband and Butler to jail after the April disturbance in Hillsborough. NCpedia suggests this is why the rioters beat him in 1770. People: John Williams, Herman Husband, William Butler (Regulator) Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · NCpedia: Williams, John (Marion M. Edmonds, 1996)
  7. Regulators rescue a seized horse at Hillsborough After the sheriff seized a Regulator's horse for an unpaid levy, Regulators rode into Hillsborough, took the horse back and fired shots into the roof of Edmund Fanning's house; John Gray's letter to Fanning put them at about 100, Husband's Impartial Relation at sixty or seventy. Officials sought the arrest of William Butler, Peter Craven and Ninian Bell Hamilton as ringleaders. People: Herman Husband, Edmund Fanning, Peter Craven, William Butler (Regulator) Place: Hillsborough · Also named: John Gray, Ninian Bell HamiltonColonial and State Records of North Carolina, vol. 7, pp. 705-706: Letter from John Gray to Edmund Fanning, April 9, 1768 · Also: Internet Archive: Hermon Husband, An Impartial Relation
  8. A general Regulator meeting agrees to send twelve men to meet county officials at Thomas Lindley's The meeting agreed to send twelve men and then named thirteen, among them Herman Husband, James Hunter and Rednap Howell, to gather at Lindley's on May 11 in hope of meeting representatives of the officers. The arrests of Husband and William Butler broke up the plan. People: Herman Husband, William Butler (Regulator), Rednap Howell, James Hunter Place: Thomas Lindley's · Also named: Thomas LindleyColonial and State Records of North Carolina, vol. 7, pp. 731-732: Regulators' Advertisement No. 8, minutes of the meeting of April 30, 1768 · Also: Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952
  9. More than 400 Orange County inhabitants sign a petition to the governor and council At the April 30 meeting the Regulators drew up a petition to the governor and council in the name of the inhabitants of Orange County, to be held back unless the officers failed to settle. Herman Husband, not yet a Regulator, was among more than 400 signers. People: Herman Husband Place: Orange CountyInternet Archive: Bassett, The Regulators of North Carolina (1765-1771) (1896), p. 169
  10. Regulators confront officials at Hillsborough Edmund Fanning and 27 armed men arrested Herman Husband and William Butler at Sandy Creek on May 2, 1768. The next day hundreds of Regulators and neighbors marched on Hillsborough; officials released the prisoners, and the governor's secretary read a proclamation promising to hear their grievances, after which the crowd dispersed. People: Herman Husband, William Butler (Regulator), Edmund Fanning Place: Hillsborough · Also mentions: Sandy CreekColonial and State Records of North Carolina, vol. 7, pp. 759-766: Regulators' Advertisement No. 11
  11. Regulators at George Sally's resolve to settle their disputes by arbitration According to Husband, the meeting at George Sally's resolved that if the governor would not help them, they would stay out of the courts altogether and leave their differences to arbitration rather than riot, and passed round a subscription paper for it. Rednap Howell carried the paper to Brunswick, where Tryon read it, grew angry and ordered him to burn it. People: Rednap Howell, William Tryon, Herman Husband Place: George Sally's, Orange County; BrunswickInternet Archive: Hermon Husband, An Impartial Relation (1770), ed. William K. Boyd, North Carolina Historical Review 3 (1926), p. 304
  12. Ralph McNair presses Herman Husband to adopt a petition written by the officers After the May confrontation at Hillsborough, the county officers sent Husband, through Ralph McNair, a petition of their own drafting in which the Regulators would call their conduct illegal and withdraw their charges. McNair warned that Fanning would report the case to Tryon as treason if it was refused, and the Regulators instead named their own committee to lay their papers before the governor. People: Herman Husband, Edmund Fanning, Ralph McNair Place: Orange CountyInternet Archive: Bassett, The Regulators of North Carolina (1765-1771) (1896), p. 170
Show all 39 dated events
  1. Regulators hear the governor's letter from the sheriff and resolve to petition the Assembly At a Regulator meeting called to answer Tryon's reply, the Orange sheriff read a letter and proclamation telling them to submit to tax collection. The sheriff and his deputy swore the crowd refused and threatened them; Husband said the people only told the sheriff they would take the matter to the Assembly, and the meeting sent Tryon an answer saying so. People: Herman Husband Place: Orange CountyInternet Archive: Bassett, The Regulators of North Carolina (1765-1771) (1896), p. 174 · Also: Internet Archive: Hermon Husband, An Impartial Relation
  2. Sheriff John Lea brings the Regulators Tryon's demand for a 1,000 pound bond On the day set for settling accounts, the former sheriff stayed away and the new sheriff, John Lea, brought a severe letter from Tryon, endorsed by three councillors at Hillsborough. It demanded that twelve leading Regulators meet him at Salisbury by August 25 and give a 1,000 pound bond that no one would try to rescue Butler and Husband at the September court; Tryon left for Salisbury the same day. People: William Tryon, William Butler (Regulator), Herman Husband Place: Orange County · Also named: John LeaInternet Archive: Bassett, The Regulators of North Carolina (1765-1771) (1896), p. 175
  3. Chief Justice Martin Howard and two associate justices hold the Hillsborough superior court term Martin Howard, Maurice Moore and Richard Henderson sat at the Hillsborough District Superior Court term in which Edmund Fanning was found guilty and Regulators including William Butler were tried. People: Martin Howard, Maurice Moore, Richard Henderson, Edmund Fanning, William Butler (Regulator), Herman Husband Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Documenting the American South, Colonial and State Records: Minutes of the Hillsborough District Superior Court, September 22 to October 1, 1768
  4. A Hillsborough jury finds Edmund Fanning guilty on an indictment In the same superior court term that tried the Regulator leaders, the King's indictment against Edmund Fanning went to a jury on September 27, which found him guilty. The day before, Herman Husband had surrendered William Butler to the court, and both men entered 500 pound bonds to abide its sentence. People: Edmund Fanning, Herman Husband, William Butler (Regulator), Richard Henderson, Maurice Moore, Martin Howard Place: HillsboroughDocumenting the American South, Colonial and State Records: Minutes of the Hillsborough District Superior Court, September 22 to October 1, 1768
  5. Edmund Fanning orders John Pyle out of Hillsborough before the superior court A few days before the September 1768 court, John Pyle came to town to hire a lawyer for Herman Husband. By his sworn account he was surrounded in the street by soldiers, then accused by Fanning of planning to burn the town, and ordered out; he left without paying his reckoning. John Wilcox, the Cross Creek storekeeper who had persuaded Husband to stand trial, wrote on September 23 that he too had been ordered out of town. People: Edmund Fanning, Herman Husband Place: Hillsborough · Also named: John Pyle, John WilcoxInternet Archive: Hermon Husband, A Continuation of the Impartial Relation (1770), ed. Archibald Henderson, North Carolina Historical Review 18 (1941), p. 70
  6. Herman Husband is jailed in Hillsborough's new stockaded prison during the superior court By Husband's account, soldiers in town for the court harried him with bayonets and once stood him on a tavern table to jeer at him until Colonel John Ashe pulled them off. When the court sat on the Monday, Fanning charged him with new crimes touching his life and he was committed to a newly built, higher prison fortified all round, crowded with nine or ten prisoners, most of them Regulators, under a gallows-like beam. He and William Butler were bailed that night. People: Herman Husband, William Butler (Regulator), Edmund Fanning, John Ashe Place: Hillsborough jailInternet Archive: Hermon Husband, An Impartial Relation (1770), ed. William K. Boyd, North Carolina Historical Review 3 (1926), p. 261
  7. William Butler is convicted of riot at the Hillsborough superior court With Governor Tryon's militia in Hillsborough for the September 1768 term, the superior court tried the Regulator cases. Herman Husband was acquitted; William Butler was found guilty on two counts and sentenced to a fine of 50 pounds and six months in prison, but Tryon released him and suspended the fines. People: William Butler (Regulator), Herman Husband, William Tryon, Samuel Devinney Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Documenting the American South: John Spencer Bassett, The Regulators of North Carolina (1765-1771)
  8. Tryon pardons the 1768 protesters except thirteen named leaders His proclamation left out men including James Hunter, Herman Husband, Ninian Bell Hamilton and William Payne. People: James Hunter, Herman Husband, Peter Craven Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Ninian Hamilton, Matthew Hamilton, William Payne, Ninian Bell HamiltonLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 35 · Also: Nash, Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionary
  9. An unsigned address urges Orange County voters to change their assemblymen When Tryon dissolved the Assembly and called a new election in 1769, an address appeared in Orange, perhaps by Husband, that set out the people's wrongs and told voters the remedy was in their own hands. Orange went on to replace its whole delegation, electing Husband and John Pryor. People: Herman Husband, John Pryor Place: Orange CountySearch the index · Internet Archive: Bassett, The Regulators of North Carolina (1765-1771) (1896), p. 183
  10. The March 1769 superior court at Hillsborough hears the Regulators' cases against the officers With no troops in town, many Regulators came to the March 1769 court to prosecute the officers, with little success. James Hunter's case was continued, and Fanning was tried again on the old fee charge and formally convicted. Herman Husband had already been acquitted at the September 1768 term. People: Herman Husband, James Hunter, Edmund Fanning Place: HillsboroughInternet Archive: Bassett, The Regulators of North Carolina (1765-1771) (1896), p. 182 · Also: Internet Archive: Hermon Husband, An Impartial Relation
  11. Orange voters elect Regulators Herman Husband and John Pryor to the Assembly In the elections set for July 18, 1769, Orange returned the Regulators Herman Husband and John Pryor to the Assembly over Edmund Fanning. People: Herman Husband, Edmund Fanning, John Pryor Place: Orange CountyColonial and State Records of North Carolina, vol. 8, pp. 302-303: members returned to the Assembly begun at New Bern October 23, 1769 (list printed at the head of the December 1770 minutes) · Also: Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952; Colonial and State Records of North Carolina, vol. 8, pp. 53-54: Letter from William Tryon to the Earl of Hillsborough, July 3, 1769
  12. Abner Nash and James Milner sue Herman Husband for their legal fees Husband had given notes to the lawyers Abner Nash and James Milner while he was a prisoner in September 1768, and refused to pay them at the March 1769 court, arguing the notes were taken under duress and that the lawyers had broken their promise to plead the Regulators' cause across the province. At the September 1769 superior court in Hillsborough each lawyer sued him for debt, and the suits were continued. People: Abner Nash Place: Hillsborough · Also named: James MilnerSearch the index · Internet Archive: Archibald Henderson, ed., "Hermon Husband's Continuation of the Impartial Relation", North Carolina Historical Review 18 (1941), p. 53
  13. Herman Husband publishes An Impartial Relation His account of the Regulation traced the first disturbances to Orange County while granting that Granville and Halifax had been in the same dispute years earlier. People: Herman Husband Place: Orange CountyLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 25
  14. Herman Husband publishes a second part of An Impartial Relation Husband followed his Impartial Relation with A Continuation, the second part, "printed for the Author." It argued that jurors were judges of law as well as fact and set out the Regulators' later dealings with the courts, including his own fee suits and sworn statements from his neighbors. Place: Orange CountySearch the index · Internet Archive: Archibald Henderson, ed., "Hermon Husband's Continuation of the Impartial Relation", North Carolina Historical Review 18 (1941), p. 50
  15. Orange justices with cases pending pick the jury for the Hillsborough superior court According to the Regulators' Continuation, after their complaint to the Assembly brought a fairer jury to one court, the county justices who had suits pending met early on the first day of the inferior court and chose the whole jury for the next superior court, mostly officers like themselves. The other justices quarreled with them the next day but could not undo it. People: Herman Husband Place: Orange County court, HillsboroughInternet Archive: Hermon Husband, A Continuation of the Impartial Relation (1770), ed. Archibald Henderson, North Carolina Historical Review 18 (1941), p. 75
  16. Juries reject Herman Husband's plea of duress in the lawyers' fee suits At the March 1770 superior court in Hillsborough, James Milner sued Husband for 50 pounds and Abner Nash for 325 pounds. Henderson says the juries found no duress but assessed only sixpence damages, and Milner moved in arrest of judgment. By Husband's own account the court would not let his witnesses be sworn and the jury gave both verdicts against him without leaving their seats. Judgments for the full sums followed, and when execution was levied on his land a crowd of his neighbors stopped the sale. People: Abner Nash, Marmaduke Jones Place: Hillsborough · Also named: James MilnerSearch the index · Internet Archive: Archibald Henderson, ed., "Hermon Husband's Continuation of the Impartial Relation", North Carolina Historical Review 18 (1941), p. 53
  17. Orange County reelects Herman Husband and John Pryor to the Assembly In the new election called after Tryon dissolved the Assembly in November 1769, Orange again returned the Regulator candidates Husband and Pryor. Fanning, who had lost, came back through the new borough of Hillsborough. People: Edmund Fanning, John Pryor Place: Orange CountySearch the index · Internet Archive: Bassett, The Regulators of North Carolina (1765-1771) (1896), p. 189
  18. Orange justices take sworn statements for Herman Husband's defense Before justices Jacob Brooks, Joab Brooks and John Low, all sympathetic to the Regulators, John Pyle, William McFarson, William Butler, and Stephen and Aquilla Jones swore to what they knew of Husband's arrest and the September 1768 court. Butler swore Husband had always refused to join the Regulation. McFarson swore Edmund Fanning told him Husband must surely die. The Joneses swore they fled Hillsborough on the first night of that court in fear for their lives. People: William Butler (Regulator), Herman Husband, Edmund Fanning Place: Orange County · Also named: John Pyle, William McFarson, Stephen Jones, Aquilla Jones, Jacob Brooks, Joab Brooks, John LowInternet Archive: Hermon Husband, A Continuation of the Impartial Relation (1770), ed. Archibald Henderson, North Carolina Historical Review 18 (1941), p. 66
  19. Regulators disrupt the Hillsborough Superior Court About 150 Regulators crowded the Hillsborough Superior Court, beat the lawyer John Williams, Edmund Fanning and others, and forced Judge Richard Henderson to adjourn; he fled that night. The next day the crowd tore down Fanning's house and wrote mocking judgments on the court docket. People: Herman Husband, Edmund Fanning, Richard Henderson, Alexander Martin, Thomas Hart, John Williams Place: HillsboroughColonial and State Records of North Carolina, vol. 8, pp. 241-244: Letter from Richard Henderson to William Tryon, September 29, 1770
  20. The Assembly expels Orange County's member Herman Husband and the Council orders his arrest The House of Assembly resolved that Husband, a principal promoter of the late riots in Orange County and publisher of a seditious letter printed over James Hunter's name, be expelled. The same day the Council unanimously advised his arrest and the Chief Justice issued a warrant; he lay in the New Bern jail until a grand jury found no bill on February 8, 1771. People: Herman Husband, James Hunter, William Tryon, Martin Howard Place: New BernDocumenting the American South, Colonial and State Records: Minutes of the North Carolina Governor's Council, December 20, 1770
  21. Orange County elects Francis Nash to a seat left by Herman Husband's expulsion With John Pryor dead and Herman Husband expelled from the Assembly, Orange County filled the two vacant seats in 1771 with Ralph McNair and Francis Nash, both strong opponents of the Regulators. Nash had fought against the Regulators at Alamance that year as a militia captain. People: Francis Nash, Herman Husband, Ralph McNair, John Pryor Place: Orange CountySearch the index · Documenting the American South: John Spencer Bassett, The Regulators of North Carolina (1765-1771)
  22. Regulators marching on New Bern turn back at Haw River Regulators from Rowan, Orange and Granville gathered under James Hunter to march on New Bern, where Herman Husband was jailed. They broke up at Haw River on hearing that a grand jury had declined to indict him and he had been released on February 8. People: James Hunter, Herman Husband, Rednap Howell Place: Haw RiverNash, Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionary (1903), p. 21
  23. A special court at New Bern presents and indicts Husband, Hunter, Butler and Howell for the Hillsborough riot Sitting under Chief Justice Martin Howard with Maurice Moore and Richard Henderson, the special court of oyer and terminer at New Bern received a grand jury presentment against the Regulators who in September last 'broke up that Court' at Hillsborough, and returned indictments for riot against Herman Husband, James Hunter, William Butler and Rednap Howell among others. People: Richard Henderson, Herman Husband, James Hunter, William Butler (Regulator), Maurice Moore, Martin Howard, Rednap Howell Place: New BernDocumenting the American South, Colonial and State Records: Minutes of the New Bern District Court of Oyer and Terminer, including court docket, March 11 to 16, 1771
  24. Regulator threats keep the Hillsborough superior court from sitting At the March 1771 term the Hillsborough District superior court recorded that the Regulators led by Herman Husband, James Hunter, Rednap Howell, William Butler and Samuel Devinney, who had broken up the September court, were still threatening judges, lawyers and officers, so none attended. The court was continued to September 1771. People: William Butler (Regulator), James Hunter, Herman Husband, Rednap Howell, Samuel Devinney Place: Hillsborough · Also mentions: Hillsborough DistrictSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Colonial and State Records, Minutes of the Hillsborough District Superior Court, March 1771
  25. Willie Jones is made Tryon's aide-de-camp on the march into Orange County Jones marched into Orange County with Governor William Tryon's colonial militia and was appointed Tryon's aide-de-camp on May 15, 1771, the day before Tryon defeated the Regulators at Alamance. Several days later he was sent to raid the plantation of the Regulator leader Herman Husband. People: Willie Jones, Herman Husband, William Tryon Place: Orange CountySearch the index · NCpedia: Jones, Willie
  26. Battle of Alamance Governor William Tryon's militia defeated the Regulators at Alamance. James Few, captured on the field, was hanged at Tryon's camp the next day. People: William Tryon, Herman Husband, Robert Palmer, James Few Place: Present-day Alamance County; then Orange CountyNCpedia
  27. Tryon offers 100 pounds and a thousand acres for Husband, Hunter, Howell and Butler, dead or alive Marching back toward Hillsborough, Tryon proclaimed from Bethabara that Herman Husband, James Hunter, Rednap Howell and William Butler stood outlawed and liable to be shot by anyone, and offered one hundred pounds and one thousand acres of land to whoever brought any of them into his or General Waddell's camp. People: William Tryon, Herman Husband, James Hunter, William Butler (Regulator), Rednap Howell Place: Bethabara · Also named: Hugh WaddellDocumenting the American South, Colonial and State Records: Proclamation by William Tryon concerning a reward for the capture of Regulator leaders, June 9, 1771

After their death in 1795

Later events: estates and burials, and the buildings, honors and histories that remember them.

  1. The Recorder begins reprinting Herman Husband's account of the Regulation Dennis Heartt began reprinting in the Recorder, from the Greensborough Patriot, Herman Husband's rare account of the Regulation in Orange so that subscribers could read and keep it, praising the Regulators' spirit of liberty. The Patriot's copy had come through the Rev. Mr. Caruthers from a Regulator's granddaughter living in Indiana. People: Dennis Heartt, Herman Husband Place: Recorder office, HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, February 8, 1844, p. 3

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Herman Husband, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

Show 11 more

Indexed works

Works about or by Herman Husband. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

The sword of peace : Hermon Husbands and Quaker heritage

Couch, Jack · 1974

Jack Couch's 1974 account of Hermon Husbands, the Quaker associated with the Regulator movement, set against the heritage of Cane Creek Monthly Meeting in what is now Alamance County. The Regulator Insurrection of 1766 to 1771 turned on Hillsborough, then the seat of Orange County, where the Regulators broke up the court. Topics include Alamance County history in the eighteenth century.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Husbands, Hermon, 1724-1795.

UNC

A church quarrel and what resulted

White, Julia S. · 1900

Julia S. White's short piece on a quarrel at the Cane Creek Monthly Meeting of Friends and what followed from it, printed in 1900 as pages 90 to 98 of a larger work. The account includes Herman Husbands, 1724 to 1795, and Rachel Wright, linking the episode to the Regulator Insurrection of 1766 to 1771, centered on Hillsborough when Cane Creek still lay in Orange County.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Husbands, Hermon, 1724-1795.

NC Cardinal

Correspondence of the Earl of Hillsborough and Governor Martin concerning ammunitions at Fort Johnston, the Powder Act of South Carolina, and insurgents approaching New Bern

1771

Letters between the Earl of Hillsborough and Governor Josiah Martin, dated 1771, on the ammunition stored at Fort Johnston, South Carolina's Powder Act, and reports of insurgents moving toward New Bern. A second letter in the file turns to routine state business, Treasury bills and the birth of a royal prince. Herman Husbands is named. Hillsborough town in Orange County carries the Earl's title.

Included because: Catalog heading in the Duke record: Husbands, Herman.

Duke NC State

Journal of the North Carolina assembly, 5 December 1770 - 26 January 1771

1770

The journal of the North Carolina assembly from 5 December 1770 to 26 January 1771, covering appointments, prices, public revenue, grievances, trade, rebellion and the courts. Herman Husbands, Richard Caswell and John Burgwin are among the names, and the session fell in the Regulator years, when the unrest centred on Hillsborough and the Orange County courts.

Included because: Catalog heading in the Duke record: Husbands, Herman.

Duke NC State

George Bancroft letters

Bancroft, George · 1845

Letters of the historian George Bancroft, 1845 to 1885, 22 items. Fifteen are transcripts of letters addressed to UNC president David L. Swain about the state's history: the Regulators, the Loyalists, the Mecklenburg Declaration, Tryon and Martin as governors, and Edmund Fanning and Hermon Husbands, both central to the Regulator troubles in Hillsborough.

Included because: Catalog heading in the DPLA record: Husbands, Hermon, 1724-1795.

Duke DPLA

Letter from Governor Martin (no.4) regarding six rebels sentenced to death and the location of Herman Husbands

1771

Governor Josiah Martin's dispatch numbered 4, written in 1771, on six rebels sentenced to death and the whereabouts of Herman Husbands, with Pennsylvania among the places. Six men are mentioned alongside Husbands: William Brown, James Copeland, Herman Cox, James Emerson, Forrester Mercer and James Stewart. Hillsborough is named, with petitions, mercy and capital punishment among the topics. From Colonial Office volume CO 5/329.

Included because: Catalog heading in the Duke record: Husbands, Herman.

Duke NC State
Show 6 more

Letters from William Tryon (Jan-Feb 1771) regarding appointments to Council, legislation and moves towards the restoration of public tranquillity

1771

From January and February 1771, Tryon's letters on appointments to the council, legislation, and moves toward restoring public tranquillity. Herman Husbands and Orange County are mentioned, with sedition, the militia, riot, punishment, currency and petitions listed as topics. Cited to Colonial Office volume CO 5/328, North Carolina letters to the Secretary of State, 1766 to 1771.

Included because: Catalog heading in the Duke record: Husbands, Herman.

Duke NC State

Letters from William Tryon (Apr 1769) regarding ordnance stores for Fort Johnston, recent unrest in relation to taxes and the acquittal of Herman Husbands

1769

Ordnance stores for Fort Johnston, recent unrest over taxes, and the acquittal of Herman Husbands are the matters William Tryon reported in April 1769. Hillsborough, Brunswick, Wilmington, Charleston and the Cape Fear River appear as places, and topics include artillery, privateering, riot, punishment and rebellion. One online resource in Colonial Office series CO 5/328, North Carolina letters to the secretary of state, 1766 to 1771.

Included because: Catalog heading in the Duke record: Husbands, Herman.

Duke NC State

Orange County (N.C.) court records, 1769-1771.

1769

Five Orange County court documents from 1769 to 1771, in the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 564-z. The documents concern indictments during the Regulator Insurrection of 1766 to 1771 and Regulator leader Hermon Husbands. The items are the county court's own papers from the years of that conflict.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Husbands, Hermon, 1724-1795.

UNC

Letter from the Earl of Hillsborough to William Tryon regarding a petition to introduce paper money as legal tender

1768

Five letters from the Earl of Hillsborough to Governor William Tryon, dated 1768. They take up a petition to make paper money legal tender, addresses by Parliament against disaffection in the colonies, storm damage and the rebuilding of New Bern, a postal route through the province with a request for a governor's house, and the suppression of insurgents with a general pardon and boundary disputes. Herman Husbands is among the names.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC State record: Husbands, Herman.

Duke NC State

Writ at large for arrest of Regulators, writ for arrest and writ for imprisonment of Herman Husband, May 1 - 2, 1768

North Carolina. Office of Archives and History. Division of Archives and Records Management · 1768

Three court writs of 1 and 2 May 1768 from the Regulator troubles: a general writ for the arrest of Regulators, and writs to arrest and to imprison Herman Husband, a leader of the movement. Backcountry settlers had rebelled against royal officials they accused of taking excessive fees, and Orange County was the center of the unrest. Seven images.

Included because: Its title names this person.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

John Allen (1749-1826) Papers

Unknown · 1756

Papers of the family of John Allen of Alamance County, 1756 to 1877 and 1900 to 1904. They include his father's 1756 Granville grant in Orange County and 1769 will from Chester County, Pennsylvania, grants, plats and a deed for Orange and Chatham tracts from 1789 to 1797, tax receipts and store account books. Quakers and Hermon Husband are among the topics. State Archives of North Carolina, PC.1467.

Included because: Catalog heading in the State Archives of NC record: Husband, Hermon.

State Archives of NC

Search all 14 indexed works →

Start at OCPL

Books in OCPL’s Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection whose titles, catalog subjects, or descriptions match this person. The Friends’ recommended starting points are labelled.

  • Start here · NC 975.602 TROXLER Farming Dissenters: The Regulator Movement in Piedmont North Carolina Troxler, Carole Watterson · 2011

    Carole Watterson Troxler's history of the Regulator movement in Piedmont North Carolina, from land speculation and backcountry resentment through Herman Husband and the Sandy Creek network to the petitions, court proceedings and rioting in Hillsborough and Salisbury, the Battle of Alamance in 1771 and the movement's afterlife in the Revolution. An appendix compiles names in a Regulator context. Published by the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources in 2011, 221 pages with illustrations, maps and an index.

Places in this person’s story

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows the 1 with a known location.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

All places and the county map →

Research sources

Sources and research tools for this person. For ready-made searches of other catalogs, see Search further. Research guide: Trace a family through historical records.

Background 5

Historic sites, markers, and maps

Records of the time

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Herman Husband Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

Local help

Search further

Search other catalogs and collections for this name. Results may include other people with the same name and have not been reviewed by the Friends.

Books about Herman Husband

Books by Herman Husband

Find copies at other libraries

Photographs, papers, and newspapers

Historical records and collections

Catalog searches use the Library of Congress name heading: Husbands, Hermon, 1724-1795. Historical-record searches use the person’s name and may include namesakes. Links open in a new tab.

Found a book OCPL doesn’t own? You can often borrow it through interlibrary loan at OCPL.

More to discover

Keep Reading Local

The Friends connect people with new library materials, local writers and publishers, and resources documenting Orange County.

Browse New Arrivals → Meet Local Authors → Explore Local Publishers →
Two mice reading back to back against a leaf, with the hand-lettered words Friends of the Orange County Public Library
Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026