BIOGRAPHY: Dr. Harry SOMERVILLE, Cambria County, PA 

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From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria 
County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 355-6
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DR. HARRY SOMERVILLE, an eminently successful and prosperous physician of Chest 
Springs, is a son of John H. and Mary (Helfrick) Somerville, and was born in 
Susquehanna township, September 30, 1868. He received his early training on the 
home farm, and attended the public schools of his district, and later took 
advantage of a course in the Gettysburg and Ebensburg high schools. At the early 
age of fifteen years he taught his first school, remaining in the profession 
four years.
     Having decided on the medical profession as his field for usefulness, at 
the age of eighteen he began the study of medicine in the office and under the 
direction of Dr. Daniel S. Rice, of Hastings, this county. He completed his 
thorough preparation for his chosen work by an extended course in the Cincinnati 
College of Medicine and Surgery, where he matriculated as a student in 1886, and 
from which well-known institution he graduated in 1888. Upon graduating, he 
immediately located in Chest Springs, where he has established an extensive and 
remunerative practice. He has been eminently successful in his chosen 
profession. This success is largely due to the deep interest he manifests in 
everything pertaining to progress in medical science. He is a close student, and 
keeps in touch with the spirit of advancement. He is a member of the 
Pennsylvania Medical society, and takes a prominent part in the Cambria County 
Medical association.
     In politics he is identified with the Democratic Party, and although not a 
candidate for office, his friends presented his name before the Ebensburg 
convention for nomination for member of assembly, and he received a strong vote.
     Mr. Somerville, having been reared on a farm, has not forgotten early 
associations, and is still interested in agricultural pursuits. In 1894 he 
purchased a farm of thirty-five acres in Allegheny township, which he keeps in a 
good state of cultivation. Here, too, will be found a fine poultry yard—in fact, 
the finest in the county, as he has been awarded the first premium in the 
poultry shows, recently held in Cleveland, Ohio; Washington, and Buffalo, New 
York.
     He is largely interested in real estate, in Patton, this county, where, 
besides a one-half interest in the Central hotel, he owns considerable property.