Bradford County PA Chemung County NY Tioga County PA Tri-Counties Genealogy & History by Joyce M. Tice History of Tioga County 1897

Tri-County Genealogy  & History Sites Home Page 1897 Tioga County History Table of Contents How to Use This Site Warning & Disclaimer No Unauthorized Commercial Use Say Hello to Joyce  Typed for Tri-Counties by Jane Webb Formatted by Joyce M. Tice

Previous to 1866 the indigent poor were cared for by the several townships, each township bearing the expense of maintaining its own poor. On March 12 of that year an act of the legislature was approved, appointing William Bache, James H. Gulick, J. L. Baldwin, Joel Parkhurst and John Maynard, commissioners, to purchase real estate for a county farm and, with the assent of the court of quarter sessions, to execute bonds and mortgages, to secure payment therefor. The act also made the county commissioners overseers of the poor, and authorized them to erect suitable buildings and assess a county poor tax, sufficient to maintain the inmates and also pay for the buildings within five years. They were also authorized to appoint a steward, a matron and a physician, and were required to visit the institution monthly.

Under the authority of this act the commissioners named purchased twenty-five acres of the old Caleb Austin farm just east of Wellsboro, on the south side of the State road, in Charleston township. Subsequent purchases, from time to time, have enlarged the original farm to 315 acres. On the land first purchased a two-story brick building was erected and was ready for occupancy in 1869. It answered the purpose of the county until 1888, when it was torn down and the present commodious and well-furnished building erected at a cost of over $20,000. There is also a frame residence for the superintendent, with a barn and other outbuildings. The farm is cultivated for the benefit of the inmates, those able to do so assisting in the work. A number of insane poor are cared for in a building specially set apart for them. The institution is a well-ordered one and is of great value to the county in properly caring for the indigent and the insane poor. The farm and improvements are valued at about $50,000.

Chapter XI - pg 136-137

History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania

R.C. Brown & Co. - 1897