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In the year 1829 the township of Charleston was formed. It was taken from the eastern side of the township of Delmar, and occupies a central position in the county of Tioga. It was originally covered with a heavy growth of timber embracing many varieties—hemlock, white pine, beach, maple, ash, cherry, white, yellow and black birch, chestnut and oak. It occupies elevated land between the Tioga, Charleston creek and Crooked creek valleys. Its pioneer settlers were principally from New York and the New England states. Its second pioneers on the south were from Wales. It is well watered, although occupying a mean elevation of fifteen hundred feet above ocean level. It is one of the most productive townships in the county, and is substantially "cleared up." The prevailing pursuit of its inhabitants is agriculture. Its first assessment was made in the year 1821, by Nathan Niles, Jr., Oliver Wilard, Hiram Beebe and Seth Daggett, commissioners; David Lindsay, commissioners’ clerk.
The names of the taxable inhabitants were A. Atherton, Caleb Austin, Rosel Bailey, Jesse Catlin, Nelson Catlin, William Catlin, Timothy Culver, Joseph Culver, Cyrus Catlin, Gideon Dewey, Justus Dartt, Justus Dartt, Jr., James G. Dartt, Daniel Dennison, John Dailey, Calvin Eli, Israel Greenleaf, Benjamin Gitchell, Frederic Hilbot, David Henry, James Henry, Nathan Niles, Jr., James Porter, Jr., Thomas Prentiss, Daniel Packer, Leonard Porter, John Porter, Elijah Starkweather, Peter Shumway Herman Shumway, Vine Sager, John Starkweather, Adam Seeley, Thomas Sampson, Isaiah Wilson, Daniel Wilson, Moses Wheeler, Lyman Wetmore, Andrew Wetmore, Oliver Willard, Joseph Wilson, Orlando Willard, William Fanton, Cyrus Dartt, John Domine, John Lovell, James Pettis, William Hill. There were then less than fifty taxables. There is now over six hundred, with a population of about twenty-five hundred. The territory of Charleston sixty-five years ago, included not only is present boundaries but that of the present township of Duncan. The villages or hamlets in the township of Charleston, are Cherry Flats, Whitneyville, Dartt Settlement, Catlin Hollow, Hill’s Creek, Round Top and Welsh Settlement. The first settler of Cherry Flats was Timothy Culver. Timothy and Joseph Culver were early settlers in the "Welsh Settlement." Thomas Evans, Lewis Lewis, Miles Harris, David G. Edwards, David Morris, were also pioneers in that locality. At Whitneyville the first settlers were Lemuel Churchill, Asa Churchill, T. and Solomon Rice. Whitneyville was named in honor of Nelson Whitney, an enterprising farmer, merchant and lumberman, who located there in 1848. During the late rebellion he raised a company and did distinguished service. Dartt Settlement obtained its name from the first settler, Colonel Justus Dartt, a soldier of the revolutionary war, who settled there in the year 1811. When he settled in Dartt settlement there were only eight other settlers in the township, viz.: Moses Wheeler, Levi Eliot, Oliver Willard,_____Shumway, Caleb Austin, Nathan Niles, Rosel Bailey and Timothy Culver.
In 1837, Robert Pratt settled at Whitneyville.
Norman Rockwell was the first post master at Cherry Flats.
The first school in Charleston was opened at Dartt Settlement.
In 1840, a Welsh Chapel was erected in the "Welsh Settlement."
Tobacco is raised quite extensively on Col. Justus Dartt’s old farm.
The state road built in the year 1808 runs through Cherry Flats village.
Aaron Gillett settled at Cherry Flats, Charleston township, in the year 1812.
A lodge of Knights of Honor was established at Whitneyville, January 24th, 1881.
Robert Adams, a native of Ireland, about the year 1840, settled on Hill’s Creek.
The first church edifice erected in Charleston township, was in Catlin Hollow, and the second in Dartt Settlement.
About the year 1820 Lemuel Churchill erected a small tannery near Hill’s Creek, in the northern portion of Charleston township.
Col. Justus Dartt died July 5th, 1838, aged 81 years. His wife Hannah January 14th, 1844, aged 86 years. They are buried in the Dartt Settlement graveyard.
The first election for the township of Charleston, was held at the home of Justus Dartt, March 19th, 1824. The first officers were, supervisors, Thomas Sampson and Royal Porter. David Henry and Oliver Willard were elected constables. Justus Dartt, and Daniel Wilson acted as judges of the election.
The pioneer on Hill’s Creek was Jacob Schiefflein, who purchased several thousand acres in Lycoming and Tioga Counties and located on Hill’s Creek in the year 1828. He was a physician but never practiced. Was acquainted with Aaron Burr, Santa Anna, Robert Fulton, Dewitt Clinton. He died at Tioga, December 27th, 1880, aged 87 years.
