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Tioga County Pennsylvania
Early History and formation of Tioga County and one of its towns.
Pennsylvania History began with the granting of a Charter to William Penn by Charles II in 1681; William Markham was the first Deputy Governor of the Province. In October 1682 William Penn arrived in Philadelphia in the ship Welcome. He laid out Philadelphia as the Capital City and created the three Original Counties:
Chester County was created in 1682 and named for Chestershire, England from which many early settlers came.
Philadelphia County was created in November 1682 its name meaning brotherly love.
Bucks County was created November 1682 and named for Buckinghamshire and English Shire where the Penn Family had lived for generations.
Other Counties were formed and on March 21,1772 Northumberland County was formed from parts of Lancaster ,Cumberland, Berks, Bedford and Nothampton Counties; and probably named for the English County, Sunbury, the County Seat was laid out in 1772 and was named for and English Village near London.
Lycoming County was formed April 13, 1795 from part of Northumberland County, and named for Lycoming Creek. Williamsport the County Seat was laid out in 1795.
The liberality and tolerence of the Quaker government attracted thousands of Immigrants seeking freedom from political and religious intolerance and looking for better economic opportunities.
Soon our state became populated by the Quakers - The Germans --The Scotch-Irish - The Welsh- French Huguenots -- And Irish along with The Dutch - - The Swedes and others who together formed the broadminded tolerence and the cosmopolitan outlook of its leaders.
Tioga County was organized March 26,1804, and was taken from Lycoming County. Its area is 1124 square miles contains 729,360 acres of land.
It is situated nearly midway between the Delaware River and Lake Erie on the boundary line between New York and Pennsylvania.
Its principal streams are The Tioga and The Cowanesque Rivers through one of the most beautiful valleys of the state.
At the time of the erection of the county in 1804, it contained one hundred and thirty families with a population of about eight hundred.
Four years prior (1800) to its erection into a county it contained ten families consisting of sixty white persons and seven negros and with only one public road within its limits.
In 1810 it contained three hundred families and population was one thousand six hundred and eighty seven.
2 Deerfield none 63
3 Elkland Dorman Bloss 79
4 & 5 Tioga William Rose 139
The almost inexhaustible supplies of pine, oak, and hemlock upon the hillsides made the business of lumbering attractive and remunerative, while the trade in semi bituminous coal was yearly increasing.
Delmar township was formed in 1808 from Lycoming County and September 1824 Morris Township was formed from Delmar Township. In 1856 Elk Township was formed from Delmar and Morris. In 1870 Morris Township had a population of four hundred and twenty three persons.
In 1870 Tioga County had 35,097 persons. In 1870 Pennsylvania rated second in Population; New York was first. In 1874 Morris had six schools; seven teachers; Average enrollment attending school 117 although there was a total enrollment of 166. Teachers were paid 26.14 a month to $39.00 per month; The school year averaged 4 ½ months a year.I
In 1875 in Morris Township we find: Enoch Blackwell, Lloyds; Lumberman and Proprietor of Coal, Iron & Wood Lands.
Sampson Babb, Morris; Farmer
Robert Custard, Nauvoo; Civil Engineer & Proprietor of Woolen Mills
Job Doane, Morris; Farmer & Lumberman
Samuel Doane, Morris; Lumberman & Post Master
Joseph Mitchell, Wellsboro; Proprietor of Bituminous Coal Mine
Robert Wilson, Morris; Lumberman & Farmer
John Wilson, Morris; Farmer & Blacksmith
John Williammee, Morris; Farmer & Owner of Timber Land
References for the preceding work are The Tioga Atlas 1875 and Outline of Pennsylvania History.
The following References used will be The Tioga County History 1897 and The Tioga County History 1883
Also The History of Seven Counties published by The Elmira Weekly Gazette
Newspaper Clippings
Tioga County Directory 1899 - Tioga County Directory 1907
Dr. White's Account Book
Church Records
References will be listed
Its principal waters are Pine Creek, Babb’s Creek, Sand Run, Zimmerman Creek and Stony Fork; the largest being Pine Creek and Babb's Creek, these latter named creeks are skirted on either side by mountains from eight hundred to one thousand feet above their bed. The lowest point in the township is about eight hundred twenty five feet above tide and its highest point is about two thousand feet. In the eastern portion of the township along Babb’s Creek, and on the highlands east of the valley are some good farming lands. Along Pine and Babb’s Creeks were the Indian paths of the Six Nations. At the confluence of these creeks was the site of an Indian village, some of the trees surrounding the village bearing marks which were made by an ax or metal tomahawkin the year 1732.
Samson Babb died in October 1815.
Job Doane was an early settler and erected a saw mill.
Rev. George Higgins, a Baptist Minister, held services in 1835.
Samson Babb built the first saw mill in the township in the year 1806. The Arnot and Pine Creek Railroad completed from Arnot to Hoytville in the year 1882.
The Jersey Shore and Pine Creek Railroad has a station at Blackwell’s.
Robert Campbell, a Revolutionary Soldier, settled in Morris at an early day.
Mr. John Link, of eastern Morris, is one of the wealthiest men in the county.
William Wells was a member of the English Land Company. He settled in Wellsboro in 1802.
Samson Babb was commissioned a Justice of The Peace by Governor Simon Snyder in the year 1813.
Enoch Blackwell, grandson of Enoch Blackwell, the pioneer, has resided 60 years in Morris Township.
The Pine Creek Land Company owned large tracts of land in Morris and the adjoining territory of Lycoming as early as 1799.
In the year 1881, Hoyt Brothers, of New York, erected a tannery upon Babb’s Creek for the tanning of sole leather. It is the largest tannery in the world.
The first white settler in Morris Township was Sampson Babb, a native of Wilmington, Delaware, who settled and gave the name to Babb’s Creek in the year 1800.
Hoytville was founded in the year 1881; it contains about 500 inhabitants and is one of the most active business centers in the southern portion of the county. Lumbering and Tanning are carried on very extensively. Enoch Blackwell, senior, a member of the English Land Company who owned twelve thousand acres in Morris Township, Tioga County and Lycoming County settled in Morris Township in the year 1810. He had previously settled in Pine Township in the year 1805. He was a native of England. Reference: History of Seven Counties.
May 13th and Dec. 14th 1814. In his will he said " he wished to be buried in the north east corner of my garden and walled in". His tombstone inscribed with the following words," Samson Babb Esq., died Oct. 28, 1815 was finally moved to the Lewis Cemetery near Blackwell. The stone was removed at the time the road was built. We are told Waldo Hart was responsible for its being placed in Lewis Cemetery.
The above partly from Tioga County History 1897 and Morris History You will find certain items repeated as we are using different source material but each record contains a little more information on the beginning of Morris Township and its Pioneers.
Data collected and compiled by Rhoda English Ladd
The following was furnished by Mr. Arthur Williammee (Tippy) who copied it from the original in The Wellsboro Court House.
These persons petitioned the court to have Morris Township formed in September 1824:
William Babb
John Campbell
Terence Duffy
Charles Duffy
Robert Williammee
J.W. Babb
William Blackwell
Robert Campbell
Eligha B. McCarter
Silvester Webster
Jacob C. Valentine
William Diggin
Charles L. Robertson
Jacob Emmick
Samuel Campbell
Thomas McCarter
Nathan Broughton
Samuel H. Harrison
Pioneer Settlement and The Pioneers who settled:
Samson Babb was the first settler of the township; the next settler was Enoch Blackwell Sr. who made a settlement at the mouth of Babb's Creek, on the present site of the village of Blackwell @ 1811. When he came to the land he found it occupied by A.P. Harris and George Bunnell. Mr. Blackwell came from Haven Parish, Gloucestershire, England in 1805, and was one of a colony from that parish who establish the "English Settlement" in Pine Township, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. He died in Jersey Shore in the spring of 1816 age about 65 years, and was buried in the old Pine Creek Burying Ground. In 1817 his son, William, removed to the mouth of Babb’s Creek, and became the founder of the village of Blackwell’s. He died December 6, 1859, age seventy years, and is buried in the cemetery about a mile up Babb’s Creek.
Owing to its rugged character the township settled slowly so that when it was organized in 1824 there were but eighteen taxables within its boundaries. Their names are as follows:
1.William Babb
2.Jacob Babb
3. William Blackwell
4.Nathan Broughton who came about 1820
5. Samuel Campbell
6. Robert Campbell
7. John Campbell who came about 1821
8. William Diggin who came about 1822
9. Charles Duffy
10. Terence Duffy
11. Mary Landis
12. Jacob Emmick
13. William Emmick who came about 1823
14. Samuel M. Harrison First school teacher who came about 1819
15.Robert Williammee
16.C. Williammee
17.Jacob Warren who came about 1824
18.Thomas Lloyd - Single Freeman living within the township in 1824
19.Jacob Valentine - Single Freeman living within the township in 1824
20.Sylvester Webster - Single Freeman living within the township in 1824
Mary Landis owned a sawmill and grist mill in 1825 on Babb’s Creek. Her cousins Charles and Terence Duffy helped operate it.
In 1835 the sawmill became the property of James Duffy. He also acquired the grist mill in 1839. In 1854 it became the firm of James Duffy and Brothers. In 1865, it was owned by John H. Humes. In 1870, it was owned by W.C. Gillespie. In 1874 it was Gillespie and Company. Next it was owned by Walters and sons who sold it to R.J. Franklin. Sawmill was washed away in the flood of 1889.
Jacob Emmick owned a mill in 1836 on Babb’s Creek. He sold it to Robert Archer in 1839. In 1840 associated with himself, H.S. and Stephen Archer, enlarging it in 1842.
Other mill owners were:
James Forsythe
Samuel Forsythe
Horace Williston
Merrils and Company
In 1897 more sawmills replaced ones washed away in flood:
F.E. Doane on Babb’s Creek near the mouth of Stony Fork Creek.
Lafayette English on Dixie Run; He was assisted by his father Robert English;
James Dennison near Nauvoo;
The first school was taught by Samuel W. Harrison in 1831, in a log building on Pine Creek below Blackwell’s. In 1832 a school house was erected on Babb’s Creek about a mile above Blackwell.
Nancy Clark
Samuel M. Harrison
Lyman Wallbridge
Dr. Rogers
Another school was located by Thomas J. Birmingham's Store, early teachers were: James W. Lewis
Jacob Babb
The Doane school house was located near the mouth of Stony Fork Creek. At this time there were thirteen schools located in the village of Morris and Morris Township; school being held six months of each year. Morris area had the following Physicians:
A.H. Archer 1850
Dr.Wm. Blackwell from Blackwell 1865
Dr. J.B. McClosky from Morris 1883
Henry Mathews "Indian Doctor" practiced under the name of
James McCashaway from Blackwell, Pa., in 1890
Dr.S.W. Sine in 1889
Dr.R.F. Robinson in 1891
Dr. C.C. Gentry in 1894
Samuel M. Harrison Mary E. Blackwell
Betsey Lloyd Maria Earnest
Samuel Campbell Warren Lewis Sarah Blackwell
Robert Wilson
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Dixie Run Methodist
Episcopal
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Justices of the Peace at Morris: | |
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1836
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Simeon Houghton 1869 Job Doane |
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1841
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Samuel Harrison 1874 Job Doane |
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1842
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James H. Lewis 1879 Job Doane |
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1850
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Daniel Doane 1864 Edwin Gregory |
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1854
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Henry S. Archer 1869 Robert Custard |
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1858
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Richard Childs 1874 Robert Custard Jr. |
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1859
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Job Doane 1877 John Haggerty |
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1864
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Job Doane 1882 John Haggerty |
Justices of The Peace, cont.,
1884 C.W. Beardsley
1886 W.W. Seaman
1888 D.W. Reynard
1891 Jeremiah Desmond
1893 D.W. Reynard Reference: Tioga County History
1896 E.G. Comstock 1897
| T. Stone | J. Williammee | School |
| W. Owens | J.E. Broughton | W.C. & J.M. Gillespie |
| Hotel | J.E. Webster | W. Blackwell |
| Store | Mrs. Love | E. Blackwell |
| T. Stone | E. Love | E. Blackwell |
| Saw mill | W.O!Conner | Post Office Lloyd,Pa. |
| S.Doane | W.Broughton | John Blackwell |
| Post Office | School | James Blackwell |
| T.Stone | E.G.Banfield | J.H.Perkins |
| School | C.Breed | E.Blackwell |
| A.Emmick | F.Briggs | J.Campbell |
| C.Barker | H.Breed | WM. Stoddard |
| J.Cole | P.Saunter | J.Plank |
| Mrs. S.M.Wilson | L.Graham | J.Little |
| Mr.Edwards | G.Graham | J.Custard |
| O.Gaines | J.Doane | School |
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| R.Campbell | G.Steele | J.Akin |
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| R.Wilson | W.Ayres | H.Guy S.Babb |
| M.Campbell | W. Lewis | W.H.Thomas W.& J.N.Bache |
| N.Brooks | E.Blackwell | G.L.Thomas |
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Joseph Mitchell
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| E.Blackwell | Sawmill | J.Dennison |
| R.E.English | J.Campbell | H.Thomas |
| J.Desmond | Robert Custard | H.Campbell |
| Mr. Gregory F.Heyler | J.Link | |
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H.Miller
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F.J.Heyler
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The following has been copied from "Old Home Days"
The Gateway to The Pennsylvania Grand Canyon and Dedicated to The Late Waldo Hart
The next settlement was in 1811 at the mouth of Babb’s Creek, made by Enoch Blackwell Sr. He too bought a tract of land on which he found two settlers: A.F. Harris and George Bunnell.
In 1831 near the county line, was erected the first school house. In 1840 Morris Post Office was established with William Babb as postmaster. The census of that year showed but 120 persons in the whole township.
During the eighty three years from 1800 to 1883 many changes took place within its limits: Hoyt Brothers of New York built the Brunswick Tannery. Morris grew with the tannery, because of the large amount of money that industry brought into the community, many kinds of business enterprises were attracted to the town.
To serve the needs of a growing population -- schools and churches were built and in the space of a few years the village got off to a good start, became the center of economic and social growth for many miles around. As the years passed by industries located in or near Morris, but while many of these have disappeared the mining industry is still in operation.
Some of the present business concerns are a half a century old, one
with the same firm name throughout three generations. The High School,
one of the best of its kind, has turned out graduates whose careers later
in life have been a credit to our town. For many years Morris has supported
a baseball team.
