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The township of Shippen was organized in the year 1823, taken from Delmar. Pine Creek runs centrally through the township from west to east for about four miles, and then abruptly turns to the southward near the mouth of Marsh Creek, one of its tributaries. For many years the business of lumbering in the pineries of the township afforded the chief industry of the inhabitants.
The late Hezekiah Stowell, Phelps, Dodge & Co., were among the prominent lumberman, as well as Scovill & Babcock, Hon. Robert G. White and others. The land along the valley of Pine Creek and Marsh Creek and in the southeastern portion of the township are under a fair state of cultivation, but a large portion of the township is not well adapted to agricultural pursuits, on account of the high and rugged mountains, which are a thousand or more feet in height above the waters of Pine Creek. The Jersey Shore and Pine Creek railroad passes through the township, following the valley of Marsh and Pine Creeks. Ansonia is a station on the line of the railroad in the township.
The first assessment of the township was made in 1824, by Asaph Ellis, before the township of Gaines was formed. The taxpayers in what was then Shippen and now composed of Shippen, Gaines and a portion of Elk, were: John Benn, Coonrod Bennauer, Elijah Dimmick, Paul Dimmick, Sylvester Davy, Richard Ellis, John Ellsworth, Asaph Ellis, David Ellis, Consider Ellis, Richard Ellis, John Ellis, Robert Francis, L??iamin Furman, Josiah Furman, Aaron Furman, William Furman, Reuben Harrington, George Huyler, Dudley Hewitt, Jr., John Smith, Wheaton Hewitt, Dudley Hewitt, Levi Murdock, Morris Miller, Richard Phillips, John I. Phenix, John Steele, Robert Steele, Jas. Steele, Ephraim Steele, Frederic Tanner.
Josiah Furman was the first settler in the township. He came up in a boat from Jersey Shore and made a settlement near the mouth of Marsh Creek on Pine Creek in the year 1804. Many of his descendants, still reside in the township.
David Ellis was the first collector of taxes in the year 1824.
The Indians did not vacate Pine Creek in Shippen township until the war of 1812.
Reuben Harrington, one of the early settlers died, April 17th, 1862.
Presbyterian church erected by the employees of Phelps and Dodge in the year 1843. Rev. T. Forster of Harrisburg, then located at Wellsboro, officiating as minister.
Graveyard near Presbyterian church established April 1844. Israel Merrick who came from the state of Delaware in 1809, died April 30th, 1844, aged 78 years, is buried there.
