Tri-Counties Genealogy & History by Joyce M. Tice
Seven Counties History - Tioga County PA
Bradford County PA
Chemung County NY
Tioga County PA
From AN OUTLINE HISTORY of Tioga and Bradford Counties in Pennsylvania, Chemung, Steuben, Tioga, Tompkins and Schuyler in New York by TOWNSHIPS, VILLAGES, BORO'S AND CITIES"
ReTyped for Tri-Counties by Barbara COMSTOCK Coy and Pat Raymond. Book Submitted by Walt Samson
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“HISTORY OF SEVEN COUNTIES presented by the Elmira Weekly Gazette". It is an “Outline History of Tioga and Bradford Counties in Pennsylvania, Chemung, Steuben, Tioga, Tompkins and Schuyler in New York by TOWNSHIPS, VILLAGES, BORO’S AND CITIES.” Written expressly for the Gazette Company, Elmira, N. Y. Copyright 1885.
Tioga Township & Tioga Borough

Tioga township originally contained the entire area of the present count of Tioga. It was then a portion of Lycoming County, Pa. On the formation of Tioga County, March, 1804, by an act of the Legislature it was created an election district on the 3rd of April 1804, and the house of Thomas Berry designated as the place of holding elections. It will be recollected that Tioga County, then (1804) was only in its incipient state and not fully organized until the year 1813.

The present township of Tioga is bounded on the north by the township of Lawrence, east by Jackson and Rutland townships, south by Richmond, west by Middlebury and Farmington townships. Its principal streams are the Tioga river and its tributaries, Crooked, Elkhorn, Mill and Mitchell’s Creeks. It is situated in and on both sides of the Tioga valley, comprising some of the best alluvial and upland soils in the State.

Tioga borough was formed from the township of Tioga in February, 1860. It is beautifully situated in the valley of the Tioga on the Tioga River, near the mouth of Crooked and Elkhorn Creeks, and contains about one thousand inhabitants. The Tioga and Elmira State Line Railroad has a station on the eastern side of the borough and the Corning, Cowanesque and Antrim Railroad, a station on its western side.

Catholic church erected in 1881.

Episcopal church organized in 1860.

Thomas Berry settled in Tioga in 1805.

Ira McCallister settled in Tioga in 1805.

Tioga village cemetery established in 1829.

Baptist church organized in the year 1813.

Park Hose Co., organized December, 1874.

Destructive fire at Tioga, February 9th, 1871.

John Gordon settled in Tioga in the year 1801.

Lyman Adams settled in Tioga in the year 1809.

Odd Fellows Lodge established October 8th, 1847.

Dr. William Willard settled in Tioga in 1799.

Tioga Grange, No. 241, organized May 6th, 1874.

Tioga County Express established at Tioga in 1873.

B. C. Wickam, merchant, settled in Tioga in 1832.

Richard Mitchell settled at Mitchell’s Creek in 1795.

Allen D. Caulkins settled in Tioga in the year 1813.

William Rathbone settled in Tioga in the year 1812.

Nicholas Prutsman settled in Tioga in the year 1800.

Timothy Ives settled in Tioga township in the year 1797.

Levi and Joseph Guernsey settled in Tioga in the year 1825.

Tioga Lodge, Free Masons, No. 373, established October 16, 1866.

Willardsburg Lodge, Free Masons, established about the year 1820.

Tioga river Lodge, I.O.O.F., No. 797, established July 10th, 1872.

Knights of Honor, Phenix Lodge, No. 933, established March 7th, 1878.

Elijah Depue settled at Tioga, 1809. He died March 17, 1853, aged 80 years.

James Goodrich, an enterprising citizen, settled in Tioga in the year 1819.

Richard Mitchell, son of the pioneer was born at Mitchell Creek, in 1801.

Harry Hotchkiss, a revolutionary soldier, settled in Tioga in the year 1804.

Presbyterian church organized by Rev. J. S. McCullough, Jan. 25, 1852.

    1. C. Bush establishes a Free Park on the east side of the Tioga River in 1873.
Henry H. Goodrich, poet, writer and historian, born at Tioga, February 28th, 1825. In 1796 Benajah Ives settled in the township of Tioga, three miles north of the village.

Tioga village was originally known as "Willardsburg", named in honor of Dr. Willard.

Hon. William Garretson settled in Tioga in the year 1827. He was an editor and lawyer.

Uriah Spencer settled at Tioga in 1798. He was the first post master at Willardsburg in the year 1805.

In 1827 "The Tioga Pioneer", a weekly newspaper removed from Wellsboro to Willardsburg, (now Tioga).

Hon. John W. Gurnsey, elected first burgess of Tioga borough in 1860, held the office for four consecutive years.

William Garretson elected Justice of the Peace in the borough of Tioga in 1863. Nathan Niles was the first justice in 1808.

Ambrose Millard settled in Tioga in 1805. He was one of the county commissioners when the county was fully organized in 1813.

    1. C. Bush, merchant, lumberman and prominent business man settled in Tioga in the year 1831. He was the founder of Bush’s Park.
Coke ovens, for the manufacture of coke from semi-bituminous coal, were

Constructed in the year 1882-3, by the Fall Brook Coal Company at Tioga. They number about 500.

The First Methodist church organized at the house of James Goodrich, June 24th, 1826. First trustees William Willard, Jr. Elisha Booth, and Jacob Prutsman; Chairman, Benjamin Bentley; Secretary, William Willard, Jr.

Dr. William Willard died at Willardsburg, (now Tioga), October 28th, 1836, in the 75th year of his age. He was a native of the State of Vermont. His widow died February 1864, aged 94.

Jesse Losey was the first settler in Tioga, in the year 1794. He was a revolutionary soldier and died March 12th, 1844, aged 85 years, 5 months and 7 days, and is buried in a grave-yard south of Hollidaytown, in Middlebury township, Tioga County.