|
|
Some of the very earliest settlements in Tioga County were made within the present limits of the township of Deerfield, upon the Cowanesque river near the mouth of Troops Creek. Patents were obtained for several warrants, located in this township from the state of Pennsylvania as early as 1785. It contains an area of nearly twenty one thousand acres. Its mean elevation is about 1500 feet above the ocean’s level. It contains some of the richest alluvial soil in the state. It is bounded on the north by Steuben county, New York, on the east by Osceola and Farmington in Pennsylvania, on the south by Chatham, on the west by the township of Brookfield. The Cowanesque river and Troops Creek are its principal streams. The Cowanesque river enters the township near its south western boundary and flows in a north easterly direction, and passing out of the township near the center of its north and south lines. It was formed from Delmar in the year 1814, and originally contained within its limits, territory which has since been organized into several townships and boroughs. At the organization of Deerfield township, there were only sixty three taxable inhabitants in the township containing an area of about 106, 000 acres or a fraction over one seventh of the entire county of Tioga.
Union Academy established in 1847.
September 15th, 1843, great freshet in the Cowanesque river.
Levi Cook had a blacksmith shop in 1809.
Rev. David Short became a settler in 1806.
In 1804 Eddy Howland erected a saw mill.
In 1801, Bethlehem Thompson became a settler.
Joshua Colvin erected a distillery in the year 1815.
John Knox built a hewed log hotel in the year 1819.
Eddy Howland established a store in the year 1814.
Eddy Howland erected a cider mill in the year 1817.
Butler or Chatham Baptist Church organized in 1852.
First Baptist Church organized, (regular Baptist) in 1843.
Free Will Baptist Church of Deerfield organized in March, 1829.
Doctor Simeon settled in Deerfield in 1803, and remained about five years.
In 1803 Eddy Howland and John Howland, his father, made a settlement.
In 1842 William J. Knox built a store at Academy Corners, in Deerfield township.
Martin Bowen erected a tannery in the year 1820. Peter Rushmore built a tannery the same year.
The first settlers in Deerfield on the Cowanesque, were William Knox and Ebenezer Seeyle, and James Knox, son of William Knox.
John Colton Knox was born in Deerfield, February, 1817; studied law and became one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
In the year 1785 and 1786, James Strawbridge and Col. Thomas Proctor obtained patents from the Land Department of Pennsylvania, for lands in the Cowanesque Valley.
In the year 1807 at sheriffs sale held at Williamsport, Pa., a nephew of James Strawbridge, George Strawbridge became the owner of the Strawbridge lands in Deerfield.
In the year 1807, Emmer Bowen, Newberry Cloos, James Falkner, John Falkner, William Falkner, became settlers—also about the same time John short, Reuben Short, Jonathan Rogers, Curtis Cady, James Yarnall, the latter from near Philadelphia, Zadoc Bowen and Joshua Colvin, became settlers.
The first school taught in Deerfield township, was by Betsey Bodwell, in the year 1802. This school was in a log house. Among the scholars who attended the school were Reuben Cook, Ashael Rexford, Harvey Seelye, John Knox, David Rexford, Alanson Seelye, Archibald Knox, Abel Cloos, Anna Seelve, William Knox, Matilda Cloos, Mehetitable Seelye, Betsey Knox, Julius Seelye, Lucinda Seelye, Betsey Seelye.
