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Morris township, named in honor of Hon. Samuel W. Morris, a distinguished citizen of Wellsboro, was formed in September 1824, taken from the township of Delmar. It is one of the southern tier townships of Tioga county bordering upon Lycoming county line. Its principal waters are Pine Creek, Babbs Creek, Sand Run, Zimmermans Creek and Stony Fork; the largest being Pine Creek and Babbs 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 825 feet above tide, and its highest point 2000 feet. In the eastern portion of the township along Babbs Creek and on the highlands east of the valley are some good farming land. Along Pine and Babbs 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 tomahawk in 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 any early day.
Mr. John Link, of eastern Morris, is one of the wealthiest men in the county.
Wm. Wells was a member of the English Land Company. He settled at Wellsboro in 1802.
Samson Babb was commissioned a Justice of the Peace by Gov. 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 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 Babbs Creek for the tanning of sole leather. It is the largest tannery in the world.
The first white settler in Morris township was Samson Babb, a native of Wilmington, Delaware, who settled and gave the name to Babbs 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 Co., 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.
