The Seneca Indian lands which became Tioga County were, during the 17th and 18th centuries, given to three different states on four separate occasions by three different English kings. Bounded to the north by New York, TIoga finally became a permanent part of Pennsylvania in the 1782 Decree of Trenton. Settlement in the region–slow due to rugged terrain, dense virgin forests and lack of navigable roads and waterways–picked up with passage of the 1804 Omnibus Bill breaking the expansive Lycoming County into five counties, of which Tioga was one. These new divisions encouraged and simplified settlement. The county’s population peaked in the 1890’s with the growth of the coal and lumber industries. Wellsboro, gateway to the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania, became the county seat in 1806. It was named after Mary Wells, the wife of settler Benjamin Morrison. This was an easy choice: at the time they were the town’s only residents.