Potter County History

"Of the Lenni Lenape, the third tribe or division, were the Wolves (Minsi), who occupied the region which embraced the land along the Allegwi Lipu (Allegheny river) to its head waters [near Gold, Potter County]. So the aborigines, who held the land now embraced by Potter county, were the Minsi, or Monseys, as called by the whites. A portion of the Monseys joined their tribe on the head waters of the Allegheny after the sale of their lands, from which they were driven, on the Susquehanna, as late as 1768. ... the village of Muncy [Lycoming County] takes its name from this tribe of the Lenape, who once owned the lands upon which it stands. The largest settlement of the Minsi was at the mouth of the Tionesia [Forest County near south west corner of Allegheny National Forest], and above upon the Allegheny river to the swamp [near Gold, Potter County] from which the waters rise, the Minsi held the land. There is evidence of various encampments along the stream where it passes through Potter. That there was a large granary of corn at Roulette is proven, and some of the carbonized grains are still in existence [in 1890]."

In 1784, the Indian title to the hills and valleys and rivers of this area was destroyed by what is called the New Purchase, signed by the Chiefs of the Six Nations, October 23, 1784, and confirmed by the Wyandot and Delaware Indians January 21, 1785. The Lenape were forced to move again, this time to Ohio.

Reference: History of the Counties of McKean, Elk, Cameron and Potter, Pennsylvania with Biographical Selections, J. H. Beers and Co., 1890, page 989.