Ridgebury Township is located in northern Bradford County, along the New York state line. It is bordered by Athens Township to the east, Smithfield and Springfield townships to the south, and South Creek Township to the west. To the north, in Chemung county, New York are the towns of Ashland (northwest) and Chemung(northeast). The village of Wellsburg, New York, in the town of Ashland, touches the border of Ridgebury Township.
Ridgebury Township includes the unincorporated communities of Ridgebury, Bentley Creek, and Middletown, all in the valley of Bentley Creek, which flows north to the Chemung river in New York.
According to the United States Census Bureau the township has a total area of 38.5 square miles (99.7 km2), of which 38.3 square miles (99.2 km2) is land and 0.19 square miles (0.5 km2), or 0.52%, is water.
History of Ridgebury Township
It was named Ridgeberry by Samuel Bennett, who called his own
farm by that name on account of the berries which grew abundantly on the hill. The area of the township is about 40 square miles.
Ridgeberry township was formed in 1818, taken from the townships of Athens and Wells. It is situated on the northern line of Bradford County in the northwest portion of the same, adjoining Chemung county, New York. The streams of the township are Bentley creek and its tributaries. The surface of the township is uneven and hilly, but it is under a high state of cultivation.
Its early settlers were Isaac Fuller, Joel Fuller, Samuel Bennett, Adam Ridenbar, Vine Baldwin, George Baldwin, Grisworth Owens, Roswell Goff, Captain Calvin West, John Cummings, Joel Campbell, Benjamin Campbell, Jonathan Kent, James Covell, Silas Campbell, Major Alpheus Gillett, Aaron Marcellus, Elijah Buck, Sturgess Squires, Peter Squires, Joseph Batterson, Elnathan Pierce, John L. Webb, Job Stiles, Ashel Burnham, Abram Westfall, John Sirton, Jonathan Davison, Green Bentley, Samuel Green, Peter Evens, Allen Miner, Cornelius O’Driscoll, Richard O’Connor, James White, John Downs, George O’Leary, Daniel Desmond, John Desmond, Timothy Desmond, Richard Hurley, John Mahoney, Patrick Butler, Daniel Chambers, George Chambers, Thomas Chambers, Daniel Kane, James Crowley, Abial Fuller, David Buck, Kinney Burnham, Lemuel Fuller.
–David Buck cut the first road through to Smithfield.
–Ridgeberry was named by Samuel Bennett, in 1818.
–Sturgiss Squires was the first constable in the town, in 1818.
–The Berwick was constructed through Ridgeberry, in 1820.
–The first framed house was built by Vine Baldwin, in Ridgeberry.
–Centerville and Bently Creek are the two post towns in the township.
–Abiel Fuller erected the first saw mill in Ridgeberry township in 1826.
–John L. Webb was the first Justice of the Peace, in the township of Ridgeberry.
–Major Alpheus Judd, Job Stiles early settlers of Ridgeberry, were soldiers in the revolutionary war.
–Rev. Roswell Goff, the celebrated Baptist minister, first settled in Ridgeberry township, when he came in from the east.
–Sturgiss Squires, Isaac Fuller, Abiel Fuller, Captain Alvin West, James Covell, early settlers, were soldiers in the war of 1812.
–Bentley creek was named in honor of Green Bently, a revolutionary soldier, who, subsequent to his settlement at Bentley creek, removed to Catharine’s Town, N. Y.
In 1850 the population of the township was 1616 ; in 1860, 1785;
and in 1870, 1476; of whom 194 were foreign born.
