Peter Sechrist was one of the first settlers to arrive in Jackson Township. He moved there from Liverpool, Pennsylvania, in 1811. Sechrist cleared the land for a farm and also constructed a saw and gristmill. His mills were the first of their kind in the area, and his child, Daniel, was the first white child born in the area. Other earlier settlers, seeking their fortune, arrived from York County. Two sets of brothers, Jacob and Daniel Beck and George and Daniel Miller, first stopped in Williamsport before moving further to the north. They cleared some dense wilderness and established their homesteads in what is now eastern Jackson Township.