Owing to the great extent of Mifflin township, many persons, as its population increased, were obliged to travel eight or nine miles to the place of election, and the work of road-making occasioned great inconvenience. At the April sessions, 1827, a petition for division having been filed, John Behan, David Coon and Noble Calhoun were appointed to consider the advisability of effecting the change proposed. A favorable report having been submitted, Jefferson was erected at January sessions, 1828, from the southern part of Mifflin and a small portion of St. Clair. Its area was 19,468 acres, and that of Mifflin was reduced to 17,750 acres. In 1832 the boundary line between the two was so changed as to take from Jefferson 202 acres in favor of Mifflin. In 1844 a small portion of Jefferson was united with contiguous portions of the adjoining township to form the new township of Baldwin, and in the following year about one-third of its territory became part of Snowden. The present area is about twelve thousand acres. The names are remembered of the following residents prior to 1830:
James and Jesse Lobb, John McNutt, James Greer, Washington Robinson, Thomas Robinson;
Samuei Wylie and sons Patterson, Oliver, Thomas and William;
James and Francis Blair;
Adam, Robert, Samuel and Ferguson McElheney;
McGogney and sons David, William, Thomas and James;
Reed and sons Walter and John;
Robert Curry and sons Ebeuezer and John;
Hughey Kennedy;
William Carroll and sons David and Joseph;
Dr. James Stewart, John Wright (1800);
Abner Bedell and sons Daniel, Andrew and William;
William Chambers, Zadoc Wright (1784), James Gray, Baptist McFarland;
Calhoun and sons Noble and John;
Thompson and sons Daniel, Patterson and Joseph;
Thomas McElheney;
McElheney and sons Robert, Samuel, David, Holdship and James;
Samuel Heath, Esq., and sons Henry, Samuel and John;
Custard (now Custer) and sons Edward, Sampson and Gabriel (each of whom had sons);
Michael Trumbo and sons Pressley and George;
Peter Simmons and sons John, Peter and another;
John Lowrie and sons William, Joseph and John;
Payne and sons Benjamin, James and John;
James Morrison and sons Robert, William, Tweed and John;
Snee and sons Michael, Jeremiah, Thomas, William and George;
Beam and sons John, Elijah and Amos;
Tobias Stilley, Jeremiah Stilley and sons William and Sampson;
James Robinson and son John;
Mowry and son Jacob;
Joseph McCorkle;
Ebenezer Gallagher and sons James and William;
George Sickman and sons Jeremiah, George and Jonathan;
Wilson and sons Robert and John;
Jonathan Walker and sons William and David;
Henderson Whiteman;
John Large and sons Samuel, Isaac, Henry, Thomas and Jonathan;
Thomas Patterson;
John McElheney and son John Henry;
James McRoberts;
William McRoberts and son David;
Jacob Aber and sons James and Josiah;
Jonathan Low and sons Henry, John, William and Orr;
Joel Ferree and sons Lewis, Harvey, Benjamin, Joel, Joshua and Isaac;
William Lytle and sons David, Samuel and Gabriel;
George Hughey and sons John and Harvey;
Benjamin Kirkendall, James Gillum, John Nichol and son Joshua;
Wilson and sons John and David;
Hoffman and sons Lewis, William, Jacob and others;
John Lapsley and sons John, William, Joseph and Robert;
James Hindman and son James;
George Cochran and sons Joseph and William;
Amos Pierce and sons James and Lewis;
Peter Pearsol and sons John and David;
John Shepler and sons Henry, Philip, Peter, James and Thomas;
David Torrance;
David Pollock and sons Joseph, Peter S., Silas and Alvah;
Robert Richards.

Peter’s creek, a large and important affluent of the Monongahela, drains nearly the whole of the township. It is formed by the confluence of Fish run and Piney fork, and receives the waters of Lick run at the Snowden line. The principal tributary streams from the north in this township are Pierce’s run, Beam’s run and Lewis’ run, and from the south, Scotia run and Dry run. The land is well adapted to farming and stock-raising. Coal and limestone are abundant, but the former is not developed to any extent except along the Monongahela river.

Coal Valley is a mining town of some importance, at the mouth of Pine run, in the extreme northeastern part of the township. Lynn, Wood & Co. and R. M. Blackburn & Co. are the coal-operators at this place. Robert’s run and Reed’s run flow through the village, and a short distance inland on the former is the suburb of Frostburg, a place of about a dozen houses, owned by Lynn, Wood & Co. Coal Valley Lodge, No. 694, I. O. O. F., and a Methodist Episcopal church are among the attractions of the place. The town is accessible by the Pittsburgh, Virginia & Charleston railroad. The next stations above are Wilson and Peter’s creek. The former name is also applied to a schoolhouse in the vicinity, and is that of a family by whom the land is owned some distance inland from the river. At Blair station, a short distance above the mouth of Peter’s creek, the extensive works of the Monongahela Brick company are located. Wylie station, the next in order, is so named from J. P. Wylie. Between this place and West Elizabeth a noteworthy industrial feature is the works of the Monongahela Coke company, the only establishment of the kind in this section of the coal-regions. The works were placed in operation soon after the opening of the railroad. Coal from which the coke is produced is obtained at the works of John A. Wood & Son, on the opposite side of the river. There are no inland villages of any importance. Gill Hall, in the western part of the township, is a hamlet with the usual mechanics’ shops, stores, and other features of towns of this character. There is a Methodist Episcopal church about a mile distant, and a United Presbyterian church in the village. The former was built in 1843 by William Snee; the latter is known as Jefferson church, and is connected with Monongahela presbytery. It was organized October 30, 1857. The following-named clergymen have been pastors: J. D. Glenn, 1859-61; J. W. McFarland, 1867-69; C. B. Hatch, 1872-73; B. B. Stewart, 1875-79; J. C. Hunter, 1881-85; T.W. Young, 1887-. There is also in the township a society of Latter-Day Saints, but although once important and influential, their numbers are no longer large.

The population was 1,601 in 1860, 2,066 in 1870 and 3,227 in 1880. The postoffices are Blair Station, Broughton, Moss Side (changed to Coal Valley), Gill Hall and Jones’ Station.