John English and his wife, Fanny Boatman, settled on the largest island in the area as early as 1784.

They left hurriedly after a warning from a friendly Indian, Shawnee John, returning about a year later.

[5] A daughter, Rebecca, married and lived a long life despite being partially scalped when she was 15 in 1782; her mother, Boatman's first wife, was killed in the same incident.

[4][6][7] Esther Boatman served as a nurse and rural physician for the pioneers along Pine Creek.

The descendants of Claudius Boatman remain in fairly large numbers in western Lycoming County.

The first white settlers in the vicinity of what became Jersey Mills arrived in the late 18th and very early 19th centuries.

Williamsport, which is 30 miles (48 km) southeast of McHenry Township, was known at the "Lumber Capital of the World".

Logs were floated down Pine Creek and into the West Branch Susquehanna River to various sawmills along both streams and in Williamsport.

Pennsylvania Route 414 follows Pine Creek through the middle of the township, passing through the small communities of Jersey Mills, Bluestone, Cammal, and Ross Siding (listed from south to north).

Pennsylvania Route 664 leaves PA-44 in Haneyville in the southern part of the township, leading south 18 miles (29 km) to Lock Haven.