Jonathan Bordwell's plot: 1819
onathan Bordwell came to Penn Yan from Potter where his brothers were living, some time before 1810. He was a tanner and currier by trade and acquired a large plot of land from Abraham Wagener in 1819. It was described as being on the east side of Main Street, and lay between land of William Cornwell Jr. and of Miles Benham:
Abraham Wagener & his wife Joanna of Milo to Jonathan Bordwell of the same, Beginning at a stake on the East side of the road running Northerly from the Outlet of the Crooked Lake at the Northwest corner of a lot now in the possession of Miles Benham; along said road North 22 degrees West 10 chains 50 links; North 68 degrees East 2 chains and 50 links; North 22 degrees West 1 chain; North 68 degrees East 1 chain; North 22 degrees West 1 chain; South 68 degrees West 2 chains and 50 links; North 22 degrees West 4 chains and 94 links; North 84 degrees East 2 chains and 50 links; North 22 degrees West 2 chains; South 88 degrees East 12 chains and 50 links; South 1 degree and 1/2 of a degree West 16 chains and 15 links; South 71 degrees West 7 chains and 72 links to the Point of Beginning; on condition that the said Wagener reserves to himself and his heirs a privilege of taking water in logs or otherwise from a spring on the above premises.
Translating this on the basis of 1 chain equalling 66 feet, with 100 links to the chain, this gives an irregularly-shaped plot with 693 feet on Main Street at its southern end, going north in a series of steps eastward (with one joggle westward) so that the boundary at the rear (east) side was nearly a quarter of a mile long.
This description corresponds reasonably well with a description of the same land given after it had passed through several hands after Bordwell lost it to a judgment. The new description is:
George D. Stewart of Penn Yan to Miles Benham of the same, 14 acres bounded on the West by Main Street; North by William Cornwell Jr.; East by Melatiah Lawrence; and South by George D. & Samuel Stewart's land, being the land on which Jonathan Bordwell now lives.
The latter transaction took place in 1820, and meshes with deeds describing land at the north end of this tract bounding certain lots on Main Street on the south and east; earlier described as belonging to Bordwell, and later as belonging to Benham. The lot stretches between land Cornwell and Stewart owned in 1820. This includes the lots on Main Street's east side north from 165 Main Street to the south line of 219 Main Street.
In any case, as shown by the deeds extracted above, Bordwell actually owned the land quite a short time, although even after he lost it he continued to live there until he left Penn Yan in about 1824. All the deeds for lots to individuals made from this large 14-acre plot were made by Miles Benham.
The map above shows the land east of Main Street lying between William Cornwell Jr. and the Stewart brothers. This is the same as acquired by Jonathan Bordwell from Abraham Wagener in 1819. Clinton Street (C) was put through in 1835, when most of the tract still belonged to Miles Benham.
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In 1814, some years after he arrived in Penn Yan, Jonathan Bordwell bought
14 acres on the east side of Main Street, and lived there about 10 more years
until he left for the west.
