John Dorman's four-acre plot
ohn Dorman, the Pennsylvania physician whom David Wagener recruited to be the first doctor in the new settlement, at one time owned at least five rather large parcels of land in Penn Yan, not to mention at least two larger farms outside the village limits. He actually built on several of these, and passed a number of them on to his widow, children and grandchildren upon his death in 1824. A couple, however, were apparently acquired for investment purposes, or perhaps because they became available.
In any case, there is no extant deed showing Dorman's purchase of this four-acre parcel from Abraham Wagener (or anyone else). The earliest deed is the one by which Dorman and his wife Sybil returned it to Wagener in 1807, for $90; a price that indicates there were as yet no buildings on it.
Part of the lot was sold early to Robert Shearman; another to Israel Brown. Most of it became in 1819 part of a 14-acre parcel that Wagener sold to Jonathan Bordwell. It became the site of the first church in Penn Yan (at #s 305 and 307) and of one of the oldest remaining houses (#303).
John Dorman bought a number of parcels of land in Penn Yan after he acquired an initial home lot from David Wagener. No deed was ever recorded for Abraham Wagener's sale of this parcel to Dorman, but the one by which Dorman sold it back to Wagener, dated in 1807, was. Its approximate area is shown in yellow above.
Use one of the buttons below to find out more about the individual lots and structures derived from this plot:
Sometime before 1807 John Dorman acquired a four-acre parcel to the south
of Meredith Mallory's 18 acres. In 1807 Dorman sold this parcel back to Wagener,
for $90.
