Robert Shearman's lot
s settlement moved down the street, the subdivisions get smaller. John Dorman sold his four acre plot back to Abraham Wagener in 1809, and sometime between then and 1815 Wagener sold part of it to someone who never recorded the deed. In November 1815 a man named Seth Maker, a resident of Benton, sold the parcel, which measured only 4 rods on the street (66 feet), to Ira Caster of the same place. To a modern reader, the most interesting thing about this deed is that it gives the name of the first settler on William Cornwell's lot to the north: he was an abuttor of Maker's lot, whose line ran along the south boundary of "Dennis Sweeny's lot on the highway between Wagener's Mills and Luman Phelps' Inn." The highway in question was of course Main Street, but who Dennis Sweeny was is unknown.
In any case, Caster and his wife Chloe sold the lot to Robert Shearman in March, 1817. The description mentions "Dennis Sweeny's lot, now in the possession of William Cornwell Jr." and the highway runs between the mills and "Luman Phelps' old stand."
Robert was the brother of George and John Shearman, and at this time was in business with George at the foot of the street. This lot is explicitly described as the place where he lived, so presumably there was a house on it. This is not cornfirmed by the price, which remained $100 through several changes of ownership.
Shearman and his wife Betsy stayed there until May 1824, when it was sold to Henry Plimton; Plimton wasn't buying it for himself but for the Presbyterian congregation, which wanted to build a church on the lot. It was the first church in Penn Yan.
The lot wasn't further subdivided until 1879 when the congregation moved to a new church and a private buyer bought this one, to which a little more had been added some years before; he immediately built a house on one half and sold the other so another house could be built on it, for the first time in more than 50 years. Shearman later on lived at the foot of Crooked Lake and had a very successful tavern business there. This plot was referred to as his for a very long time, and seems to have become a kind of landmark for laying out other lots to the south and east.
Robert Shearman bought this parcel soon after he arrived in Penn Yan with his brothers. It was originally part of John Dorman's four-acre plot.
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John Dorman sold his four-acre plot back to Abraham Wagener in 1807. This
lot was separated rather wuickly and changed hands a couple of times, with
Robert Shearman being the first to live there.
