Ellsworth's Homestead: 1826
amuel S. Ellsworth owned a great deal of land in Penn Yan at one time or another, including most of the lots along this part of Main Street. But this one large lot was always referred to as the "Ellsworth Homestead" because this is where he lived after buying the lot from Miles Benham and building his house.
The house itself stood near the southern end of the lot, on the site where 213 Main Street stood, only farther back from the street. The Ellsworth house was apparently never photographed, though it stood here for more than 40 years, until 1871. In September of that year the house was completely destroyed by fire, leaving its inhabitants without possessions or even clothing other than what they wore on their backs.
The senior Samuel S. Ellsworth had died by then, and the house was occupied by his son, usually called Stewart Ellsworth; and by his wife Hebe (Magee) Ellsworth. Soon after the fire the couple bought the mansion at 227 Main Street, and Hebe did much to turn it into the showplace that it became. She went to Europe to live a few years later, and died in Paris in 1880. She was already living in Paris when she sold the lots where #215 and 213 were built. The land to the north where the Presbyterian parsonage stood was sold much earlier.
The map above shows the Ellsworth Homestead in yellow. The site of 217 Main Street was sold off quite early, but the Ellsworths kept the rest, which originally stretched all the way to Sheppard Street on the east, until their house burned in 1871 and they moved to another location.
Samuel S. Ellsworth Sr. bought this very large lot from Miles Benham in 1826.
It was adjacent to land he already owned to the north, so that is considered
with the actual Homestead.
Use one of the buttons below to find out more about the individual lots and structures derived from this plot:
