William Roy's lot: 1822
fter Melatiah Lawrence bought his three-acre plot he built a house that he lived in after his marriage and up until his death. He sold about half the plot in two separate parcels, to James Grieve and to William Shattuck, respectively. In 1822 he sold this lot, the southern half of his original property, to William Roy of Benton, who never moved here to Penn Yan. It was apparently a paper transaction somewhat in the nature of a mortgage.
Roy held ownership until 1838, when it was sold to Jonathan A. Hall, also of Benton; he, however, did apparently live in the house on the lot, which was also inhabited by Cornelius Masten and William S. Briggs. Masten died in the house and when his real estate was sold up, Briggs acquired it and vastly enlarged the old building. It was caught up in a dispute over title that effectively tied up most of the land on the west side of Main Street for a couple of decades after Masten's death until the early 1860s.
In 1862 the lot was finally purchased by Maria C. Brown, wife of Morris Brown who was a Surrogate and County Judge. The Browns became so identified with the property that it is almost always referred to in the records and narrative as "the Morris Brown lot."
It remained a single lot until it was divided in 1887.
The parcel marked "3" above is the portion of Melatiah Lawrence's property that he sold in 1822 to William Roy. Apparently the house that Lawrence himself lived in was on the more southerly of the two lots eventually made from this parcel. The parcels marked "1" and "2" were sold earlier, to James Grieve and William Shattuck respectively.
Use one of the buttons below to find out more about the individual lots and structures derived from this plot:
Melatiah Lawrence acquired his three-acre parcel in 1810. He sold half of
it in two parcels. The third and largest, where his own house was, was sold
to William Roy in 1822.
