Historic Yates Area Homes
Geneva Daily Times
Monday, February 2, 1955
PENN YAN - Historic houses of Yates County provided the background for an interesting and informative paper by Miss Elsie Mead of Hall, before a recent meeting of members of Guyanoga Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.
Miss Mead, historian of Guyanoga Chapter, DAR, searched and accumulated data on approximately 40 houses, a century or more old, all located in Yates County.
The background of settlers through here is reflected in the kind of houses they built. Many came from New England, Maryland or Pennsylvania, not far removed, in tradition, from the 'old country.'
However, the homes of Yates County's earliest settlers, the Universal Friends band, were not built to impress the neighbors. Hers was a sober religious mission.
Her second frame dwelling, the great, three-story house overlooking Guyanoga Valley, five years in building (1809-1814) beautifully proportioned and constructed as it is, was in her mind strictly functional, suited to communal living, worship and hospitality.
The "Potter Mansion," home of Col. William Potter, who largely financed the Friend's expedition, was likewise a haven for travelers in the wilderness.
In the Guyanoga Valley, stretching east and west from Sugar Creek, homes of many of Jemimah Wilkinson's followers still stand. Miss Jean Sisson, related to several of these families, and whose grandparents, the Martins, lived for some years in the Friend's house, has given interesting information.
She tells me that it was from the porch of the "Brown" house, on the west side of the valley, that the Friend's grave could be seen - its location unknown except by the trusted custodians of the secret. This house was owned by Arnold Potter until his death.
Sisson Homestead
The Sisson homestead, on the east hill, is the counterpart of the Brown house in style, a two-story upright flanked by lower wings with balanced porches. The same favored type is found in two other houses, within a few miles.
One, on the old Simeon Cole farm is now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Sydney H. Coleman. The other, an Adams place, is up the crossroad running from just east of Sugar Creek in Guyanoga to the Branchport-Esparanza road.
Penn Yan village abounds in fine old homes associated with names significant in Yates County - Sheppard, Cornwell, Oliver, Armstrong, Fox, etc. I am mentioning two in particular.
Situated on Highland Drive, now the home of Mr. and Ms. Fred Guyle, is a beautiful colonial type house, of native stone. Once conspicuously placed, it became so encircled during the growth of Penn Yan that it may be easily missed by a casual visitor to the town.
This stately structure was built in 1815. At that time it was the major house of a farm. Spacious lawns extended from the front eastward, where the once-extensive view is now cut off by rows of village houses.
Squire Wagener, called the founder of Penn Yan, bought this place in 1843 from Roderick N. Morrison. For the next 80 years the house continued in the possession of the Wagener family.
Abraham, or Squire Wagener was a great property owner. His first home, on the site of the Benham Hotel, was ready for occupancy in 1800. It was the first frame home in Penn Yan. In 1816 he built the "Mansion House" where the Knapp Hotel stands.
The Bluff Point Wagener house, commanding both branches of Keuka Lake, with five lakes and seven counties visible from the cupola, was built in 1833.
The Wagener-Guyle house is similar in design to the Bluff Point mansion. It has Doric columns extending from the ground floor porch to the roof of the upper balcony. Framing the wide front door, a pattern of early American glass adorns the impressive entrance with opens into a wide central hall.
I am indebted to Mrs. Sarah Sherman Griffiths for information about two houses connected with her family. On the farm of her grandparents, Abraham and Betsy Cole Shearman, the large square frame house, with cupola and gable, was built in 1836, the year of their marriage.
Their granddaughter remembers the Dutch oven in the wood-house and huge fireplace in the kitchen with brick floor extending out into the room. Off the kitchen were two good-sized pantries, one for baking, the other for storing food.
Mrs. Allison recently bought this farm, located just beyond the East Main St. limits of Penn Yan, from the Ralph Norris estate.
This home of Abraham Shearman's brother George, named "Lakeside," is pictured, as are several others here mentioned, in the Yates County Atlas of 1876.
In Penn Yan again, Mrs. Griffith's uncle, Jepthah Potter bought the stone house now owned by Mrs. and Mrs. Paul R. Taylor, in 1869. As her own home until she sold it in 1914, Mrs. Griffiths is well acquainted with its unique features.
The house was built in 1830 by the Hon. Morris F. Sheppard, then a member of the Assembly. Distinctive, even for Main St. of Penn Yan, it is constructed of stone quarried in Cornwell's Gully, as was flagstone for sidewalks and paving in one of the two cellars.
Inside, a 14-foot-wide center hall on the ground floor has two large rooms on each side. The individually styled woodwork includes a solid cherry stair rail which was installed by Charles V. Bush of Penn Yan. Of six bedrooms upstairs, four were exactly alike across the back, for the children of the family.
Town of Benton
The Town of Benton is fairly large and contains both stone and frame houses of an early date. It was at the mouth of Kashong Creek on the township's eastern edge, that many pioneers coming through from Geneva left Seneca Lake to enter the land. Dr. Caleb Benton, aggressive real estate agent, immediately set up his sawmill on the creek below Bellona, and settlers poured in.
Among the very first were two Barden brothers, who trekked overland from Massachusetts. The frame house with Otis Barden, one of these brothers, built is still standing. It dates from 1818. Now empty and sadly run down, its ample proportions and clean lines lend a certain grandeur, even yet.
In all, three brothers Barden came, establishing families in a prolific manner. At one time, Barden lands stretched along more than three miles of highway, without a break. Several of the farms became part of Yates county, at its formation in 1823. Of their frame houses, the present home John Barden, on North Flat St., his most attractive.
In Benton, as in other townships, cobblestone houses were in vogue during the quarter century or so when the art flourished. Three were built on Barden farms. These three figured in an article in 1917, in a 'slick' illustrated magazine, "The New Country Life."
Cuts showed the Vincent Barden house (which remained in Ontario county) and its beautiful doorway. This now the home of Vincent Barden Jones.
Almost in sight of this house but across the Ontario-Yates county line, on a little-traveled road, is another Lake Ontario cobblestone one of similar classic colonial style. It is owned now by Dr. and Mrs. Ernes Schulz. Both houses are in the best cobblestone tradition, of perfectly matched stones, set with exact precision.
The third of the Barden cobblestone houses is, like the first mentioned, still in the family. It was built by George Barden, youngest and last of the three brothers who came west. It is now owned by George L. Barden of Penn Yan.
This house is said not to be made of Lake Ontario stone, but like the Angus house, also in Benton, and others, of field stone from the adjacent land graded through holes in a board. In its original form, the main house, a smaller building and a long connecting portion were all of matching cobblestone work. The middle part has had to be repaired with wood.
Jeptha Earl House
An entirely different style in cobblestone structure is the Jepthah Earl house, on the Seneca Lake Road, Route 14, not far from Kashong. In 1830, this cost the then fabulous sum of $4,000. The present owner is Eugene Boener, of the Jackson Perkins Co.
Farther south on Route 14, beyond Dresden, the Leach cobblestone house, dating from about 1830, has once been a show place. It was built by Benjamin Young, with walls 20 inches thick. Charles Henry Leach 11, is the sixth generation to live there.
The Leach house is in the Town of Torrey. Also in Torrey is the historic home of Mrs. Stephen B. Whitaker, who did such a fine piece of workin tabulating Century Farms of Yates County. The house is one of two Whitaker homes that are over 100 years old, both on the Benton-Torrey Townline Road.
The land was acquired in 1798 by Stephen Whitaker, great-great-grandfather of the present owner. A log cabin was built north of the barn. There is no information about the present house except that the central section, the present living room, is part of the original house, which was built before 1837. The one farther north is now owned, and has been restored, by John Gauntlett.
In the town of Starkey, originally part of Steuben County, are many fine old houses. Roscoe Wilson furnished a history of his home. Built between 1803 and 1808, it is one of our earliest. The main part of the hospitable looking New England style house has not been altered except for the addition of a Porte-cochere.
The first owner of this property was David French, who came to the location of what became Eddytown (later Lakemont), in 174 [Sic], finding unbroken wilderness. It was his son Benjamin who built the house and barns still in use.
Roscoe Wilson is the great-great grandson of the builder of the house. His grandfather, Levi French, was a pioneer vineyardist on Seneca Lake's western shores. Levi's son Benjamin inherited that portion of the property which included the house.
Benjamin's daughter, Hattie French, married Menzo Wilson, then of Washington, D.C., in a government post. Roscoe F. Wilson, was the only child of this marriage. In his boyhood his parents retire to Lakemont, to the old home place. Here Mr. Wilson, who says he became interested in bees at the age of 14, carried on an extensive business in honey with a thousand or more hives. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Roscoe Wilson's son, Roscoe Jr., are the eighth generation to live on the homestead.
Farthest south of all the cobblestone houses has been said of the Dr. Henry Spence house, on the Himrod-Lakemont Road. Built in the grand manner, main part and wing are all of stones brought from Sodus Bay by water and oxen. The splendor of the front parlor is still as it was originally, with the same wall paper, decorative plaster, bas-relief and crystal chandelier.
Robert Spence, grandson of the builder, who was successful as physician, farmer and public servant, lives in this well-kept house.
No one can realize better than the writer that only the surface has been scratched in this glance at some of the long-ago home of "Little Yates." Here is a rich mine of history and lore, ready made for the hobbyist with some time on his hands.