February 1989

About this Issue

Note from the Editors

This issue features two articles about early maps:

The first article is "The Maps of the Pulteney Estate". This is a report about the maps that were collected by the agents for the Pulteney group of investors that had bought the eastern part of the original Phelps and Gorham purchase. After the death of Sir William Pulteney in 1801, the property was referred to as the Pulteney Estate. The maps were a means of keeping track of the land that had been purchased and the property that was sold. There are remaining more than one hundred good-sized maps and even more small maps drawn in surveyors' log books.

A 1927 publication of the Rochester Historical Society reports that the balance of the Pulteney lands were purchased in 1904 by Nichols and Wynkoop of Bath. Fred Hastings, Esq. represented them. His successor Robert E. Cole recorded the last deed in 1926. It conveyed 10 acres in Howard to Mary Vosburgh.

The maps of the Pulteney Estate which had been in their land office were probably kept for some time in the lawyer's offices, the present office of Robert H. Cole, when the land office was converted to a hospital. Later they were stored in a county office building. Possession of the maps eventually passed to Steuben County.

The other article on maps is titled "Reconstructed Maps from 1801 to 1854" it traces the boundary changes of the town of Wayne in Steuben County. These maps were prepared by Donald A. Rowland who is the present Wayne historian. He also provided the information for the article.

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