A history of the land and buildings owned at one point by the Willys family, known for being the owners of the company which manufactured the Jeep vehicle.

1. “The Elms”-
the place and the people
A look at the history of “The Elms” on
South Lake Road, and also of the
Willys family who lived there.

2. Postcard – from Naples Library, made
in Germany.

3. Side view of “The Elms”

4. The land goes back a long way
• Earliest findable deed is one mentioning that
Electa Fuller bought land from Nathan
Munroe, in the 1840s.
• Electa and her sister Laura Fuller were from
Saratoga County NY, and lived until the late
1800s. They were Mayflower descendants.
Their mother was a Lathrop!

5. Topographic view

6. Partial chain of title:
• To Matilda Krautwurst from James A Saye in
October 1942
• To James A Saye from his wife’s (Emily G.
Willys) will
• Emily M Platt Millspaugh to Emily Gertrude
Willys
• George W. Phillips to L C Millspaugh
• George Green to Millspaugh

7. Back even further
• Sutherland to Millspaugh 1888
• To Phillips from Green in 1884
• To Green from Fuller circa 1868
• To Fuller from Munroe 1840s

8. To the present
• Emily Millspaugh to the Willys family
• Emily Willys married James Saye. When she
passed away, he inherited.
• Saye sold to Matilda Krautwurst.

9. Where can you find FREE information?

10. 1855 overlay

11. • Laura and Electa Fuller were sisters who
owned property in the area.
• Death Notice for Electa Fuller 2 July 1879
found in the Penn Yan Express (Penn Yan,
N.Y.) July 2, 1879, page 2 -
• http://nyhistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn83031516
/
• Laura died 16 April 1888.

13. • There was a very destructive fire in 1871, and
much of the property was damaged. (“Losses
in acres of timber in a fire October, 1871 in
Ontario County, N. Y. From The Geneva Daily
Gazette, October 27, 1871 Pg. 3”

14. It was a different time…(late
1800s)

15. Aerial view

16. 1876 map

17. George W. Green
• Was appointed Vine Valley postmaster in
1871

18. And he served in the Civil War

19. He didn’t do too badly – from the 1880
census of agriculture

20. Short summary of George W. Green

21. Buried nearby

22. Another owner

23. George Phillips

24. An old vineyard above the
property

25. East Lake Road back in the day
(no date)

26. Aerial view

27. Original section of the Elms being
moved to upper level (no date)

28. Dr. L. C. Millspaugh was a well known person -
• He was the medical director of Keuka College;
Yates County coroner; overseer of the poor in
Jerusalem township. He wanted to establish a
sanitarium at the Elms, but built a house to
rent:

29. More news

30. • Lewis (Louis) Corwin Millspaugh’s dates were
7 March 1862 to 8 August 1916. He drowned
in Minnesota and his body was never
recovered.
• Emily Mariah Platt’s dates were 3 November
1861 to 9 April 1929.
• While he was the buyer of some land near The
Elms, his wife took sole ownership of others,
well before women could vote in NY state.

31. A sad ending

32. Many boats…..!
• For details, see these pages:
• http://www.townofcanandaigua.org/page.asp?id=
81
• http://www.mpnnow.com/x1416813731/The-
era-of-the-Canandaigua-Lake-Steamboat-
1827-1935

33. The boats – the Onnalinda

34. About the Onnalinda

35. More about the Onnalinda

36. The Ogarita (the O’Garty)

37. A bit on the Ogarita

38. The Villa M-Lee

39. News piece about the hotel

40. An ad for the Villa M-Lee

41. “Stage”, now a playground

42. Undated photo (about 1942?)

43. A family member’s drawing

44. Neighbors…
• The DeMallie family bought just north of the
Elms in 1948.
• The Lathrop’s (no relation to Electa Fuller’s
ancestors, and now owned by the DeMarco’s)
bought just south of the Elms in 1966.

45. A partial Willys descent

46. Family notes

47. • Mrs. Lydia M. Willys, widow of David Willys, and mother of John N. Willys of New
York and Toledo, died suddenly at her home in this city on Thursday. Her death
which was caused by heart trouble, was unexpected.
• Lydia M. North was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on September 15, 1846,
daughter of Robinson D. and Ora Chatfield North, who moved to East Bloomfield
when she was a baby. On November 5, 1867 she was married at the
Congregational church in East Bloomfield to David Smith Willys of Canandaigua,
and had resided here since that time. Mr. Willys died on January 16, 1897.
• Mrs. Willys was an active member of the Presbyterian church and its auxiliaries,
and of the Canandaigua WCTU, and had contributed liberally to their support.
Besides the son John N. Willys, she leaves two daughters, Mrs. James Castle Saye
of this city, and Mrs. Mary A. Sleght of Rochester, four grandchildren, Jarvis W.
Sleght, John N. Sleght, and Mrs. Lawrence O. DeVoll of Rochester, and Mrs. Luis
DeAguire of Argentina, the former Miss Virginia Willys, who was presented at
court in London just prior to her marriage in that city last month, also a great
granddaughter, Marilyn DeVoll.
• Published: Ontario County Times
• June 19, 1929

49. Buying things up…
• The Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company
was founded by Glenn H. Curtiss in the early
1900s. To save the company from bankruptcy
in the 1910s , Curtiss sold it to John N. Willys
of the Overland Motor Company.

56. Noted in passing
• $2,000,000.00 in 1936 had the same buying
power as $35,728,115.94 in 2018

57. Some facts about J W Willys

58. He was also the US ambassador
to Poland in 1930-1932!

59. Emily

60. A 1934 news article

61. Never a dull moment

62. James C Saye

63. The “old” boathouse!

64. The “new” boathouse

65. Krautwursts and friends 1940s