44 



HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE PULTENEY ESTATE. 



Sale of the Lands bj Robert Morris to Charles Williamson — Law 

 Enabling Aliens to Hold Ileal Estate — Conveyance by Charles Wil- 

 liamson to Sir William Pulteney- — Descent of the Estate to the 

 Heirs and Trustees — Abstract of Title. 



Early in the year 1791, William Temple FrankliD, the 

 a<2:ent of Robert Morris in London, sold the lands which 

 the latter had purchased of Messrs. Phelps and Gorham to 

 an English association, consisting of Sir William Pulteney, 

 John Hornby, and Patrick Colquhoun. Sir William Pul- 

 teney was a capitalist residing in London, and at that period 

 occupied a high position as a citizen and statesman. Mr. 

 Hornby had been Governor of Bombay, and was at that 

 time a retired London capitalist. Mr. Colquhoun, who 

 more directly than any of the other members became con- 

 nected with the management of the estate, was eminent as 

 a statesman and philanthropist. These gentlemen purchased 

 the lands of Mr. Morris, paying therefor thirty thousand 

 pounds sterling, the conveyance by deed being made to 

 Charles Williamson, agent, April 11, 1792. Mr. William- 

 son had come to the United States for the purpose of buy- 

 ing lands for the Association, and had been naturalized, 

 and held the office of Judge of Ontario County, and Rep- 

 resentative in the General Assembly.^' 



When the purchase was made of Robeit Morris, there 

 was no provision in the statutes of New York allowing 

 aliens or foreigners to hold or convey lands in this State. 

 By the treaty with Great Britain, commonly known as 

 Jay's treaty, concluded in 1794, this disability was partially 

 removed so far as subjects of Great Britain were concerned 

 who tlien held lands or other real estate in the United 

 States. But a general law of the State was needed giving 

 aliens of all classes the right to purchase, hold, and devise 

 lands in common with citizens. Such an act w^as passed 

 by the Legislature in April, 1798. It made legal convey- 

 ances to all foreigners valid, except such only of foreign 

 nations as were at the time of conveyance at war with the 

 United States, but prohibited them from making any reser- 

 vations of rent or service in any grant or devise whatever. 

 An " act explanatory of the construction and intent of the 

 act of April, 1798," was passed March 5, 1819, by which 

 conveyances made from one alien to another were declared 

 valid, together with mortgages upon the said lands and 

 tenements. 



The title of aliens being thus perfected, Charles William- 

 son and Abigail, his wife, conveyed the above lands to Sir 

 William Pulteney, on 21st of October, 1801. Sir William 

 Pulteney died in 1805, intestate, and his estate descended 

 to his only child, Henrietta Laura Pulteney, as heir-at-law. 



-Col. Williamson was naturalized and became an American citizen 

 on the ninth day of June, 1792. The following is his oath, with the 

 certificate of the Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, copied 

 from the original now^ in the office of Judge Rumsey, of Bath : 



*• I, Charles Williamson, gentleman, being duly sworn upon the 

 Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, do say that I will support the 

 Constitution of the United States. 



^' CiiAs. Williamson. 



" Done in open Court at Philadelphia, June 9, 1792. 



*' J. Yeates, Justice Siqjreme Court." 



Henrietta Laura Pulteney died in 1808, intestate, leaving 

 Sir John Lawther Johnstone, her cousin and heir-at-law, to 

 whom her estate descended. Sir John Lawther Johnstone 

 died in 1811, and by will left all his lands in America to 

 Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, Charles Herbert 

 Pierrepont, David Cathcart, and Masterton Ure, in trust, 

 to sell the same as speedily as possible, and to invest the 

 same as therein directed. He authorized them to fill any 

 vacancies w^iich misrht occur ; also authorized " three to 

 act when there were four, and two to act when there were 

 but three." 



On the 1st of March, 1819, Charles Herbert Pierrepont 

 relinquished his trust, and conveyed to his co-trustees all 

 his interest in the estate, and on the 20th of November, 

 1827, these trustees, under an order from the Court of 

 Chancery, appointed John Gordon a trustee in the place of 

 Charles Herbert Pierrepont, and conveyed to him the estate 

 as a CO- trustee. On the 17th of August, 1830, the then 

 trustees, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, Master- 

 ton Ure, and John Gordon, appointed Robert Troup their 

 attorney and agent for managing the estate, and in ease of 

 his death or disability to act they nominated and appointed 

 Joseph Fellows to act as their attorney and agent. By vir- 

 tue of this appointment and the death of Robert Troup, 

 Joseph Fellows continued to act as the legally-authorized 

 agent of the trustees until the 15th day of Februar}^, 1862. 



The agents of the Pulteney estate have proceeded to 

 sell these lands "with all convenient speed," as directed by 

 the will of Sir John Lowther Johnstone, and have con- 

 veyed by deeds, and contracted to convey, all of the original 

 purchase, with the exception of about five thousand acres, 

 of which about four thousand are in the county of Steuben. 



The original proprietors, trustees, agents, and attorneys of 

 the estate have pursued upon the whole a very just and 

 liberal policy towards purchasers and settlers upon these 

 lands. A judicious writer has remarked that '' with noth- 

 ing to judge from but his business letters, instructions to 

 agents, etc., it is impossible to form any other conclusion 

 with regard to Sir William Pulteney but such as is credit- 

 able to him as one whose capital had made his own interests 

 and those of his new settlers mutual." And so of the rest. 

 Mr. Colquhoun was by nature and practice a philanthropist, 

 and in all his relation to the early history of this estate his 

 conduct was eminently in keeping with that character. A 

 marble tablet erected in front of the Presbyterian Church 

 in Canandaigua, to perpetuate his memory, has upon it an 

 inscription which recognizes the principal events of his use- 

 ful life. He was a native of Glasgow, Scotland, and died 

 in London in 1820, aged seventy-six years. Few men had 

 contributed more to the reformation of criminal laws, to the 

 promotion of trade and commerce, in founding systems for 

 benefiting the poor, and for public education in England 

 and Scotland. In some of his correspondence he mentions 

 having spent some time in America previous to 1790, prob- 

 ably in some of the Southern States. 



Of Mr. Williamson, Col. Robert Troup, Joseph Fellows, 

 and others, whose names and benefactions are intimately 

 identified with the Pulteney estate and with the history of 

 this portion of the State of New York, we shall speak more 

 at large in a future chapter. 



