HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



45 



It appears from the rjecords of the State and other sources 

 of information, that the question of title to these lands has 

 been a subject of legislation and also of judicial and per- 

 sonal investigation. In 1789, a gentleman commissioned 

 by Mr. Beckford, of London, made a purchase of Mr. 

 Williamson of twenty-nine thousand acres of land. By 

 contract, the title was to be certified to by Messrs. Hamil- 

 ton, Harison, and Troup, of New York, all eminent law- 

 yers, and without their certificate the money could not be 

 drawn in London. After a very minute investigation these 

 gentlemen granted their certificate, and Mr. Williamson in 

 1790 received his money. Another very accurate investi- 

 gation of the title was made by the Commissioners of the 

 Land Ofl&ce of the State of New York. By an error in 

 the first survey of the Genesee country, a considerable mis- 

 take was made in the east boundary, or pre-emption line, 

 which was rectified by a survey made by Mr. Ellicott and 

 others in 1792 ; this correction of the line gave Mr. Wil- 

 liamson eighty-four thousand acres more of land than was 

 comprehended in the first survey made in 1789. As the 

 Commissioners of the Land Office had then sold part of 

 the eighty-four thousand acres to difierent individuals, and 

 the important site of Geneva was included in the tract, it 

 became necessary for them either to compensate Mr. Wil- 

 liamson or other persons owning these locations. A law 

 was accordingly passed at the session of 1793, declaring the 

 line run by Mr. Ellicott and his associates the true boun- 

 dary line of the lands known as the purchase of Messrs. 

 Phelps and Gorham, and empowering the Commissioners 

 of the Land Office to compensate the claimants, allowing 

 the preference to the person holding under the title derived 

 from Phelps and Gorham. After the fullest investigation 

 of Mr. Williamson's title, the Commissioners of the Land 

 Office granted him a patent for fifty-six thousand acres near 

 Sodus Bay, in what is now Wayne County, as a compensa- 

 tion for the lands he had surrendered to the State on the 

 eastern boundary of the counties of Ontario and Steuben. 

 Previous to granting the patent, the Commissioners of the 

 Land Office received the report of the attorney-general, in 

 which, after giving a deduction of the title, gave it as his 

 opinion that Mr. Williamson was the legal owner of the 

 land cut off by the line ; and, of course, in the same deci- 

 sion was involved the whole title to the lands purchased of 

 Phelps and Gorham. 



On the 26th of January, 1821, an act was passed enti- 

 tled " an act to perpetuate certain testimony respecting the 

 title of the Pulteney estate in this State." According to 

 the provisions of this act, Robert Troup, Joseph Fellows, 

 and John Greig were examined before Bowen Whiting, a 

 master-in-chancery, as to the seizin, descent, and title of 

 said estate, and an order was entered on the 28th of No- 

 vember, 1821, to the end that said depositions do, in the 

 opinion of the chancellor, furnish good prima facie evidence 

 of the facts therein set forth ; and it was ordered that the 

 depositions be filed in the office of the Register in Chancery, 

 " there to remain as matters of perpetual record." 



Various questions involving the validity of the title have 

 been litigated from time to time and finally carried to the 

 Court of Appeals. In January, 1870, in the case of the 

 People vs. Alonzo Snyder, the Court of Appeals unani- 



mously confirmed the title, and also in March, 1876, in the 

 case of Henry C. Howard against George K. Moot. 



We append the following 



ABSTRACT OF THE PULTENEY TITLE: 



''I. Treaty of Cession between New York and Massachusetts, by 

 Commissioners of each State, dated at Hartford, 16th December, 1786. 

 Recorded in the office of the Secretary of State, in Book of Miscel- 

 laneous Records, M. R. [A], page 38, etc., on the 2d day of February, 



1787. 



" II. Conveyance to Nathaniel Gorham and Oliver Phelps, by, 1st, 

 Grant of same lands to Nathaniel Gorham and Oliver Phelps, by an 

 act of the Legislature of Massachusetts, April 1, 1788. 2d. An act 

 confirmiug to Phelps & Gorham a certain portion of said lands, passed 

 21st November, 1788. Recorded in the office of the Secretary of State, 

 in Book of Miscellaneous Records, M. R. [A], page 229, etc., 6th of 

 February, 1789. 



" III. Deed from Gorham and wife and Phelps and wife to Robert 

 Morris, dated November 18, 1790, acknowledged before James M. 

 Hughes, and recorded in the office of the Secretary of State, in Book 

 M. R. [B], of Miscellaneous Records, page 169, etc., on the 24th day 

 of May, 1791. 



''IV. Deed from Robert Morris and wife to Charles Williamson, 

 dated April 11, 1792, acknowledged before James Willson, U. S. Judge, 

 20th February, 1795. Recorded in the office of the Secretary of State, 

 in Liber of Deeds endorsed M. R. [I], at page 400, etc., on the 28th 

 day of September, 1798. 



'' V. Deed from Charles Williamson and wife to Sir William Pul- 

 teney, dated March 31, 1801, acknowledged on the same day by Wil- 

 liamson, and on the 16th day of May, 1801, by his wife, before Jacob 

 W. Hallet, Master in Chancery. Recorded in the Secretary of State's 

 office in Liber of Deeds, M. R. [M], page 304, etc., on the 21st day of 

 October, 1801. 



" 3d Rev. Stat., 2d ed., 225 sec. : Act to enable aliens to purchase 



and hold Real Estate, passed April 2, 1798. 

 *'Ibid., 226 sec. : 'Act explanatory,' passed March 15, 1819. 

 " VI. Exemplification from the Court of Chancery of, 1st. The 

 death of Sir William Pulteney, intestate, and the descent cast upon 

 Henrietta Laura, his only child, an heir-at-law. 2d. The death of 

 Henrietta Laura Pulteney, intestate as to her real estate, and the de- 

 scent cast in Sir John Louther Johnstone, her cousin and heir-at- 

 law. 3d. The death of Sir John Louther Johnstone, in December, 

 1811, after making and publishing in duplicate a last will and testa- 

 ment. This done under the act of the Legislature, passed 26th Jan- 

 uary, 1821, to perpetuate this testimony. 



20 J. R., 707 ; 5th Cowan, 321 ; 7 Wen., 367. 

 " VII. Exemplification from the Supreme Court of the will of Sir 

 John Louther Johnstone, dated 7th August, 1811, and proved in the 

 Supreme Court by John Birch Dawson, one of the subscribing wit- 

 nesses, on the 3d January, 1820, devising his lands in America to 

 Ernest Augustus, Charles Herbert Pierpoint, David Cathcart, and 

 Masterton Ure, in trust, etc. 



" VIII. Deed and release of trust from Charles Herbert Pierpoint 

 to his co-trustees, dated 1st March, 1819. Proved before Lord Mayor 

 of London by Isaac Samuel Clamtrce, one of the witnesses, on the 

 25th day of March, 1820, and before Richard Rush, American Min- 

 ister to England, on 18th June, 1823. This was done pursuant to 

 Chap. 119, Laws of New York, 1816. Recorded in the office of the 

 Secretary of State, in Book of Deeds, No. 40, page 472, etc., on the 

 23d day of September, 1823. 



"IX. Deed from Ernest Augustus, David Cathcart, and Masterton 

 Ure to John Gordon, conveying joint interest in lands and appointing 

 him co-trustee, dated 19th November, 1827. Acknowledged 27th and 

 30th May, 1834, by Ernest Augustus and David Cathcart, before Lord 

 Mayor of London, and by Ure before the Lord Provost and Chief 

 Magistrate of Edinburgh, on the 27th day of June, 1834. Recorded 

 in Steuben County Clerk's Office, in Book A, Miscellaneous Deeds, 

 March 11, 1836. 



"X. Proof of the death of Ernest Augustus on the 18th Novem- 

 ber, 1851, and David Cathcart on the 26th of April, 1829. By exem- 

 plified copy of commission and evidence, executed by Robert B. 

 Campbell, United States Consul at London, on the 19th of May, 

 1860, with certificate of the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals. 



