DISREPUTABLE DEEDS: DECEPTIONS THAT PRESERVED NEW YORK'S PULTENEY ESTATE In-Person / Online
After the Revolutionary War, British 'aliens' were prohibited from acquiring U.S. real estate, but in 1791, in a crafty insider transaction, England’s wealthiest capitalist Sir William Pulteney used a secret trust device to acquire a 1.264-million-acre tract in Western New York from Senator Robert Morris, then the richest man in America.
The vast lands, known as the Pulteney Estate, included the eastern half of what is now Monroe County, and would be held in trust for a decade by Pulteney's agent, Charles Williamson. Join David Goodwin as he explores how these lands were deceptively acquired and how Charles Williamson's wife Abigail thwarted the plans of powerful men.
David Goodwin is an Emeritus Professor of England's University of Nottingham, having been Dean of its Business School in Malaysia from 2023 to 2025. He lives in his hometown of Melbourne, Australia, where, in tandem with his academic career, he's practised as a commercial Barrister since 2010. Professor Goodwin has a research interest in Anglo-American relations in the aftermath of the Revolutionary War.
Registration is recommended, but not required.
This is an in-person program that will also be livestreamed at:
https://www.youtube.com/@RochesterPublicLibraryNY/streams
This event is presented by the Local History & Genealogy Division.
- Date:
- Saturday, November 14, 2026
- Time:
- 1:00pm - 2:30pm
- Time Zone:
- Eastern Time - US & Canada (change)
- Location:
- Central - Kate Gleason Auditorium
- Library:
- Central Library
- Audience:
- All Ages
- Categories:
- Department - Local History & Genealogy America 250 Local History