In July, 1803, a tract of over thirty-one acres was conveyed by John B. Prevost, former Recorder of the city, to Joseph Alston, of South Carolina, planter. Alston[33] seems to have held the property about three years and then to have sold it to John Marsden Pintard. This deed conveys the tract known as “Monte Alto.” In November, 1808, a release was recorded, executed by Theodosia Burr Alston in favor of Michael Hogan, gentleman, Hogan having bought Monte Alto from Pintard.[34] There is no record of any conveyance of Claremont, by Gulian Verplanck or his executors, to Hogan,[35] but a deed made by Robert Lenox, Jacob Stout, and John Wells, trustees, to Michael Hogan, dated July 21, 1819, reconveys to him all property not disposed of in the execution of their trust, which is referred to as having been imposed by _two_ previous deeds of assignment or conveyance dated July 25, 1811. It is here that it is generally thought a vagueness and uncertainty as to the true owner exists. It was about this time that Claremont was occupied by a rather mysterious individual, an Englishman named Courtenay, who, it is said, in after years, inherited the title of the Earl of Devon. Mr. Haswell,[36] in his “Reminiscences of an Octogenarian,” says, page 25: “West of Broadway, between Eleventh and Twelfth avenues and One Hundred and Twenty-third Street, there was a large country residence occupied by an Englishman, a Mr. Courtenay, with but one man servant and a cook. He lived so retired as never to be seen in company with anyone outside of his household and very rarely in public.