A Collection Transcribed
and Digitized
by Edmund Berkeley, Jr.
List of Letters
|
About This Collection
Electronic Text Center
, University of Virginia Library
Summary
Octobeer 7, 1718
Letter from Robert Carter to [Mann Page, October 7,1718]
Robert Carter writes his son-in-law, Mann Page, concerning Judith(Carter) Page's illness and his hope to visit her although his wife,Elizabeth (Landon) Willis Carter, will not be able to accompany himdue to her own poor health.
Letter from Robert Carter to [ Mann Page,
October 7, 1718]
-1
-
[Rappahannock, LancasterCounty, Virginia]
[October 7th 1718]
Dear sir,
The sight of your man
did not a little surprise me --
Had heard of my daughter
being
taken ill at her uncle Armistead's
before. I pray God, you are not
mistaken in the conquest of her
distemper. Were it not for these
difficult rivers, I would imme=
=diately come and see her. The
calamities upon my family ever since
I saw you have made it impossible
for my wife
to pay her respects to
York River ; and she's at this time so
-2
-
feeble in her knees she can hardly rise off
the chair she sits in, which forces
her to lay aside the thoughts of
that journey until my return
from Town
.
I thank you for the offer of your
chariot. God willing I intend
to be at Rosegill
on Saturday the
18th Instant by 12 o'clock, to make
use of your favour. If your wife
should relapse before that [and]
you
think it expedient to let me know
it, I will endeavour to get to her
by horseback.
The proper respects of this family
you command. Pray, my love &
blessing to my dear girl. That you
may all enjoy your healths is
the constant petition of
&c
NOTES
Source copy consulted:
Minor-Blackford Papers, James Monroe Law Office and Museum, Fredericksburg,Virginia. These texts are all nineteenth-century copies. Apparentlythere was in existence a letter book of Robert Carter's -- nowlost -- from which the unknown copyist recorded these texts. Asthey are the only texts, the punctuation and "corrections"obviously supplied by the copyist have been retained.
The nineteenth-century copyist wrote at the head of thisletter: "[Letter without address but meant for his son-in-law MannPage of 'Rosewell.' It is also without date but appears in the letter-bookbetween a letter dated Octor: 7th 1718 and the 16th of the samemonth.]"
Robert Carter generally used a return address of"Rappahannock" for the river on which he lived rather than"Corotoman," the name of his home, on his correspondence. The returnaddress, county, and state have beenadded for clarity to this unheaded letter.
[1] Judith Carter (1695-c. 1750) was RC's fifth child "and the last by his wife, Judith Armistead, [and] was also namedJudith following the first Judith who died in infancy. . . . She wasthe grandmother of John Page, Governor of Virginia." She marriedin 1718 Mann Page of "Rosewell," Gloucester County. (Carleton. A Genealogy. . . of Robert Carter. . ..
p. 211.
)
[2] Williamsburg.
[3] "Rosegill" is the Wormeley home in MiddlesexCounty; it lies between Rosegill Lake and Urbanna Creek, slightly upthe Rappahannock from "Corotoman." The nineteenth-centurycopyist-editor added in a note, "When Mr. Carter went toWilliamsburg he crost the Rapph at Rosegill & went thence toRosewll, & thence by land."
[4] This word was added in brackets by the nineteenth-century copyist.
This text revised November 18,2008.