A Collection Transcribed
and Digitized
by Edmund Berkeley, Jr.
List of Letters
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, University of Virginia Library
Summary
Letter from Robert Carter to Francis Chamberlayne and FrancisSitwell, September 27, 1720
Robert Carter writes to merchants Francis Chamberlayne andFrancis Sitwell, September 27, 1720, to send them more bills ofexchange resulting from the sale of a cargo of slaves that he andRobert Tucker had undertaken on the merchants' behalf. He also sendsaccounts of the sales of slaves sent to Westmoreland and Lancastercounties, and concludes with the hope that "You will receiveSattisfaction in what of her Affairs past under our Managemt."
Letter from Robert Carter to FrancisChamberlayne
and FrancisSitwell, September 27, 1720
-1
-
Rappahannock, [LancasterCounty, Virginia]
September 27th. 1720
Messrs. Francis Chamberlayne
& Francis Sitwell
Gentlemen
Herewith I send you Ten bills of exchange amount
ing to the Sum of Two hundredEighty one Pound sixteen
shillings & Eleven pence. I received them but three days
ago, which are in part of the outstanding debts we have
Charged ourselveswith in our general
account to you two of them
are Glasgow billsthat I could not help taking I hope
they will all prove good butIf you should be forced
to protest anyof them Messrs Perry
my correspondents
inLondon have orders to receive them from You &
to pay You the money according to my former under=
=taking,in which I am in no doubt of their [. . .]
Complyance The other [. . .]
not payable until May next.For the [remainder?] of your
money you will be sufficiently compensated by the
advancewe made upon the Sales more than other=
=wise we could possiblyhave done
Herein You have also particular Accounts of the
Sales ofForty nine Slaves sent into Westmoreland
County & of twentynine sold in Lancaster County Credt.
for which You already have in two Gross Articles in our
Account Excepting Seven pound which the unsold Negro
fetch'd more than She was valued at. This Seven
pound You are Still tohave Credit for, I hope
before thisYour Ship Mercury is safely arriv'd to You &
that You willreceive Sattisfaction
in what of her
Affairs passed under our Managemt., Mr.Tucker
has undertaken to giveYou a particular Account
of the Sales of the 10 slaves sent to James River
I am Gentleman
Your most humble Servant
NOTES
Source copy consulted:
Robert CarterLetter Book, 1720 July-1721 July, BR 227, Huntington Library, ArtCollections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California. Printed:Wright. Letters of Robert Carter. . ..
pp. 52-53.
Wright misdated the letter as April27, 1720, because the top half of the letter is extremely difficultto read. There is a great deal of bleed-through from the text on thereverse side of the letter book page as well as a hole in a portionof the page.
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, especiallyto merchants abroad. The county and colony have been added forclarity.
See also Carter's letters to Chamberlayne and Sitwellconcerning this sale of slaves dated 1720 July 26 and 27.
[1] Francis Chamberlayne (abt. 1667-1728) was from a Warwickshire family. His father was also a London merchant, and "Chamberlayne engaged in commercehimself and may have been involved in the slave trade." He was quite wealthy, and represented New Shoreham inParliament at two different times, first as a Whig, and later as a Tory. ( David Hayton, et al.,
The House of Commons, 1690-1715.
[Cambridege University Press, 2002], 507-508.. Found online on Google books,. 9/14/2009
)
[2] Robert Tucker (d. 1722), a merchant and justice ofNorfolk County who was Carter's partner in the slave sale.( "Charges Against Spotswood." Virginia Magazine ofHistory and Biography
. 4(April 1897):360.
)
This text revised February 2 andSeptember 16, 2009.