A Collection Transcribed
and Digitized
by Edmund Berkeley, Jr.
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, University of Virginia Library
Summary
Letter from Robert Carter to John King, February 14,1721
Robert Carter writes to Bristol merchant, John King, February 14,1721, concerning goods that he has received on Captain Sweet's ship. He likes the cider very much, but chides King because the (slave)shoes he has sent are terrible. He orders new ones that are not to be black because black shoes rot very quickly. He promises to send some tobacco to King but complains that Bristol prices are low and freight rates high, and he reports a bill of exchange he has given toCharles Burgess.
Letter from Robert Carter to John King,
February 14, 1721
-1
-
Rappahannock, [LancasterCounty, Virginia]
Febr. 14th.1720/21
Mr. John King
Sir --
This is only a Short line to lett You know I have
receivedYor. Goods by Captn. Sweets
Ship, The Cyder pleases me
well enough, Yor.Shoos the worst that Ever Ihad from Yor.
City I pray You to take the First opportunity toSend me 6 doz
more of the best plainsYou can buy, two doz of the 16s.
2doz. of the 14s. and 2 doz of the 12s. and lett them not be
madeof black leather which all these are, they always
prove rotten Iused to have the best Shoos from Bristol
of any port in Engd.
Yor. markett is very low and Freightsrun high
there is butlittle Encouragemt. to Ship anyTobo. to Yor.
parts however I intend You Some If I can procure a
-2
-
reasonable Freight,
I drew on You in Sepr. for£15"14" -- to Chas. Burgs.
wch. I desire You to pay, am Sorry my Tobo. in Darracot
Stuck so
long in hand, my hopes were Its going so Early It would
have come to an Early Markett. Ihave not time to Say
anything more but that I am
Yor. humble Servt.
Yor. Cyder is notpleasant
& yett Itpleases me very well.
Per The Tayloe Gally
Bristol
Captn. JohnHeard
NOTES
Source copyconsulted:
Robert Carter Letter Book, 1720 July-1721 July,BR 227, Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens,San Marino, California. Printed: Wright. Letters of Robert Carter. . . .
pp. 75-76.
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.
[1] Henry Sweet was captain of the Chester
, a ship thst traded to Barbados and Virginia. ( Survey Report 04590 summarizing Public Record Office Class: T 38/264."Treasury, Departmental Accounts-Barbadoes, Journal of 4 1/2% Duties, 1730." "The following ships and cargoes were bound for Virginia." Henry Sweet is shown as master of the Chester
, and the cargo was 1980 gallons of molasses;
; and Survey Report 07233 summarizing Hampshire Record Office Class Wyndham 1725-1753. "Invoices and Sundry Accounts of Henry Wyndham, June 1725-September 1753." Included are records of several voyages of the Chester
to Viginia, 1728-1730. Hampshire County, England, includes the ports of Southampton and Portsmouth.
)
[2] Charles Burgess (d. 1732) was a planter ofLancaster County and a member of the House of Burgesses in 1728 andlater. (Torrance. Virginia Wills andAdministrations,1632-1800.
p. 62.)
[3] Carter mentions a Captain Darracott in letters of 1720 and 1721 to Bristol mechant John King, and a Captain John Darracott's wife, Cecilia, died in 1737 and was buried at the home of her father, William Massie (Massey), of New Kent County. A John Darracott's will was probated in Hanover County (whose records have chiefly been lost) also in 1737. ( "Personal Notices From the Virginia Gazette," William and Mary Quarterly
, 1st. ser., 5(April 1897): 242;
"John Darracott
of Hanover Co., Va. & his wives." Darracott Family Genealogy Forum on Genealogy.com examined 5/12/2010;
Online index of Wills/Administration
of the Library of Virginia, examined 5/12/2010;
and "Massie Family," ibid.
, 1st. ser., 13(January 1905): 202-3.
)
[4] The Tayloe
was wrecked onthe North Carolina coast in December 1726 and the mate and othersaccused of murdering Captain Heard. The Council concluded there wasinsufficient evidence to prosecute them. (McIlwaine. Executive Journals of the Council. . ..
, 4(1721-1739): 126-27.)
This text revised March 10, 2009, again on May 12, 2010, and a third time May 30, 2016. to add footnotes and strengthen the modern language version text.