A Collection Transcribed
and Digitized
by Edmund Berkeley, Jr.
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Summary
Letter from Robert Carter to Thomas Evans, August 3, 1723
Robert Carter writes to London merchant Thomas Evans, August 3, 1723, that he did not receive a letter from Evans in the latest batch to arrive from England. He encloses a bill of lading (not present), and briefly complains about the stemmed tobacco act. He orders sacking for bags, cloth for prizing cider, and a very strong scythe for cutting hay.
Letter from Robert Carter to Thomas Evans,
August 3, 1723
-1
-
Rappa [hannock, Lancaster County, Virginia]
Augst. 3d. 1723
[Th]os. Evans -- --
By Captain Hopkins,
I have received my Accounts from
[t]
he rest of the merchants but Yet See nothing from You which makes
me a little uneasy, Herewith comes a bill of Lading for
10 hogsheads of Tobacco on board Captain
Richardson 8 of them stemmed my
Own Crop, The other two sweet scented Leaf,
I have the Act of Parliament
prohibiting all
stemmed Tobacco that Shall Arrive After the 1st of June next, It is
A very great Shock to me, who have stemmed all my Crops for
these Thirty Years together, The Great Argument I Suppose
has been the increasing The Kings customs, [sic] but I believe in
Experience that Will be found a great Mistake, a New
Door of Fraud will be indeed open for the Scotch,
but there
I shall leave It, My Letters Were sealed up for Richardson
before my News by Hopkins came to which refer You,
I Desire You to Send me in with the rest of my Goods,
40 Yards of Your Strongest sacking For bags, and 20 yards
of Hair Cloth
for prizing cider. Also a Strong good scythe fixed
with a proper handle and Iron
Wedges, for Mowing Hay, pray take
Particular care in buying this scythe Let it be as Strong &
good as money will Fetch, I had one come in two or three
Year Ago, which was a old Shopkeeper I Suppose, one
Days work spoiled It, It wanted Strength in the back, These
hard times will Drive us into All the ways of husbandry
We are capable of, I have almost done with the world, I hope
to make a Shift to rub through during my time and
for the Next Generation let them take care of themselves I
am --
Sir -- Your very humble Servt
We are in hope this
Act of Parliament will
have a good Influence upon
the stemmed Tobo now going home.
NOTES
Source copy consulted:
Robert Carter letter book, 1723 June 16-1724 April 23, Robert Carter Papers (acc. no. 3807), Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia. There is a nineteenth-century transcript of this letter in the Minor-Blackford Papers, James Monroe Law Office and Museum, Fredericksburg, Virginia.
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, especially to merchants abroad. The county and colony have been added for clarity.
[1] Captain James Hopkins would be in command of the Mary
in 1727-1728. He was then working for London merchant Robert Cary. He is mentioned in Carter's diary. ( Adm. 68/194, found in the microfilms of the Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.
)
[2] Captain [James?] Richardson commanded the Sarah
and was based in Weymouth.
[3] Parliament had passed an act forbidding the importation of stemmed tobacco in 1722. John Randolph was sent to England in 1729 as agent for Virginia to try to have the act overturned; his mission would be successful. ( Arthur Pierce Middleton. Tobacco Coast: A Maritime History of the Chesapeake Bay in the Colonial Era.
[Newport News, VA: Mariners' Museum, 1953], 116.
)
[4] Parliament had passed an act forbidding the importation of stemmed tobacco in 1722. John Randolph was sent to England in 1729 as agent for Virginia to try to have the act overturned; his mission would be successful. ( Arthur Pierce Middleton. Tobacco Coast: A Maritime History of the Chesapeake Bay in the Colonial Era.
[Newport News, VA: Mariners' Museum, 1953], 116.
)
[5] The trading policies of Scots merchants were of considerable concern to Virginia planters and English merchants at this time, and the matter came before Parliament in 1723. Vessels sent by Scots were crewed by captains and factors authorized to pay good prices in Virginia which enabled them to obtain full cargoes. English merchants argued that the only way the Scots could afford to pay such good prices was their ability to avoid paying duties on the tobacco at home. Micajah Perry appeared before Parliament and gave statistics of the duties paid by his firm in earlier years and the far smaller amounts paid in the past several years because his ships could not obtain full cargoes in Virginia. (Price. Perry of London. . . .
pp. 64-65.
)
[6] Hair cloth was a "fabric made of hair, used for various purposes, as for tents, towels, shirts of penitents and ascetics; also in drying malt, hops, or the like." Carter probably used it to strain out the seeds and pulp in squeezing apples to produce cider. ( Oxford English Dictionary
)
This text revised November 9, 2009.