Robert King Carter's Correspondence and Diary

   A Collection Transcribed
        and Digitized
   by Edmund Berkeley, Jr.


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Electronic Text Center , University of Virginia Library


Summary



Letter from Robert Carter to Captain William Russell, April 13, 1724

     Robert Carter writes to Captain William Russell, April 13, 1724, to inform him of the arrangements he has made for the surveys that he wishes to have made on the frontier with which Russell is to assist. He also tells Russell that he has not been able to buy a "Servant" for him.



Letter from Robert Carter to Captain William Russell, April 13, 1723/4


-1 -

[Corotoman, Lancaster County, Virginia]
Aprill the 13th. 17234
Capt Wm. Russell -- --

     Mr. Savage having so much work upon his hands
that it will be Impossible for him to get through it in any
tolerable time, I have therefore employed the bearer Mr.
Thomas Barber to make some Surveys for me and I believe
the best places will be Set upon those two places you mention
upon the broad run Mr. Barber is but a Young man therefore you
must Assist him in the best manner you can with provision [s]
&Ca:, The Germans that are to be the chain carriers I suppose
will find for themselves, I write to Mr. Fishback and the rest
I also write to your name Sake John Russell by your recommen
dation to be Assistant to the Surveyors when they go out upon
those Lands you tell me he is so well acquainted with, I hope
you will both be diligent and honest in your Proceedings
and let my Surveys be placed upon the best of the Lands

     I have sent away Crosbys Deed and have sent him
word I will take the pay from you there have no Servants
come in here yet the first that do I will Endeavor to buy
one for you, I have already written to Mr. Strother to Send
a hand to work in your room while you are abroad
upon my business but am in hopes by this time your
Cornfield is pretty well done with, I pray you will not
fail immediately to go out with Mr. Barber that there
may be no Delay upon your Account where in you will oblige


Your Friend to Serve You

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.

[1] William Russell (1680?-1741) was a well-known ranger and explorer who eventually settled in Prince William County (later Fauquier). Fairfax Harrison thinks he may have been one of the rangers who accompanied Spotswood's Knights of the Golden Horseshoe. (Harrison, Landmarks of Old Prince William , 204. )

[2] John Savage was a surveyor, later (1734) to be employed by Lord Fairfax while attempting to establish the boundaries of the proprietary. (Harrison. Landmarks. . . . p. 619. )

[3] Thomas Barber of Richmond County was a surveyor, and would be appointed a justice of that county in 1730, tobacco inspector in1734, and sheriff in 1736. (McIlwaine. Executive Journals of the Council. . . . , 4[1721-1739]: 215, 342, and 369. )

[4] Broad Run lies in today's Fauquier and Prince William counties, running roughly northwest to southeast until it joins Cedar Run in Prince William to form the Occoquan River. ( Alexandria Drafting Company. Regional Northern Virginia. [Alexandria, VA: Alexandria Drafting Company, 2002.] See the indexes and maps for these counties. )

[5] Governor Alexander Spotswood had encouraged immigration of Germans into Virginia in 1714, and they settled "in what was then Stafford Co. . . .. later Prince William and now Fauquier." The men worked in Spotswood's iron mines, but around 1718 took grants in the proprietary in what was then Stafford County. (See "Germantown" in Harrison. Landmarks. . . . pp. 207-221. and Elizabeth Chapman Denny Vann and Margaret Collins Denny Dixon. Virginia's First German Colony. Richmond: Privately printed, 1961. p. 33.)

[6] No information about John Russell has presently been located.


This text, originally posted in 2002, was revised August 30, 2011, to add a footnote, and to strengthen the modern language version text.