A Collection Transcribed
and Digitized
by Edmund Berkeley, Jr.
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Summary
Letter from Robert Carter to Micajah Perry, June 3, 1727
Robert Carter writes to London merchant Micajah Perry, June 3, 1727, advising him of a number of bills of exchange payable to George Braxton for the purchase of slaves that he has drawn on various accounts: his own, the Nathaniel Burwell estate, Merchants Hundred estate, and that of Carter Burwell.
Letter from Robert Carter to Micajah Perry,
June 3, 1727
-1
-
Mr. Micajh. Perry Rappahannock, [Lancaster County, Virginia]
June 3d: 1727
Sir -- --
Yesterday I write to you at large this is only to
Advise you of Some bills of Exchange I have this Day drawn upon
you payable to Colonel Braxston
for Negroes I bought of him to
witt upon my Own Accot. for Three hundred pounds. Upon
the Accot: of Majr. Burwells
Estate for four Negroes four Score
pounds. Upon the Accot. of the Merchants hundreds
Estate for four
Negroes to be paid out of the money due upon your Accot. Currt.
in Carter Burwells
name four Score pounds These respective
Sums I desire you to pay at time and place to the proper
Accots: as per the Direction of
Yor: most humble Servt:
To go per the Dispatch
of
Bristol Capt: Barry
NOTES
Source copy consulted:
Robert Carter letter book, 1727 May-1728 July, Robert Carter Papers (acc. no. 3807), Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of 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] Carter Burwell (1716-1756) was Robert Carter's grandson by his daughter Elizabeth (Carter) Burwell and her first husband, Nathaniel Burwell (1680-1721). Carter Burwell would live at "Carter's Grove," and would marry Lucy Grymes in 1738. (Carleton. A Genealogy. . . of Robert Carter. . . .
p. 128.
)
[2] Elizabeth Donnan's Documents Illustrative
of the History of the Slave Trade to America. Volume II. The Eighteenth Century
(Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1930, and a later edition: Buffalo, NY: William S. Hein & Co., Inc., 2002)
contains a good many references to a slave ship named the Dispatch,
a brigantine, owned in Bristol. and trading to Africa, the Caribbean, and the British colonies in North America. Her captain in 1727 was William Barry. " On October 7, 1725, a group of Bristol merchants, who then dominated the Biafra trade, directed Captain William Barry of the Dispatch
to buy 240 'Choice slaves' from the obscure port of Andoni." ( G. Ugo Nwokeji. The Slave Trade and Culture in the Bight of Biafra: An African Society. . . .
[London and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. p. 145.)
)
This text, originally posted in 2003, was revised September 28, 2012, to add a footnote and strengthen the modern language version text.