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 Edward Tucker, June 3, 1727
Robert Carter writes to Weymouth merchant Edward Tucker, June 3, 1727, giving him details of the activities of his ships in the colony, and advising him of a bill of exchange drawn on him payable to George Braxton.
Letter from Robert Carter to Edward Tucker,
June 3, 1727
-1
-
Mr. Edward Tucker Rappahannock, [Lancaster County, Virginia]
June 3d: 1727
Sir --
I have received Sundry Letters from you
the latest I think dated the 4th: of March one from London abt:
that date I got but Yesterday. Wilson
I hope is with you be=
fore now Britt
left
has been gone about three weeks I had
8 hhds: in him Your Portland
now in the Indian Creek,
I
Shall have 6 hhds: in her Russell reckons upon a full Load
I believe he will leave the Indian Creek in less than Ten day [s]
then goes to York to full up,
The business of this is to advise you
that I
have this day drawn upon you
for Two hundred pounds
payable to Colonel George Braxton
which desire you to answer
at time and place to the Accot: of
Sir
Your very humble Servt:
per the Dispatch
Captain 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 wrote in his diary March 14, 1727, "Captn Wilson took his leave had my Lettrs."
[2] John Brett was master of Weymouth merchant Edward Tucker's ship, the Princess Amelia,
which had been commanded by a Captain Lawrence until he was drowned. ( Survey Report 9729 detailing the Weymouth Port Books, found in the microfilms of the Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.
)
[3] The Portland,
a vessel owned by Tucker as Carter writes here, was commanded by John Russell. ( Survey Report 9729 detailing the Weymouth Port Books, Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.
)
[4] Indian Creek lies at the eastern tip of Lancaster County at the northern side of Fleets Bay, and runs inland roughly northwest towards today's Kilmarnock. It probably was 6 or 7 miles from "Corotoman" by the roads of Carter's time. (Miller. Place-Names . . . .
p. 72.
)
[5] A bill of exchange is a kind of check or promissory note without interest. It is used primarily in international trade, and is a written order by one person to pay another a specific sum on a specific date sometime in the future. If the bill of exchange is drawn on a bank, it is called a bank draft. If it is drawn on another party, it is called a trade draft. Sometimes a bill of exchange will simply be called a draft, but whereas a draft is always negotiable (transferable by endorsement), this is not necessarily true of a bill of exchange. ( "Dictionary of Financial Scam Terms,"
8/22/2005
)
[6] 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 October 2, 2012, to add footnotes and strengthen the modern language version text.