A Collection Transcribed
and Digitized
by Edmund Berkeley, Jr.
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Summary
Letter from Robert Carter to Colonel George Mason, August 28, 1727
Robert Carter writes to Colonel George Mason, August 28, 1727, concerning land that is to be divided between Mason and his sister who is married to John Mercer; he complains of the poor description of the lands, but sends warrant to Mason.
Letter from Robert Carter to Colonel George Mason,
August 28, 1727
-1
-
[Corotoman, Lancaster County, Virginia]
Augst. the 28th. 1727
Colonel Geo: Mason
Sir --
I find by your Letter of the 24th Instant you are
willing to give
to give to Mr. Mercer
the first choice of the Land between
you and his Wife and also that you are
willing to Enter into bond for
her Acknowledgement of the Land in form of Law after She comes
to the undoubted
Age of one and Twenty but there are so many Considerat ions
further to be had before I shall think proper to part with any
money to Mr. Mercer that fo
I believe it is his best way to Strike
up a bargain with Mr. England
As to the warrants you desire your Entrys are so loose
and unintelligible that I cannot guess where the Land lies and I
am Altogether a Stranger to the place where Lacewell
now lives
if I remember right he did live upon the Goose Creek
upon Lands
that Mr. Thomas
the Surveyor hath taken up for me however being
not
un
willing you Should loose the Labour of your Messenger I have sent
you two warrants as near your discription as I could Collect if they
do not answer your [illegible]
Interest
you must return them to me again And
pray if you Send any other entrys [illegible]
let the Lands be so particularly
Described by some known runs or places that I may be able to guess
at the Lands I give out Warrants for. I must own you have been always
-2
-
punctual in your payments And therefore make no Scurple of
Sending these Warrants upon your desire
to you
but allow me to tell you
I am not yet paid for Colonel Bradfords warrant nor for what I know a
hundred more that I have issued which hath almost brought
me to a resolution to Sign no more arrants until Iam paid
the
fees are paid
down for the Entrys and warrants I am
Sir
Yor: very humble Servant --
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.
The name of Robert Carter's home, the county, and colony have been added for clarity to this unheaded draft.
[1] George Mason III (c. 1690-1735), justice, sheriff, burgess, andcounty lieutenant of Stafford County, father of the constitutional theorist. (Copeland and MacMaster. The Five George Masons.
pp. 50-86.
; and George Harrison Sanford King, The Register of Overwharton Parish Stafford County Virginia 1723-1758 And Sundry Historical and Genealogical Notes.
[Fredericksburg, VA: privately printed, 1961.]
)
[2] John Mercer (1704-1768) emigrated from Ireland where he had beentrained as an attorney. "He settled at Marlboroughtown in 1726 as a practicing attorney and at once allowed a facile pen to get him into trouble with the government." He eventually lost his license to practice law, and turned to the land speculation that he had begun as soon as he reached Virginia. "He married first on June 10, 1725 Catherine Mason (June 21, 1707-June 15, 1750) only child of Colonel George Mason (16??-1716) and his second wife Elizabeth Waugh, daughter of the Reverend Mr. John Waugh."(Harrison. Landmarks of Old Prince William
p. 315;
Copeland and MacMaster. The Five George Masons.
; and "John Mercer."
)
[3] This may be John England who directed "the Accakeek Iron Worksin Stafford County for Augustine Washington and others beginning about 1726." ( George Harrison Sanford King. The Register of Overwharton Parish Stafford County Virginia 1723-1758 And Sundry Historical and Genealogical Notes.
[Fredericksburg, VA: privately printed, 1961], p.132.
)
[4] This probably was Isaac Lasswell who did own property on Goose Creek according to Fairfax Harrison. (Harrison. Landmarks. . . .
p. 266.
)
[5] Goose Creek flows into the Potomac River just east of Leesburg in modern Loudoun County. ( Alexandria Drafting Company. Regional Northern Virginia.
[Alexandria, VA: Alexandria Drafting Company, 2002.]
Coverage of Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, and Prince William counties.)
[6] James Thomas was surveyor of Lancaster County, and after 1727, of Westmoreland County. In 1736, he would be one of the surveyors involved in the work of the commission to determine the bounds of the Northern Neck proprietary. (Brown. Virginia Baron. . . .
pp. 83, 92. See Carter to Peter Beverley,
December 14, 1727.
)
This text, originally posted in 2004, was revised May 20, 2014, to add footnotes and strengthen the modern language version text.