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 John Pemberton, September 16, 1727

     Robert Carter writes to Liverpool merchant John Pemberton, September 16, 1727, concerning arrangements for the sale of slaves that have come into Virginia on board Pemberton's ship, the Rose commanded by James Christian, noting that many of the slaves are sick, and winter is coming.



Letter from Robert Carter to John Pemberton, September 16, 1727


-1 -

[Rappahannock, Lancaster County, Virginia]

Sepr: 16th. 1727 --


     Capt: Christian hath now brought me his Orders
Dated the Sepr. the 24th: 1726 in which find my name first put
in and then raced out, and Tom Nelson interlined at the End whereof
you Say Nelson would have Letters from you and if he Could Comply
with your Limitation the Negroes &ca. where [sic ] to be deliverd
to him when you came to mention my name there is no Limitation added
if there had I would not meddle with them. In the Postscript you Say
if Tom Nelson in York river do not Comply with your Orders apply to
Robert Carter Esqr. Rappahannock and Colonel Thos: Lee in Poto
mack and Mr. Bennet in Maryland Christian declares he hath
rec'd no other orders from you Crump and Kagle at Barbadoes had
no orders he could hear of none in York to Mr. Nelson I have had none
from you relating to this Ship which makes me beleive you intended no Limitations
to me for this ship having only rec'd from you advice of this Ship in
your Letters of Octor. and December Date, many of the Slaves are
Ailing 18 put aShoar to recruit three dead Since he came into this river his provisions in a manner All gon
a Cold Spell of weather upon us, the winds hang Northerly the


-2 -


winter at hand under all these ill Circumstances in Service to you
if the Master will come into the termes I shall propose to him I Shall
Adventure upon the Sale of them and make the most of them I can bel
iving you will take it very kindly Capt: Tarleton is in a very great
hast to be gon having a fair wind Affording me only the time for
these few line I am


Sir
Yor: very humble Servt.

per Tarleton --

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. It, the county, and colony have been added for clarity to this unheaded draft.

[1] James Christian was captain of the Rose, a vessel were owned by merchant John Pemberton of Liverpool. (See Carter to Pemberton, 1730 April 15.)

[2] Thomas Nelson (1667-1745), a resident of Yorktown, was a merchant and was sheriff of York County in 1722 and 1723. (McIlwaine. Executive Journals of the Council. . . . , 4[1721-1739]:12,34,184; and Greene. The Diary of Colonel Landon Carter. . . . , p. 96. )

[3] Thomas Lee (1690-1750) of Westmoreland County was the son of Richard Lee II, and nephew of Edmund Jenings; he would build "Stratford," and succeed Carter on the Council. For a good article on Thomas Lee, see that by Jeanne A. Calhoun on Stratford plantation's website. ( Burton J. Hendrick. The Lees of Virginia: Biography of a Family. [Boston: Little Brown, 1935]. pp. 48, 51, etc. )

[4] Several vessels named The Loyalty sailed to Virginia. One commanded by Francis Wallis cleared from Poole for Virginia in 1726. Captain Loxom commanded a vessel of this name in 1729-1730 as did James Tarleton in 1731. (Survey Report 9727, Virginia Colonial Records Project,Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia. See Carter's letters to John Pemberton April 15,1730 and 1731 August 4 .)


This text, originally posted in 2004, was revised May 20, 2014, to add footnotes and strengthen the modern language version text.