A Collection Transcribed
and Digitized
by Edmund Berkeley, Jr.
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, University of Virginia Library
Summary
Letter from Robert Carter to Micajah Perry, [December 16, 1727]
Robert Carter writes to London merchant Micajah Perry, December 16, 1727, to stress that his rent for the Northern Neck proprietary must be paid for 1726, and for a portion of 1727 if necessary. He is willing to pay no more than £3000 for the Lloyd estates. Lewis Burwell, his grandson, is to be sent to Cambridge in the spring and Perry must find a "a discreet sober Tutor" to keep Burwell at his studies, and the expences must be kept low.
Letter from Robert Carter to Micajah Perry
, December 16, 172
-1
-
[Rappahannock, Lancaster County, Virginia]
[December 16, 1727]
Mr Micajah Perry
Sir
By my letters from time to time you ma[y]
conclude I was under Expectation you would pay my rent to the propr[s]
of the northern Neck for the year 1726 and in mine two
four
days agoe
I told you if you had paid the rent for the year 27 also that is to
Michallmass
last Deducting only Collo Jennings
debt for £
thirty odd pound I should not be uneasy however lest you should
not look upon what I have already writ as a peremptory order
I do now give you positive directions forthwith to make paymen[t]
of the rent for the sd year 1726 and if the proprs strongly in=
sist upon it to pay for the last years rent also that there be
no foun
dation left for complaint Against me
I have said something to you alread[y]
a=
bout the LL
affair upon your information of the little likelyhood
there was of a speedy disposal of it Im of the same opinion min
tion'd to you in some former letters that I cannot reckon it in va
lue
to be worth above three thousd pounds and if you are pleasd to
continue
a bidder for me I will give no more than that sum for the Estate lands &ca.
& I must be indulged in point of time as I have
already noted and care must be taken that a good title to the Lands be made to me
Collo Page
and my son John
still cont
inue in the Opinion of sending Lewis Burwell
to Cambridge and we proposd
-2
-
to write a joynt letter to you about him but our meetings are so seldom
and when we are together so much other business hath intervened that
this letter hath still been forgot It will be high time to remove him
thither next Spring If he hath the good fortune to be under the care of
a discreet sober Tutor that will keep him under a good discipline and
out of the way of Expences and in the improvement of his studys is
what is
mostly to be aimed at for my part I must leave the choice of a Tutor to
you what the other Gentlemen advise in the matter I shall let you know
hereafter you are very sensible our comodity is at a very low ebb at this
time a Sufficient reason to enduce us to a frugality as
much as possible in his Education and to allow him
only a decent maintenance which I hope you will endeavour with all
the power you have over him I am
to be copyed
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. There is a 19th-century transcript of the letter in the Minor-Blackford Papers, James Monroe Law Office and Museum, Fredericksburg, 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.
This letter appears in the letter book with others of this date. Carter refers in the first sentence to a letter written to Perry "four days agoe," which was December 12, 1727.
1[] See the discussion of the Northern Neck proprietary
on this project's home page.
[2] "The feast of St Michael (St Michael and all Angels), one of the quarter days in England, Ireland, and Wales; the date of this, 29 September." ( Oxford English Dictionary
online.
)
[3] Lewis Burwell (1711 or 1712-1756), Carter's grandson by Elizabeth Carter Burwell and her first husband, Nathaniel Burwell (1680-1721) for whom Carter was guardian. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge, and inherited considerable property, living at "Fairfield," Gloucester County. He would be president of the Council in 1750-1751. (Kneebone et al.
, Dictionary of Virginia Biography.
2:434-5.
and Carleton. A Genealogy. . . of Robert Carter. . . .
p. 114.
)
This text, originally posted in 2004, was revised July 29, 2014, to add footnotes and strengthen the modern language version text.