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 John Pemberton, December 19, 1727
Robert Carter writes to Liverpool merchant John Pemberton, December 19, 1727, to cover a bill of lading for 30 hogsheads of his own sweet scented tobacoo, and concerning the conclusion of the sales of slaves for which he has been the agent in the colony.
Letter from Robert Carter to John Pemberton,
December 19, 1727
-1
-
Mr. John Pemberton -- Rappahannock, [Lancaster County, Virginia]
December the 19th. 1727
Sir --
This Encloses a bill of Lading for 30 hhds: of swt.
Scented Tobbo:
of my own Crops on board the Rose
Capt: Christian pray God
Send the Ship Safe to you and I doubt not but they will rise Acceptably good
and meet the Top of your market,
I have drawn on you for £ 2:19:-payable for
the Impost
of the 29 hhds: on board the rose belonging to the Owners of the John
and Betty
and must be charged to that concern I omitted to advise there
of in my Letter to the Said Owners, I have also drawn upon you for
£3"1"-the Impost of my own Tobbo: on board the Rose to Capt: Christian
for £22" -- " -- to the Said Christian and for One hundred Nineteen pds.
Eight shillings and three pence to your Self and the rest of the Freighters of the
Rose these Sums to be paid on my own Acct: -- and Charged to my Debit
In my
the money
Accot. Currt. of the rose Concern I have drawn
my Salary upon the whole Sale as well the outstanding Debts as the bills
remitted and the paymt. made to Capt: Christian and I could not well
make out the Accot. Otherways perhaps the Ownrs: may think it not reas
onable for
to allow my Salary before the money is remitted which upon
the outstanding Debts amounts to £32:14 if you please rather then
there should be any Uneasieness let this money be paid to them on my Acct.
it will be only giving me Credit for it again when the Outstanding Debts
are Sent home. You will observe I take no Salary upon the Tobboo. but am
Contented you [will]
allow it me upon the neet Sales I write at large about
these two Concerns to which please to be referr'd I Conclude here
Sir
Yor. most humble Servt: --
per the Rose --
NOTES
Source copy consulted:
Robert Carter Letter Book, 1727 April 13-1728 July 23, Carter Family Papers, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond.
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 to the heading on the draft.
[1] Oronocco is a type of tobacco "bulkier and coarser than sweetscented . . . had a sharper leaf 'like a fox's ear,'" and was stronger in flavor" than sweetscented." ( Arthur Pierce Middleton. Tobacco Coast: A Maritime History of the Chesapeake Bay in the Colonial Era.
Newport News, VA: Mariners' Museum, 1953. p. 97
)
[2] James Christian was captain of the Rose,
a vessel owned by merchant John Pemberton of Liverpool. (See Carter to Pemberton,
April 15, 1730.)
[3] The impost was the duty imposed by Britain on imported tobacco, and the cocket, for which a fee was charged, was the document bearing a cocket or seal issued by the "King's Customs House" that the impost had been paid. (See the definitions of each word in Oxford English Dictionary Online.
)
[3]The John & Betty
was a Liverpool ship owned by merchant John Pemberton; she often carried slaves into the colony. In 1726 the captain was John Gale, and in the next year, she was commanded by a Captain William Denton. The ship would be lost in 1729. (Wright. Letters of Robert Carter. . . .
p. 18, n. 23
; Carter to P3mberton
, December 18, 1727;
Carter to Pemberton,
April 15, 1730;
and Carter to William Dawkins,
June 28, July 26, and August 22, 1727, for Denton's first name.
)
This text, originally posted in 2004, was revised August 8, 2014, to add footnotes and strengthen the modern language version text.