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 James Carter, January 5, 1728
Robert Carter writes to his agent James Carter, a resident of Stafford County, January 5, 1728, concerning certain persons' applications for land grants, the fees to be collected, and the procedure to be followed. He gives particular instructions concerning the lands of Robert Alexander.
Letter from Robert Carter to James Carter,
January 5, 1728
-1
-
[Corotoman, Lancaster County, Virginia]
January the 5th 1727 [1728]
Mr. James Carter --
I have Settled an Accot. with John Wright abt. Waugh
Darnells
Deed in Stafford Co: he hath paid me all to 49 lb. of Tobbo: when
he pays you this ballance you may let him have the Deed he Says that
besides the Compos. for the other deed of Waugh Darnells he paid the Quit
rents
to John Allen
your receiver and he has his receipt for it now
the Qt. rents of the Land I have no Credit for or is the Land put into any
rent role either yours or King George's he also tells me that Tom Stone
his neighbour hath got his Deed in his whole Accot. is 1101 lb. of Tobb
you have given me Credit but for 600, these mistakes I hint to
you that you may set them to rights, You must always reckon
the Qt. rents are due from the Date of the Deed and not from the time
of the Delivery for the delay in keeping the Deeds is Ocasiond for
want of the payment of the Compo: which is properly due from
the Date of the Deeds upon the Letters and noats
it hath bin the
practice upon the Letters and noats of the upper Inhabitants for me
to Send them out warrts. for the taking up Lands many of which
have never bin Executed nor returnd to me which hath bin a great
abuse to the Proprs:
and I think for the future to Issue no no more warrts.
untill the fees are paid which you know is 15/ for a warrt. & Entry
and if you Send down to me for any warrts. to take care to let me
know that these fees are paid to you or if you know of any perons
coming for warrts. you may Acquaint them unless they bring
their money they will loose their labour --
Majr. Robert Alexander
you returnd a Delinquint
as well as Several others of good Circumstances I am informd by
Several ways that Mr. Alexander holds a great deal more Land
then he ever paid Qt. rents for pray let him know this & Desire
him in my name that he would Survey his lands that it may
be known in what Quantity he holds that the Proprs: may be no longer
abused or if he will not put himself to the Charge I hope he will
not be Offended if I order the Survey of it for him that I may grant
the Surplus to Some other person that will pay the Qt. rents more
Punctually than he hath done I will have you take care to
-2
-
tell this Storey to him in the presence of some Wittnesses and it is
my further order to you that you do not receive his Arrears of
Qt. rents in Tobbo: but if he refuses to pay money let him
know that I will not take it other ways and let me hear
from you as Soon as you can I am
Yor. Freind
NOTES
Source copy consulted:
Robert Carter Letter Book, 1727 April 13-1728 July 23, Carter Family Papers, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond.
The name of Carter's home, "Corotoman," the county, and colony have been added for clarity to this unheaded draft.
[1] James Carter (1684-1743), of Stafford County, was the younger brother of Carter's dear friend and associate, Captain Thomas Carter of Lancaster County, and was one of Carter's chief managers. ( Joseph Lyon Miller, "Captain Thomas Carter and His Descendants," William and Mary Quarterly.
1st ser., 17(1908-09): 275-285.
)
[2] Fairfax Harrison speculated that Waugh Darnell may have been a son of David Darnell, involved in a "Stafford cause celebre
in May 1690" for attempting to send "trash tobacco" on board a trading ship, and that his first name may have come from his father's relationship with the noted and controversial preacher John Waugh. (Harrison. Landmarks. . . ,
pp. 1341-33, 141-2.)
[3] Quit rent was the term used for "a (usually small) rent paid by a freeholder . . . in lieu of services which might otherwise be required; a nominal rent paid (esp. in former British colonial territories to the Crown) as an acknowledgement of tenure," in this case, to the proprietors of the Northern Neck. Carter as the proprietor's agent, collected these payments. ( Oxford English Dictionary Online
. Oxford University Press.
)
[4] John Allen is referred to a number of times in the minutes of the Council concerning patents, and as "John Allen Gent . . . Surveyor." He was to have beewn one of the surveyors to accompany the commission to establish the Virginia-North Carolina border in 1727, but declined because of the ill health of his wife. He would be appointed a justice in Prince William in 1731, and would serve the county as sheriff in 1736-1738. (Harrison. Landmarks. . . .
pp. 331, 339; and McIlwaine. Executive Journals of the Council. . . .
, 4[1721-1739]: 149, 167, 345, 369, and 393.
)
[5] See the discussion of the Northern Neck proprietary
on this project's home page.
[6] Robert Alexander (d. 1735) was a resident of Prince William County who would become a justice in 1734. Carter used the title of "major" which probably meant that Alexander was a militia officer. (McIlwaine. Executive Journals of the Council. . . .
, 4[1721-1739]:239.
)
This text, originally posted in 2004, was revised August 25, 2014, to add footnotes and strengthen the modern language version text.