Robert King Carter's Correspondence and Diary

   A Collection Transcribed
        and Digitized
   by Edmund Berkeley, Jr.


List of Letters | About This Collection

Electronic Text Center , University of Virginia Library


Summary



Letter from Robert Carter to James Carter, April 16, 1728

     Robert Carter writes to Stafford County resident James Carter, one of his senior managers, April 16, 1728, to inform Carter that a sloop is coming for his and Ponton's tobacco, and wants to know from Carter how much tobacco he will be sending. He reports a protested bill of exchange against Henry Fitzhugh, and two that he has drawn on Carter.



Letter from Robert Carter to James Carter, April 16, 1728


-1 -

[Corotoman, Lancaster County, Virginia]     
April 16th. 1728

Mr Jas. Carter

     I wrote to you a few days ago acquainted you that
a Sloop was coming for yours And Pontons tobacco desired you


-2 -


will let me hear from you Specially that I may know how much
tobacco I may reckon upon this year from you I told you Mr Henry
Fitzhughs
bills of Exchange that you took for £14:8 were returned
me protested and that I would send them to you by the first safe Opp-
ortunity I had this is to let you know that I have this day drawn on you
for 800 pounds of tobacco payable to John Ashley and for 900 pounds of tobacco payable
to Owen Greenan which I desire you to Answer I should be mighty glad
to hear from you and Charles Brent too As soon as possible which is
the Needfull at present from your friend &ca


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 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] A bill of exchange is a kind of check or promissory note without interest. It is used primarily in international trade, and is a written order by one person to pay another a specific sum on a specific date sometime in the future. If the bill of exchange is drawn on a bank, it is called a bank draft. If it is drawn on another party, it is called a trade draft. Sometimes a bill of exchange will simply be called a draft, but whereas a draft is always negotiable (transferable by endorsement), this is not necessarily true of a bill of exchange. ( "Dictionary of Financial Scam Terms," 8/22/2005 )

[3] Jack Ashley is mentioned a number of times in Carter's diary; he lived in Spotsylvania County and apparently was an overseer for Carter at one time although he does not appear in the 1733 inventory. (McIlwaine, H. R., ed. Executive Journals of the Council. . . . . 4 [1721-1739]:254 ).

[4] Charles Brent (1695-1756) of Overwharton Parish, Stafford County, married to Hannah Innes. He acted as collector of quit rents for Carter in the county. ("Matthews-Williams Family Genealogy, " is as useful as any on the Brent family whose genealogy is complicated. )


This text, originally posted in 2004, was revised September12, 2014, to add footnotes and strengthen the modern language version text.