A Collection Transcribed
and Digitized
by Edmund Berkeley, Jr.
List of Letters
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Electronic Text Center
, University of Virginia Library
Summary
Letter from Robert Carter to John Pemberton, May 8, 1728
Robert Carter writes to Liverpool merchant John Pemberton, May 8, 1728, to report a bill of exchange he has drawn on him for Elizabeth Young, Carter's housekeeper, who is coming to England on the ship, and to report on arrangements for the shipping of tobacco owned by Pemberton.
Letter from Robert Carter to John Pemberton,
May 8, 1728
-1
-
Rappahannock, [Lancaster County, Virginia]
May the 8th: 1728
Mr. John Pemberton
to be Copyd
Sir --
This is a Short line by an Irish man bound
to your Port I have now drawn upon for £10 payable to Mrs:
Elizabeth Young
which I desire you to let her have on my Acct. She comes in the Ship,
Captain Denton
was with me Yesterday I have
given him notes for all your Tobacco lying in these parts a month
ago I gave notes to Captain Brackhill
for 31 hogsheads of your Tobacco lying in
Potomac he promised to Send for them the week after Denton
[tells]
me he hath not yet Sent and believes he does not intend to
fetch it and Expects
that he will get his Ship Loaded about the place where
[s]
he rides I [kno]
w of no other freight to be got for your Port if none offers
I [...]
I [shal]
l go near to Ship it in the Carter
for London which
-2
-
probably may be the best market this year and if I do Shall take
the bills of Lading in your name that you may give directions to whom
you please to dispose of it there By Denton who reckons to be ready
the latter end of this month Shall Enlarge to you at present I am
Sir --
Your most humble Servt: --
[illegible]
Per Falconar
per Denton
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. The county and colony have been added for clarity.
A different clerk has added the note "to be Copyd" in the heading of the letter.
[1] Mrs. Elizabeth Young was Carter's housekeeper. He had agreed with her for one year's service in 1724 but found her satisfactory for a longer term. (Diary 1727 June 2, and Carter to William Dawkins, June 28, July 26, and August 22, 1727, for her first name.)
[2] The John & Betty
was a Liverpool ship often carrying slaves owned by merchant John Pemberton. 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 Pemberton, 1730 April 15; and Carter to William Dawkins, June 28, July 26, and August 22, 1727, for Denton's first name.)
[3] Carter's letters mention a Captain Brackhill in 1728 as captain of the Rappahannock
, and Captain Loxum in 1733. There were several vessels with this name. One was based in Liverpool and was commanded by a Captain Francis Etheridge in 1725; she was a 90 ton ship with 13 men. Another of which Charles Whate was captain was of 60 tons with 11 men in 1726/27. ( Adm. 68/194, ff.30, found in the microfilms of the Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.
)
[4] John Falconar was a London merchant with whom Carter dealt. In 1728, Falconar and Henry Darnell formed an association of 29 London tobacco merchants to deal with the French tobacco purchasing agent as a group in order to keep the price as high as possible. The association lasted only lasted a year or two before dissolving because some of its members were dealing directly with the French agent and selling below the agreed-upon price. ( Arthur Pierce Middleton. Tobacco Coast: A Maritime History of the Chesapeake Bay in the Colonial Era.
Newport News, VA: Mariners' Museum, 1953. p. 129
)