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 John Falconar, July 23, 1728

     Robert Carter writes to London merchant John Falconar, July 23, 1728, to enclose an invoice (not present) for some goods, noting that Captain Wills in the Amity will soon be sailing because of his hard work at getting cargo.



Letter from Robert Carter to John Falconar, July 23, 1728


-1 -

Rappahannock, [Lancaster County, Virginia]     
July the 23d. 1728

Mr. John Falconar --

Sir --

     I have already written to you by Captain Wills
this I hope will come by him also Send it to York to overtake him
if he is not gone. It is to Enclose an Invoice for some goods for my
next years Supply Your Care in the well and Cheap buying them
I depend on I reckon you will have the Amity so timely home now
that you will be able to make her an Early Ship next year & by her I
Expect you will Send in my Goods Captain Wills purely by his diligence
has very much Exceeded his own hopes or anybodys Else I am


--                                                             Your very humble Servt --

Sent to York
Copy per Carter

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] John Falconar (d. ca. 1729) 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. (See Carter's letter to Falconar of July 24 and August 22, 1727, for details about the payment of £200 to him. See Carter to William Dawkins, for Falconar's death date. Arthur Pierce Middleton. Tobacco Coast: A Maritime History of the Chesapeake Bay in the Colonial Era. Newport News, VA: Mariners' Museum, 1953. p. 129 )

[2] Captain Peter Wills commanded the Booth in 1723-1724, a ship belonging to merchant Thomas Colmore of London (see Carter's letter to Colmore of January 20 and February 15, 1724), and the Amity, a vessel of 500 tons and 21 men, in 1727-1729. He is mentioned in Carter's diary in 1723. ( Survey Report 6800 summarizing Adm. 68/194, and Survey Report 6801 summarizing Adm. 68/195, Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia. )


This text, originally posted in 2004, was revised November 24, 2014, to strengthen the modern language version text.