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 William Dawkins, September 6, 1728

     Robert Carter writes to London merchant William Dawkins, September 6, 1728, to cover some first and second bills of exchange, and to inform him of the Carter's delay in sailing.



Letter from Robert Carter to William Dawkins, September 6, 1728


-1 -

Rappahannock, [Lancaster County, Virginia]     
Sepr. 6th: 1728

Mr. Wm Dawkins

Sir --

     This Serves only to Enclose to you Some Second
bills of Exchange and three first to wit Martin Brooks on James
Buchannan
London for £7"3"7 Francis Awbrey on Messieurs John
Hyde
& Company for £17 Ditto Awbrey on James Buchannan £7:16:5
the Seconds are. Robert Carter Junior on your Self £88 Charles Fallin
on Captain Sharp of Whitehaven £10"17"4 Elizabeth Nelmes on George
Buck of Biddeford £3. I have a Letter from Captain Dove of the 16th. of
the month from James River he was put back by an Eastwardly
wind and waiting for a fair one with the Williamsburg and Several
other Ships I am



Your humble Servant

per Captain Sweet

NOTES



Source copy consulted: Letter book, 1728 August-1731 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.

[1] 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 )

[2] Merchant James Buchanan (d. 1742) had run his business from Biddeford and Topsham, Devonshire, but he later moved it to London. ( The Directory Containing an Alphabetical List of the Names & Places of Abode of the Directors of Companies, Persons in Publick Business, Merchants and other Eminent traders in the Cities of london and Westminster and Bororugh of Southwark. London: Printed and sold by Henry Kent in Finch-Lane Near the Royal Exchange . . . , 1736. p. 110; and A Compleat Guide to All Persons who have any Trade or Concern with the City of London and Ports adjacent. . . . London: Printed for J. Osborn, at the Golden Ball in Pater-noster-row, MDXXXL )

[3] Francis (Frank) Awbrey (1690?-1741) was an active land speculator in the area that became Loudoun County, and was one of the first justices when Prince William County was organized in 1731. He was sheriff of that county in 1739. (McIlwaine. Executive Journals of the Council. . . . , 4[1721-1739]:239, 439; and Harrison. Landmarks. . . . pp. 148, 150, 153-54 ff. )

[4] Isham Randolph was captain of the London ship Williamsburgh in 1725-26, and Charles Rogers commanded her in1727-28. ( Admiralty 68/194, ff. 39v, found in the microfilms of the Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia. )

[5] Henry Sweet was captain of the Chester , a ship thst traded to Barbados and Virginia. ( Survey Report 04590 summarizing Public Record Office Class: T 38/264."Treasury, Departmental Accounts-Barbadoes, Journal of 4 1/2% Duties, 1730." "The following ships and cargoes were bound for Virginia." Henry Sweet is shown as master of the Chester , and the cargo was 1980 gallons of molasses; ; and Survey Report 07233 summarizing Hampshire Record Office Class Wyndham 1725-1753. "Invoices and Sundry Accounts of Henry Wyndham, June 1725-September 1753." Included are records of several voyages of the Chester to Viginia, 1728-1730. Hampshire County, England, includes the ports of Southampton and Portsmouth. )


This text, originally posted in 2004, was revised January 8, 2015, and again May 20, 2016, to add footnotes and strengthen the modern language version text.