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 Stark, October 12, 1728

     Robert Carter writes to Glasgow merchant John Stark, October 12, 1728, to report a draft and a number of bills of exchange. He orders 80 coverlets to be added to a previous order.



Letter from Robert Carter to John Stark, October 12, 1728


-1 -

Rappahannock, [Lancaster County, Virginia]     
Octobr. the 12th: 1728

Mr. John Stark

Sir --

     My last went by Captain Dunlop and Duplicated Via
Bristol advising you of my Draft on you for £100 to Colonel Tayloe &
£14 to Mr. Thomas Carter, and likewise for £41 to Richard Meeks this
last bill I have Since taken in and Cancelled,

     A few days ago I drew on you to Colonel Nicholas Smith for
£13:2:10 which I desire may be answered, I now Send you bills of Exchange
Drawn by William Fantleroy on Alexander Bayley for £22. James Crosby &
John Brown on Michael Wallace & Company for £25"14"8 which desire
Credit for or to be returned protested I have already written for Some Cover
lets to you with some other goods I desire to have fourscore Coverlets
more than I have already written for or the Cloth to make them let it be
of the widest and best Sort I am



              Sir --
                  Your humble Servt: --

per Naylor


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] John Stark was a prominent Glasgow merchant in the sugar trade. He served as as baillie and provost (mayor) from 1725-1727. ( John M'ure. The History of Glasgow. [Glasgow: D. Macvean and J. Wyllie & Co., 1830] pp. 227-228 as seen on Google books; and "Provosts of Glasgow" at "Welcome to Glasgow" . )

[2] The Martha was commanded by a Captain Dunlop and owned by Richard Oswald & Company; see Carter to Richard Oswald & Company August 11, 1729, and Carter to Oswald, July 27,1731 .

[3] 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 )

[4] John Tayloe (1687-1747) of Mt. Airy, Richmond County, who served as justice, burgess, colonel of militia, and as a member of the Council after 1732. (Ryland. Richmond County Virginia. . . . pp. 115-16. )

[5] Carter sent letters by Captain Naylor of a Liverpool ship in the fall of 1728, but apparently the ship was lost because Carter noted to William Dawkins June 29, 1729 , the ship "hath never been heard of."


This text, originally posted in 2004, was revised January 15 , 2015, to add footnotes and strengthen the modern language version text.