Letter from Robert Carter to Unidentified Correspondent, January 21, 1729

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        and Digitized
   by Edmund Berkeley, Jr.

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Summary

Letter from Robert Carter to Unidentified Correspondent, January 21, 1729

Robert Carter writes a concilatory letter to an unidentified correspondent, January 21, 1729, who apparently has complained about abuses by Carter's employees on lands owned by him.

Letter from Robert Carter to an Unidentified Correspondent, January 21, 1729

-1 -
[Corotoman, Lancaster County, Virginia]
Janry. the 21st. 1728/9

Sir --

Yor. Letter by my Son Robert I designd an anwer
too tomorrow when he designes his Journy to Nomini I Sent yu. word
by Majr. Eskridge if you have Seen him that I had Sent repeated orders
both to Ines and Mr. Burwells Overseer that ]they] Should not meddle with
any thing on the other Side of the line that was run by Warner for you
neither Timber nor any thing Else and I must beleive that you have
bin under a misinformation My Son Chs: tells me he was by when
I gave my verbal orders to the Overseer and he told you as much when
you know me better you will not think I give promises with design to
deceive any Person and if that peice of Land be fairly yors. I have no
design to Contest it nor on the other hand I am to give up the right of Mr.
Burwells heir to what properly belongs to him it is very apparent the
Pattent you claim under is the Eldest and will be first Servd in its lands
but whether you have run the right line according to yor. Pattent I am
an Absolute Stranger too however if you are not disturbd within
the line you have made I See no reason you have to be uneasie nor to
be so forward to take up designes of Law which when you have lived
as long as I have you'l love as little as I do If you had given me the
favour of yor. Company I Should have found you a passage over the
river for yor. hors's I am

Sir
Yor. most humble Servt:

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.

The name of Carter's home, "Corotoman," the county, and colony have been added for clarity to this unheaded draft.

[1] William Camp (Kemp) was described by Carter as "the General Overseer of Mr Burwell's Affairs" but as Camp was a resident of Gloucester County where most of the Burwell estates lay, the overseer Carter refers to here must have been the local one for the specific Burwell property. ( Carter to George Braxton, November 20, 1729 , and Carter to William Dawkins, July 11, 1732. ( Virginia Tax Records. [Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1983.] p. 539. )

[2] John Warner was the surveyor of King George County in 1727; he laid off the town of Falmouth in 1728. Later he worked for Lord Fairfax, and prepared an important map of his holdings. (Harrison, Landmarks of Old Prince William , 626-628. )

This text, originally posted in 2005, was revised January 27, 2015, to strengthen the footnotes and the modern language version text.