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 Governor [William Gooch], February 11, 1729
Robert Carter writes to Governor [William Gooch], February 11, 1729, asking him to replace his son Robert as naval officer with his son Charles.
Letter from Robert Carter to Governor [William Gooch
], February 11, 1729
-1
-
Corotom: [Lancaster County, Virginia]
Feb: 11: 1728/9
To the Honble}
the Govr:}
May it pleas yr honour
The difficulties of my son Roberts
necessary
attendance up on the Office
you have been pleased to Continue
him in and the disagreeableness to his family by his frequent absence
from them makes him willing to resign his place
it
to his brother Charles
if your honour will pleas to think fit to conferr it upon him in his
room and he is the rather inclin'd to hope your Honr: will gratif [y]
him in this his request in regard his competitor Colo. Grym [es is]
provided for by yr: honour with another place that is altogether inco=
nsistant with this he holds under your Honours favour As yr:
honours respects to him will always Lay him under Obligations to
make the outmost Acknowledgements within his power so it will
be my part with the greatest Sincerity at all times
to demons
trate tht I am Sir yr honours most Obliged most Obedient and most
humble Servt:
NOTES
Source copy consulted:
Robert Carter Letter Book, 1727 April 13-1728 July 23, Carter Family Papers, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond. Because the draft extended near the bottom of the letter book page, the clerk did not separate the close from the text.
The county and colony have been added for clarity to the heading on this draft.
Carter wrote to his son-in-law, Mann Page, this same day
noting that he sends his letter to the governor by Charles, and has left it open so that Page can decide whether to send it or not. The minutes of a meeting of the Council held November 1, 1729, show that Charles did replace his brother as naval officer of the Rappahannock. (McIlwaine. Executive Journals of the Council. . . .
, 4[1721-1739]:210.
)
[1] The office that Robert held was that of naval officer, an official in the colony that reported to the Commissioners of Customs, a body that had first been established in 1663; the group was reorganized several times, especially after 1688. The board was "intrusted with collection of customs both in England and the colonies." The board helped write many of the instructions for colonial governors in collaboration with the Privy Council. "Their direct connection with the colonies was through the governors, who were instructed to correspond with the commissioners, and to send them, every three months, lists of clearances, and also reports of illegal trading. The governor's agent in matters of trade was the naval officer whom he was empowered to appoint, but who was required by the 7th and 8th William III to give security to the commissioners of customs." ( Louise Phillips Kellogg. The American Colonial Charter. A Study of English Administration in Relation Thereto, Especialy after 1688.
[Annual Report, American Historical Association. Vol. 1, Govt. Print. Off., 1904], p. 226.
For a recent study, see Alvin Rabushka. Taxation in Colonial America
[Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008.]
)
This text, originally posted in 2005, was revised February 5, 2015, to add footnotes and strengthen the modern language version text.