A Collection Transcribed
and Digitized
by Edmund Berkeley, Jr.
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Summary
Letter from Robert Carter to Colonel [Mann] Page, June 2, 1729
Robert Carter writes to his son-in-law Colonel [Mann] Page, June 2, 1729, to cover letters that he hopes can reach some London-bound ships before they sail, and to give him family news.
Letter from Robert Carter to Colonel [Mann] Page,
June 2, 1729
-1
-
Corotom[an], [Lancaster County, Virginia]
June 2d. 1729
Colo Page Honble
Sir
Adam Graves
went out of our river yesderday mor
ning he hath some letters for Bradby
and Wills
which he
[prom] ised Carefully to deliver he was to Call at York for Bread &
[flo] wer [sic] and intended if possible to wait On you
I writ to Camp
to let Wills & Bradby have
[so] me Shoats & Corn they have both been very Obliging to me
Also I sent to Camp to contrive my boys George
& Carter
home to
[me n] ext week being desirous to have the Comfort of their Compa:
for some days before the end of this long Vacation
Now I send two letters for England upon busi
ness that hath happened since Adam Graves departure hope they
-2
-
will come time Enough to go in the
some of the London Ships
My Sons Robin
& Charles
took their dep:
artures yesterday the latter full of resolve for carrying
on the Frying Pan
business Pray god continue his health to him
I Expect my slo [op wi] th
their Provision and my Gang of Sawyers for the cl [ear] in [g]
the road will be there before him
This Family salutes you as they ought
My daughter Mary
hath been very ill for several days but is now pretty well
I
heartily pray for the Continuance of All yr healths & a happy
delivery
to my dear Daughter
& Am
NOTES
Source copy consulted:
Robert Carter Letter Book, 1727 April 13-1728 July 23, Carter Family Papers, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond.
The county and colony have been added for clarity to the heading on this draft.
[1] The Micajah & Philip
was a large vessel of some 400 tons carrying a crew of 27. The captain's name varies from record to record as James Bradley or James Bradby. Thomas Jones wrote to his wife, then in England, concerning this ship in 1728, "The Micajah & Philip that comes to James River is as good as the best Ships that Comes hither, but Bradby the master seems to be a little conceited and prodigal." ( Adm. 68/194-196, found in the microfilms of the Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia
; and Virginia Magazine of History and Biography.
26[1918]: 172, abstracting the Jones Papers at the Library of Congress .
)
[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.
)
[3]William Camp (Kemp) was described by Carter as "the General Overseer of Mr Burwell's Affairs" and he wrote that Camp earned a salary "£50 . . . for the year 1731." Carter and his son-in-law, Mann Page, were the trustees of Nathaniel Burwell's children after Burwell's death in 1721. Camp was a resident of Gloucester County where most of the Burwell estates lay, and he must also have supervised "Rippon Hall" in nearby York County. ( Carter to George Braxton, November 20, 1729
,
and Carter to William Dawkins, July 11, 1732,
and Virginia Tax Records.
[Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1983.] p. 539.
)
[4] Carter Burwell (1716-1756) was Robert Carter's grandson by his daughter Elizabeth (Carter) Burwell and her first husband, Nathaniel Burwell (1680-1721). Carter Burwell would live at "Carter's Grove," and would marry Lucy Grymes in 1738. (Carleton. A Genealogy. . . of Robert Carter. . . .
p. 128.
)
[5] In 1728, Carter, his sons Robert and Charles, and his son-in-law Mann Page, organized a company they named Frying Pan to mine for copper on a tract of some 27,000 acres that Louis Morton describes as lying "near the present boundary of Fairfax and Loudoun counties." Fairfax Harrison wrote that the tract was "on the Horsepen of Broad." Today, there is a Frying Pan Park just east of the border of the Dulles Airport reservation, and there are other things with the name in the area. The company was not successful. (Morton. Robert Robert Carter of Nomini Hall.
pp. 18-19;
and Harrison. Landmarks. . . .
p. 342.
)
[6] In Florence Carlton's A Genealogy. . . of Robert Carter. . . .
she notes on page 252 that Judith (Carter) Page's last child, a daughter who died in infancy, was in 1728. Yet in this letter drafted June 2, 1729,, Robert Carter writes of his hope for a "happy delivery" for Judith, indicating that either the year 1728 is wrong, or Judith had another pregnancy.
This text, originally posted in 2005, was revised March 9, 2015, to strengthen the footnotes and the modern language version text.