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 Micajah Perry, June 16, 1729

     Robert Carter writes to London merchant Micajah Perry, June 16, 1729, to cover a bill of lading (not present) for 20 hogsheads of tobacco and explaining why he cannot change the marks on them. He comments on his costs in managing the Lloyd estates.



Letter from Robert Carter to Micajah Perry, June 16, 1729


-1 -

Rappahannock, [Lancaster County, Virginia]     
June the 16th. 1729

Micajh. Perry Esqr.

Sir --

     The only business of this Shall be to Enclose to you a bill of
Lading
for 40 hogsheads of Tobbo: on board the Betty Capt. Keeling which I reckon
my own Tobbo: and Expect to have an Accot. of the Produce of it placed to
my Credit. I have already told you the Tobbo. was markt with this mark
before I rec'd Yor. last Letters and would have bin attended with dif [i] =
=culty to have alterd before the Shipping so that now I reckon you will
take it as a note of Distinction only where the Tobbo. was made Upon
this reason I shall decline drawing upon you for the Salary to the General
Overseer. for the Salary to the Doctor. and Shall forbear making my
Accot. to you of the Contingent Charges of the Estate for the Yr. 1728 wch.
you must Conclude are Considerable having had no manner of
Supplys from you for that Year I am


              Sir
                  Yor. most humble Servt.

Richard Meeks's Salary the Genl. OverSr.
LLs Plans: is £35 sterling Per Annum
the Doctor's is £15. this you know I have annu=
ally drawn for. The Qt. rents. The rent for Lands
for the working of 20 odd of Slaves. The Levys are Standing Charges and the Cloathng of the
People hath bin Intirely upon me.


NOTES



Source copy consulted: Robert Carter Letter Book, 1727 April 13-1728 July 23, Carter Family Papers, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond.

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 to the heading on the draft.

[1] A bill of lading is "an official detailed receipt given by the master of a merchant vessel to the person consigning the goods, by which he makes himself responsible for their safe delivery to the consignee. This document, being the legal proof of ownership of the goods, is often deposited with a creditor as security for money advanced." ( Oxford English Dictionary Online . Oxford University Press. )

[2] Captain William Keiling commanded the Betty. ( Survey Report 6800 summarizing Adm. 68/194, Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia. )

[2] Quit rent was the term used for "a (usually small) rent paid by a freeholder . . . in lieu of services which might otherwise be required; a nominal rent paid (esp. in former British colonial territories to the Crown) as an acknowledgement of tenure," in this case, to the proprietors of the Northern Neck. Carter as the proprietor's agent, collected these payments. ( Oxford English Dictionary Online . Oxford University Press. )


This text, originally posted in 2005, was revised March 12, 2015, to add a footnote and strengthen the modern language version text.