A Collection Transcribed
and Digitized
by Edmund Berkeley, Jr.
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, University of Virginia Library
Summary
Letter from Robert Carter to Mrs. Jane Hyde, June 26, 1729
Robert Carter writes to Mrs. Jane Hyde, June 26, 1729, to thank her for selecting and packing clothes for his daughter.
Letter from Robert Carter to Mrs. Jane Hyde,
June 26, 1729
-1
-
Rappa [hannock, Lancaster County, Virginia]
June 26th. 1729
To Mrs. Jane Hyde
Madam
I received your Obliging lines with my
daughters clothes I believe your Care was Extraordinary
And the Genteelness and richness of the Silk shows
they were no bad pennyworth things are not so dear
seems much better to fit the Circumstances of our Country
not only for the Poorness of the Commodity we maintain
ourselves by but from the seldom occasions we have for
our gentry to Appear in fine Clothes A birth night &
a ball Coming but once a year so that rich clothes
before they are Sullied at all grow to be so much out of
fashion that In two or three years time Even the wearers of
them grow weary of them
I continue to send for my Childrens things
-2
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to your Father begging you will continue your favour in
owing your Assistance in the buying and Packing them
Genteelness and cheapness I always desire may be made
the rule in my childrens Equipment
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. There is a nineteenth-century copy of this letter in the Minor-Blackford Papers, James Monroe Law Office and Museum, Fredericksburg, 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 persons abroad. The county and colony have been added for clarity.
[1] Mrs. Hyde may have been a daughter-in-law of London merchant John Hyde
with whom Carter dealt regularly.
This text, originally posted in 2005, was revised April 2, 2015, to strengthen the footnotes and the modern language version text.