A Collection Transcribed
and Digitized
by Edmund Berkeley, Jr.
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Summary
Letter from Robert Carter to Landon Jones, June 26, 1729
Robert Carter writes to Landon Jones, his sister-in-law's son in England, June 26, 1729, to inform him that there has been no movement in settling the law suit over his mother's estate, and that he has seen little of Jones's friend, Mr. Dunbar.
Letter from Robert Carter to Landon Jones,
June 26, 1729
-1
-
Rappa [hannock, Lancaster County, Virginia]
June 26th. 1729
Mr. Landon Jones
Dear Sir
Your letter of the 30th of October last I received Your:
relations here I thank god are in health and give you their Ser:
vices and wish all agreeable Circumstances both to yourself &
family You are very much in the right respecting your mothers
Affairs they were very little at first and if they dwindle but little
they will come to nothing I think I have Already told you she
was more in debt than what her Estate was Valued to how the Arbi:
trators will determine the reference is as much a Secret now as
it was when the rule was first Entered into I am sure it is to me &
I believe to Mr Edwards
Also The two Top Lawyers Mr. Holloway
& Mr Randolph
we have
are the Absolute judges of the Controversy and when they think
fit to make their Award which is to be the Judgment of the
Court I shall then be Able to Acquaint you what the issue is
and not before
Mr Dunbar your friend was at my house
he is set down up our River about 40 or 50 miles above me
and does not lie in the way of Any business of mine nor have
I heard
-2
-
a word from him since his first Coming in I shall always be
ready to serve any Person under your recommendation as far as
my Power and interest will Extend but this Person I suppose
has met with better business than I am able to help him to I am
Sir
your most affectionate humble Servant
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] Landon Jones was the son of Carter's sister-in-law, Mary (Landon) Jones Swan.
See
"The Landon Family." Virginia Magazine. . . .
for details of the family and the English estate to which Jones's mother may have had a claim that he was pursuing in that country.
[2] "Thos. Edwards, a little petty Fogging Lawyer the Clark of our County that hath as much Mettle and more cunning for Contention then his predecessor had" Carter wrote to Landon Jones, July 22, 1723.
His opinion of Edwards later changed for there are more appreciative mentions of him in Carter's diary. Edwards was clerk of the Lancaster County court from 1720-1746. ( Within the Court House at Lancaster.
Lively, VA: Lively Printing Services, Lively, VA: Lively Printing Services, [1976]. p. 15.
; and "Thomas Edwards, Gentleman, Clerk of the Court" in Brown and Sorrells. People in Profile.
pp. 94-103.
)
This text, originally posted in 2005, was revised April 3, 2015, to strengthen the footnotes and the modern language version text.