A Collection Transcribed
and Digitized
by Edmund Berkeley, Jr.
List of Letters
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About This Collection
Electronic Text Center
, University of Virginia Library
Summary
A List of Several Copies of Papers Sent to [ . . . ] And to [ . . . ] Relating to the Boundaries of the Northern Neck, etc.
Robert Carter prepares a list of documents pertaining to the boundaries of the Northern Neck which he sends to unidentified persons in England.
A List of Several Copies of Papers Sent to [ . . . ] And to [ . . . ] Relating to the Boundaries of the Northern Neck, etc.
-1
-
Rappa [hannock, Lancaster County, Virginia]
June the 26th. 1729
A List of Several Copies of Papers Sent to [ . . . ]
And to [ . . . ] Relating to the Boundaries of the Northern Neck, etc.
1st. The petition of Lady Culpeper
& the rest of the Proprietors to the King in Council
the 15th of December 1692 Complaining against the Governor and Council of Virginia for
Obstructing the Execution of their Grant and the order thereupon
2d. Sir John Somers Attorney General's report Concerning the Northern
Neck Grant the 26th. of January 1692/3 and the order of the King in Council
thereupon the 26th of October 1693 --
3d. The proceedings
of the Governor in Council the 2d. of May 1706 relating to
the great fork of Rappahannock river the order of Council thereupon & the report
of the persons appointed to be the viewers -- &ca.
4th. Part of Letter from Robertson
to Carter September 6th. 1722 --
5th. Savage
Sworn Surveyor of Stafford his Certificate and Plat relat=
ing to the branches of the little fork
of the North run of Rappahannock --
6th. Attorney and Solicitor General Opinions about fines & forfeitures &ca.
the 12th. of August 1727 --
7th. Carters Letter
to Holloway
the 24th of May 1729
8th. Carters Letter to Ditto _ _ the 24th of May 1729 [sic
]
9th. Thomas Owsleys
Certificate relating to the branches of the little fork of Rappahannock {May 29th. 1719}
10th. Holloway's Letters to Carter the 3d. of June 1729
11th. Carters petition to Governor Gooch
in behalf of the Proprietors against the Passing
of any more Patents in the little fork --
12th. Part of a Letter from Carter to Holloway
June 2d. 1729 --
Turn Ov [er]
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13th. The order of Counci
l June the 11th. 1729
14th. The order of Council
June the 12th. 1729
15th. The Terms of Colonel Ludwells
Grant respecting Mines and Ore &.
runs through all the grants made in his Time
16th. Holloways Letter to Carter June the 13th. 1729 --
17th. Carters Observations upon the order of Council June the 20th 1729.
per Bailey
Copy per Spotswood
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] It seems likely that this list and the accompanying papers were sent to John Holloway
and to John Randolph
as letters to each of them in the spring of 1729 discussed their work as Carter's attornies on the case. The letters to Carter and other items referred to in the list are not extant.
[2] Catherine Culpeper (d. 1719) was the widow of the fifth Lord Fairfax (d. 1710). From her father, the 2nd Lord Culpeper, she had inherited about 1689 his five-sixths interest in the Northern Neck Proprietary in Virginia. Lord Fairfax had consulted Micajah Perry about the affairs of the Proprietary, and Perry had recommended Robert Carter to be the Virginia agent in 1702. He held the post until 1710 when Lady Fairfax transferred the agency to Edmund Jenings with Thomas Lee as the deputy agent. When she died in 1719, she bequeathed her Virginia property to her son Tom, but she made Wiliam Cage and Edward Filmer, trustees of the proprietary. Filmer soon died, and Cage, a kinsman of the 6th Lord Fairfax, became the sole trustee. From his grandmother, Margaret Lady Culpeper, the 6th Lord Fairfax inherited the other one-sixth of the Proprietary. Cage consulted Perry, and Robert Carter was again made agent in 1721, holding the post until his death ten years later. (For sources, see those listed at the end of the discussion of the Proprietary
on the home page.)
[3] McIlwaine. Executive Journals of the Council. . . .
, 3[1705-1721]:85-86.
[4] John Savage was a surveyor, later (1734) to be employed by Lord Fairfax while attempting to establish the boundaries of the proprietary. He had been appointed surveyor for King George County the year after that county was formed in 1720, and was referred to then as "gentleman." He was surveyor of Stafford County when he particpated in the Fairfax survey. ( Genealogies of Virginia Families
from Tyler's Quarterly Historical and Genealogical Magazine.
[Genealogical Publishing Co, 1981] Vol. I [of 4]:473;
Brown. Virginia Baron. . . .
pp. 83, 86, 88, 92;
and Harrison. Landmarks. . . .
p. 619.
)
[5] The Fry-Jefferson map shows the Little Fork as a tributary of the Hedgman (now the Rappahannock) River. It lies in what is probably Culpeper County today, not far from the Blue Ridge.
[4] Thomas Owsley (ca. 1690-1750) was a large landholder in Stafford County, and had taken many trips into the back country. (Harrison. Landmarks. . . .
pp. 53, 83, 110. 609.
)
[5] McIlwaine. Executive Journals of the Council. . . .
, 4[1721-1739]:205.
[6] McIlwaine. Executive Journals of the Council. . . .
, 4[1721-1739]:206.
75] The Bailey
was a London ship owned by William Dawkins and commanded at various times by Adam Graves (1725-1730) and by Thomas Dove (1731-1732). She was a vessel of some 250 tons and carried 15-17 crew members. ( Survey report 6801 summarizing Adm. 68/195, 156v, and other data in Adm. 68/194 and /196, found in the microfilms of the Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia;
A letter of Carter's to Dawkins May 12, 1732,
refers to "your ship Bailey." as does a letter of August 10, 1733, from Carter's executors to Dawkins. [ Lloyd T. Smith, Jr., ed.
The Executors' Letters of Robert Carter of Corotoman, 1732-1738.
(Irvington, VA: Foundation for Historic Christ Church, 2010) p. 76].
)
[8] 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 .
)
This text, originally posted in 2005, was revised April 6, 2015, to add footnotes and strengthen the modern language version text.