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 Captain Richard Kelsick, July 8, 1729

     Robert Carter writes to Captain Richard Kelsick of the Mazareen , July 8, 1729, authorizing the captain to sell the 6 hogsheads of tobacco that Carter has on board, and ordering bottles and coal.



Letter from Robert Carter to Captain Richard Kelsick, July 8, 1729


-1 -

Rappa[hannock, Lancaster County, Virginia]     
July. 8. 1729

Capt Richard Kelsick

Sir

     My Old Correspondent in your Port hath for
many years been Mr John Gale whose Candour and integri-
ty I have a very great Opinion of However in regard you have
no freight Tobo on board your ship but what is Consignd
to yrSelf I am contented you should have the dispose of my 6
hogsheads Also for which I herewith send you a bill of lading
desiring you will bring me in 4 or 6 groce of yr best & Stron-
gest Qt Bottles and a Chaldron of your Coals I would have 'em
brought in with as little Charge as Possible the coals may
come in loose and the bottles in Crates which is the Cheapest
way

     I Heartily wish you a good Voiage and am
yr Humble Servt.



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] Carter noted in his diary January 19, 1727, the arrival of the Mazareen at his house and a visit from her captain, Richard Kelsick, four days earlier. Kelsick, with Peter How, a merchant of Whitehaven (on the Irish sea in northwest England), traded with the Fredericksburg, Virginia, area from the early 18th century. ( Paula S. Felder. "Fredericksburg and Whitehaven Connection to English Port a Forgotten Chapter in Area's Colonial History Living-history Program," Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star, 7/2/2005. )

[2] Whitehaven on the Irish sea in northwest England

[3] John Gale (ante 1671-1729) was a Whitehaven merchant whom Carter would write a number of times times between1720 and 1729. "Like his brothers John was engaged in maritime trade. Operating as John Gale and Company, he was named as the owner of the vessel Clotilda, built in England in 1726 and registered in Whitehaven in 1727 at 25 tons." His will bequeathed "his half-share in the ships Cumberland and Somerset , his share in the Sea Flower , and 'the whole ship Clothilda .'" The Gale family had many connections with the colonies, especially in Virginia and Maryland. (Gayle N.Mandell, "John Gale, "the Elder," (Ca. 1615-20-1680) of Whitehaven, Cumberland, England," extensive genealogical and historical notes available online as part of a well-documented study on the "The Gale & Gayle Families." )

[4] 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. )

[5] Chaldron is "an obsolete form of cauldron" and means "a dry measure of 4 quarters or 32 bushels. . . ." ( Oxford English Dictionary )


This text, originally posted in 2005, was revised April , 2015, to add footnotes and strengthen the modern language version text.