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 John Stark, July 22, 1729

     Robert Carter writes to Glasgow merchant John Stark, July 22, 1729, to cover a bill of lading (not present).



Letter from Robert Carter to John Stark, July 22, 1729


-1 -

Rappa[hannock, Lancaster County, Virginia]     
July. 22d 1729

Mr John Stark

Sir

     I wrote to you at large by Capt Bowman
this serves only to inclose a bill of Lading for 8 hogsheads of
Tobacco on board the Caledon Capt John Stevenson which I
wish safe to you and Am Sir


              yr very Humble Servt:

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.

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.

[1] John Stark was a prominent Glasgow merchant in the sugar trade. He served as as baillie and provost (mayor) from 1725-1727. ( John M'ure. The History of Glasgow. [Glasgow: D. Macvean and J. Wyllie & Co., 1830] pp. 227-228 as seen on Google books; and "Provosts of Glasgow" at "Welcome to Glasgow" . )

[2] Captain Samuel Bowman commanded the Lucia. Carter mentioned this vessel in his diary in June 1724, and again on 1726 March 4 when he wrote that she "came in had 20 Weeks Passage."

[3] 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. )

[4] The Caledon seems to have been owned by merchant John Zuil. In what British city Zuil lived is not clear, but it may have been Liverpool because city directories of 1767-1773 list a John Zuil as a merchant, first in Cable Street, and later, in King Street. This probably would have been a son of the man Carter knew, given the shorter lives at this period. ( "Yuil Family Website," and Yule Family Newsletter , #24 (Fall 1998). )


This text, originally posted in 2005, was revised April 28, 2015, to add footnotes and strengthen the modern language version text.