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, September 5, 1729

     Robert Carter writes to Glasgow merchant John Stark, September 5, 1729, to inform him of a bill of Exchange that Carter has drawn on him.



Letter from Robert Carter to John Stark , September 5, 1729


-1 -

Rappa [hannock, Lancaster County, Virginia]

Sepr. 6th. 1729

Mr John Stark

Sir

     This is only a line to advise you of a bill
of Exchange
I have this day drawn upon you for Two hundred
pounds Sterling payable to Doctor George Nicholas which
I desire you to Answer at time on my Account And that you will
contrive the payment of it without any loss to the Receiver as you
tell me for the most part you Can I am


              Sir
                  your 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.

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] A bill of exchange is a kind of check or promissory note without interest. It is used primarily in international trade, and is a written order by one person to pay another a specific sum on a specific date sometime in the future. If the bill of exchange is drawn on a bank, it is called a bank draft. If it is drawn on another party, it is called a trade draft. Sometimes a bill of exchange will simply be called a draft, but whereas a draft is always negotiable (transferable by endorsement), this is not necessarily true of a bill of exchange. (See "Bill of Exchange" in the online Dictionary of Financial Scam Terms: the Truth vs. the Scam. )


This text, originally posted in 2005, was revised July 9, 2015, to add footnotes and strengthen the modern language version text.