A Collection Transcribed
and Digitized
by Edmund Berkeley, Jr.
List of Letters
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Summary
Letter from Robert Carter to [George Braxton,] November 20, 1729
Robert Carter writes to [George Braxton,] of King and Queen County, November 20, 1729, to request that he represent Carter at a division of lands between two sisters; Carter has agreed to buy the share of Mrs. Benjamin Robinson.
Letter from Robert Carter to [George Braxton,
] November 20, 1729
-1
-
Corotoman, [Lancaster County, Virginia]
November the 20th 1729
Sir --
I acquainted your son
in Williamsburg of the agreement
I had made with Benjamin Robinson
for his Wifes part of the Tract of Land
at Arnolds Ferry
& told him how well pleased I should be if you would give
your self the Trouble to appear there at the partition between the two Sisters
that the division might be equal in respect to the Quantity quality and
Conveniences of the Land which you know very well tht. I cannot think
of so fit a person & your son made me hope you Would readily undertak [e]
it & you have always been so forward in your friendship towards me tht.
I am in no doubt you Will take this trouble upon you
Mr. Robinson Writes me word Mrs. Wormeley
agrees
to Save Charges tht. this division shall be made without a Sheriff and
a jury, that a Surveyor shall run the Bounds of the Land to find the Quantity, &
then run a divisional Line; & afterwards the Choice between the two Sisters to be deter=
mined by balloting. Major Matthew Kemp
is pitched upon by Mrs Wormley
to act in her behalf, & I will hope you will appear in my Stead. I need not tell
you I shall want a good River Landing, an equal part of the best of the Land
an equal part of the timber, & an equal party of the uncleared Lands; an equal
part of the Marsh & an equal part of the rest of the Conveniences
Mr. Robinson has promised to be there, & be as strenuous
in getting as good a Choice as if he was to keep the Land. The patent
is for a
thousand Acres. Mr. Robinson undertakes it will hold out that Quantity, &
believes within the Bounds there will be found a hundred or two hundred
Acres more. The dividing Line between the two Sisters ought to be very,
plainly marked. Mr Kemp has fixed the time for this Work to the 15th of next
Month, as agreeing best with his Business; & I shall be glad it will suit you
also. I intend to write to William Camp
the General Overseer of Mr Burwell's
Affairs to take a View of the Land two or three days before, & to give you all the
Assistance he can in the performance. I shall give you no futher trouble
from,
Sir
your most ready 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. The addressee of this letter is not named, but has been determined from its contents, and from the letter to William Camp of the same date.
The county and colony have been added for clarity.
See Carter's letter
to William Camp of the same date on thiss matter.
[1] George Braxton I (c.1677-1746) of Newington, King and Queen County, successful merchant, justice, militia officer, and burgess. (Kneebone et al.
Dictionary of Virginia Biography.
2: 204-5.
)
[2] George Braxton II (c.1705-1749) of Newington, King and Queen County, was in business with his father, and would marry Carter's daughter Mary in 1732.
[3] A Benjamin Robinson was sheriff of Essex County in 17724 and 1725. (McIlwaine. Executive Journals of the Council. . . .
, 4[1721-1739]: 66, 86, 117.
)
[4] On the Fry-Jefferson map, Arnold's Ferry crosses the Mattaponi River between King William and King and Queen counties. It is a few miles up the Mattaponi from Newington, Braxton's home.
[5] This may be Elizabeth (Tayloe) Wormeley, widow of John Wormeley (1689-1727).
[6] In North American law, a patent is "a territory, district, or piece of land conferred by letters patent" which were "originally: an open letter or document. . . issued by a monarch or government to record a contract, authorize or command an action, or confer a privilege, right, office, title, or property." ( Oxford English Dictionary Online
. Oxford University Press.
)
[6] Matthew Kemp was a successful merchant in Middlesex County where he was also a justice, militia officer, and sheriff. (McIlwaine. Executive Journals of the Council. . . .
, 4[1721-1739]: lv, 12, 107, 200, 205.
See also numerous references in Rutman and Rutman, A Place in Time: Middlesex. . . .
)
[7] William Camp (Kemp) was described by Carter as "the General Overseer of Mr Burwell's Affairs" and he wrote that Camp earned a salary "£50 . . . for the year 1731." Carter and his son-in-law, Mann Page, were the trustees of Nathaniel Burwell's children after Burwell's death in 1721. Camp was a resident of Gloucester County where most of the Burwell estates lay, and he must also have supervised "Rippon Hall" in nearby York County. ( Carter to George Braxton, November 20, 1729
,
and Carter to William Dawkins, July 11, 1732,
and Virginia Tax Records.
[Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1983.] p. 539.
)
This text, originally posted in 2005, was revised July11 , 2015, to add footnotes and strengthen the modern language version text.