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 Alderman [Micajah] Perry, April 16, 1730
Robert Carter writes to London merchant and Alderman [Micajah] Perry, April 16, 1730, reporting the safety of Perry's ships, requesting accounts of the sales of his tobacco, noting the tobacco he will be shipping to Perry and the likely small crop in Virginia and Maryland, complaining strongly about the old newspapers the bookseller has sent, and requesting again that Perry find a tailor for the Burwell estates.
Letter from Robert Carter to Alderman [Micajah] Perry,
April 16, 1730
-1
-
Rappahannock, [Lancaster County, Virginia]
Apl 16. 1730
Alderman Perry
Sir
A Leverpool Ship being now bound away
out of our River.
I beleive it will not be unacceptable
to you to hear of the safety of All your ships The several letters you
have writ to me I beleive are Come to hand my Affairs with you are
in such a dark incertain state that I dont know what answer to
to depend on
to make
Your last letter came by Brooks
Bears date the 14th of Janry
In it you are ples'd to
give hopes the trade
may mend in the spring you give me
an Accot what progress you had made in the sales of my tobo
and these sales were of the 40 hhds by Keeling
and the 4 hhds
by Keeling
graves
of the LL
mark since they are sold
and you are pleasd to Call them mine I should have been
glad to have had the Accots of sales that I might have
seen what their proceeds are perhaps Your return from
the bath
hath been so lately that you were not prepard
to enter into particulars
I answer your desire in doing all the service
I can to yr masters here I have promis'd Malbon
50 hogsheads
beleive I shall not have many less in the Spotswood
and
no other of yr Ships but will go near to be a Sharer in my favours
Whether they will all get their loads or no I cant say We have
little outport
trade with us yet very few North Brittains
this may be a help to the Londoners If any Credit be to be
given to Reports from Maryland as Well as from all the
parts of Virginia you may depend upon a very short
lean
^
-2
-
Crop I cannot think but there will be more than ten thousand h [ogsheads]
less
short
this year from Virginia than there was Last and the Crops in
maryland are said to be worse than ours but I love not to be a
news monger
I had a great Bulk of News came from Yr Book
Seller by the Spotswood I think for no less than 8 month time
this you Cant but think gives very little Satisfaction If we cant
have our news fresh and fresh [sic
]
and the book seller will not take
care to let us have it as often as there is Opportunity I think
the best way will be not to put my self any longer to that charge
I writ to you very pressingly for a Taylor for
mr Burwells Estate
but there is no notice taken of that [in the] letter
to mee certainly it could not miscarry we are in great want
of such a person for them familys I am
Sir
Yr most humble Servant
We reckon Capt Malbon will be
ready to leave us by the last of next
month or sooner for What I Know
I hope to have my tobo on board of him
in a Fortnights time Herewith comes a bill of Exchange
Drawn by Richd Buckner on Mr Bradley
for £18 tis Mr Burwells
money
and must be Carry'd to the Credit of his Estate --
by Cap Loxam
Copy by Cap Malbon
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. There is a nineteenth-century copy of this letter in the Minor-Blackford Papers, James Monroe Law Office and Museum, Fredericksburg, 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] The Rappahannock
[2] The Cambridge
made voyages to Virginia from London in 1727 and 1729. In the first she was commanded by Peter Moore, and in the later by Christopher Brooks. She was a vessel of 70-100 tons with about 11 men. She may have been oowned by Haswell & Brooks.( Survey Reports 6800 and 6801 for Adm. 68/194-195, found in the microfilms of the Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.
)
[3] Captain William Keiling commanded the Betty.
( Survey Report 6800 summarizing Adm. 68/194, Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.
)
[4] Carter held a lease to the Lloyd estate,which was that of John Lloyd, husband of his niece Elizabeth, for many years. He noted in a letter to Micajah Perry
July 13, 1723, that the estate consisted of about 1,900 acres. These holdings apparently lay up the Rappahannock near the falls as Carter always sent his sloop for its tobacco. The estate's tobacco mark was the double arrowhead or double "L" which Carter frequently uses in his
diary and letters to refer to it. He undertook to buy the Lloyd estate in the later years of his life, and finally acquired it about 1732.
[5] ". . . it is not known exactly when the health giving qualities of Bath springs were first noticed. They were certainly known to the Romans who built a temple there around 50 AD. . . . They also built a public baths which was supplied by the hot springs. . . . In the 60s and 70s AD a town grew up on the site of Bath . . .In the late 17th century Bath continued to be a quiet market town. It largely depended on its springs. From 1661 Bath water was bottled and sold. . . . In the 18th century Bath became a much more genteel and fashionable place. It boomed in size. This was largely due to the efforts of Richard 'Beau' Nash 1674-1762 who was made Master of Ceremonies. Many fine buildings were erected in Bath. . . . A Pump Room was built in 1706. . . . During the Summer Georgian Bath was full of rich visitors. They played cards, went to balls and horse racing, went walking and horse riding. However the high life was only for a small minority." ("A Brief History of Bath.
" 7/17/2015)
[6] The Rebecca
was probably a London ship; she was of 300 tons, had a crew of 11, and was commanded by Samuel Malbon in 1731. ( Adm. 65/195, found in the microfilms of the Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.
)
[7] The Spotswood
was a London ship was commanded by James Bradby, 1727-1732, and was owned by Micajah Perry. ( Adm 68/195, 70r ff., found in the microfilms of the Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia. See Carter to Micajah Perry
April 16. 1730.
)
[8] Out port means "a port outside a particular place; any port other than the main port of a country, etc.; spec[ically]. a British port other than London." ( Oxford English Dictionary Online
)
[9] Scots
[10] A monger is "a merchant, trader, dealer, or trafficker (freq. of a specified commodity); (from the 16th cent.) a person engaged in a petty or disreputable trade or traffic." ( Oxford English Dictionary Online
. Oxford University Press.
)
[11] 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.
)
[12] James Bradley was a London merchant with whom Carter dealt from at least 1723 until his death. As noted in his letter to Bradley of May 17, 1727,
Bradley owned the Welcome,
but little information about Bradley has been located. (There is a listing of the firm of Bradly & Griffin, Merchants, Fenchurch-street, opposite the Mitre Tavern, on page 13 of Kent's Directory
For the Year 1740 Containing An Alphabetical List of the Names and Places of Abode of the Directors of Companies, Persons in Publick Business, Merchants, and other Eminent Traders in the Cities of London and Westminster, and the Borough of Southwark.
[London: Printed and Sold by Henry Kent in Finch-Lane, near the Royal Exchange: and by the Booksellers and Pamphlets Shops of London and Westminster, 1740]. p. 39. Online, examined 8/12/2005 and 6/14/2012.
)
[13] Captain Loxom commanded a vessel named the Loyalty
in 1729-1730. (Survey Report 9727, Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia. See Carter's letters to John Pemberton 1730 April 15 and 1731 August 4.)
This text, originally posted in 2005, was revised September 10, 2015, to add footnotes and strengthen the modern language version text.