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 [the Proprietors of the Frying Pan Copper Mining Company] to James Bradley, May 15, 1730
Robert Carter represennting the Proprietors of the Frying Pan Copper Mining Company writes to London merchant James Bradley, May 15, 1730, directing the merchant to coordinate finding miners for the Virginia company with Edward Athawes.
Letter from [the Proprietors of the Frying Pan Copper Mining Company] to James Bradley,
May 15, 1730
-1
-
Rappahannock, [Lancaster County, Virginia]
May 15th. 1730
Mr James Bradley
Sir
On the 15th of Sepr last
we Acquainted you with an
that in
our adventure after a Copper mine
we found it absolutely
were advised that it was
necessary to get some labouring men skilld in digging and raising
these ores and apply'd to you to oblige us in sending in two persons
that were qualify'd for this Work to this Letter we have had no Ans
wer from you which makes us Conclude you have done nothing in --
this matter Mr: Athawes
hath taken a great deal of pains and hath
given us a very particular Accot of the Several tryals he hath had
made of the Ores we sent him from whose Encouragement We have
now writ to him to provide us with proper Persons for the business
therefore tis our Request now
to you that you Will pleas to let him --
know what Steps you have taken in this Affair if you have procurd
Us any men that then he may
desist otherwise that he will proceed in ser
ving us According to our directions this We desire of you that We may
Avoid a double Charge We are
Sir Your most humble Servants
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] 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.
)
[2] In 1728, Carter, his sons Robert and Charles, and his son-in-law Mann Page, organized a company to mine for copper on a tract of some 27,000 acres that Louis Morton describes as lying "near the present boundary of Fairfax and Loudoun counties." Fairfax Harrison wrote that the tract was "on the Horsepen of Broad." Horsepen Run joins Broad Run on the northern border of Dulles airport. The company was not successful. (Morton. Robert Robert Carter of Nomini Hall.
pp. 18-19;
and Harrison. Landmarks. . . .
p. 342.
)
This text, originally posted in 2005, was revised September 10, 2015, to strengthen the footnotes and the modern language version text.