A Collection Transcribed
and Digitized
by Edmund Berkeley, Jr.
List of Letters
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Electronic Text Center
, University of Virginia Library
Summary
Letter from Robert Carter to Edward Tucker, July 9, 1731
Robert Carter writes to Weymouth Edward Tucker, July 9, 1731, to remind him of earlier correspondence and to alert him to a bill of exchange.
Letter from Robert Carter to Edward Tucker,
July 9, 1731
-1
-
Rappa[hannock, Lancaster County, Virginia]
July 9. 1731
Edward Tucker Esqr
Sir
I have some time since advisd you of a Noat I had
drawn upon yo payable to Alderman Perry
for two hundred
pounds and yo. have also already been acquainted with my consig [n] :
ment of 20 hogsheads stemm'd tobo
to yo in yr Ship the Portland
The trouble of this is to Advise you that I have
this day drawn upon you a bill of Exchange
for one hundred
pounds payable to Colo George Braxton
that I desire you to answer
at time & place to my Accot who am
Sir
Your most humble Servt
Copy Per Dove
NOTES
Source copy consulted:
Letter book, 1731 July 9-1732 July 13 , 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] Parliament had passed an act forbidding the importation of stemmed tobacco in 1722. John Randolph was sent to England in 1728 as agent for Virginia to try to have the act overturned; his mission was successful, and he was home in the colony by June 2, 1729
, when Carter wrote to welcome him home. ( Arthur Pierce Middleton. Tobacco Coast: A Maritime History of the Chesapeake Bay in the Colonial Era.
[Newport News, VA: Mariners' Museum, 1953], 116.
)
[2] John Russell commanded the Portland,
a vessel owned by Weymouth merchant Edward Tucker as is noted in a letter from Carter to Tucker,
June 28 and July 25, 1727. ( Survey Report 9729 detailing the Weymouth Port Books, Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.
)
[3] 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.
)
[4] The Bailey
was a London ship owned by William Dawkins and commanded at various times by Adam Graves (1725-1730) and by Thomas Dove 1730-1732. She was a vessel of some 250 tons and carried 15-17 crew members. ( Survey report 6801 summarizing Adm. 68/195, 156v, and other data in Adm. 68/194 and /196, found in the microfilms of the Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia;
A letter of Carter's to Dawkins May 12, 1732,
refers to "your ship Bailey." as does a letter of August 10, 1733, from Carter's executors to Dawkins. [ Lloyd T. Smith, Jr., ed.
The Executors' Letters of Robert Carter of Corotoman, 1732-1738.
(Irvington, VA: Foundation for Historic Christ Church, 2010) p. 76].
)
This text, originally posted in 2006, was revised November 5, 2015, to add footnotes and strengthen the modern language version text.