A Collection Transcribed
and Digitized
by Edmund Berkeley, Jr.
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Summary
Letter from Robert Carter to Alderman [Micajah] Perry & Company, August 12, 1731
Robert Carter writes to London merchant Alderman [Micajah] Perry & Company, August 12, 1731, concerning his grandson, Lewis Burwell, then a student at the University of Cambridge. As Burwell has ignored his advice, Carter will not bother him further, but asks Perry to reduce his expenses.
Letter from Robert Carter to Alderman [Micajah] Perry
& Company, August 12, 1731
-1
-
Rappahannock, [Lancaster County, Virginia]
Augst 12. 1731
Alderman Perry
Sir --
I have already been troublesome
very particular
upon every Subject only have omitted saying anything of Lewis
Burwell
since the 15th. of April since which I have receiv'd a letter
from him dated the 25. of January from Cains Colledge
he is the
writer of it but I daresay the matter is oweing to the invention of a=
nother it is a frothy ps of Stuff in Justifycation of his disobedience
to my order he talks as if he intended to stay two years at the University
it is in Vain for me to lay any new injunctions upon him. the only
restrictions that I can impose must arise from your treatment of him
by a bridging [sic
]
his Expences I can only repeat what I have already said to yu
in relation to him to Which I desire you will pleas to be referr'd. I
write to him
by this conveniency but it is with Expectations that he
will take as little notice of what I say now as he did before if he runs
into any destructive courses the Effects of them will turn upon himself
I have done the duty of a Parent by him. I shall mix nothing else here
with but am Sir
Yr. most humble Servant
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. There is a 19th-century transcript of the 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] Lewis Burwell (1711 or 1712-1756), Carter's grandson by Elizabeth Carter Burwell and her first husband, Nathaniel Burwell (1680-1721); Carter was his guardian. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge, and inherited considerable property, living at "Fairfield," Gloucester County. He would be president of the Council in 1750-1751. (Kneebone et al.
, Dictionary of Virginia Biography.
2:434-5.
and Carleton. A Genealogy. . . of Robert Carter. . . .
p. 114.
)
[2] Burwell was attending Gonville and Caius College, one of the oldest of the several that make up the University of Cambridge. (John and J.A. Venn. Alumni Cantabrigienses from the Earliest Times to 1900.
[Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1922-54]. 10 volumes, cited in an email to the editor from Jaqueline Cox, archivist, University of Cambridge, 5/10/06.)
This text, originally posted in 2006, was reviewed February 23, 2016.