Robert King Carter's Correspondence and Diary

   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, August 13, 1731

     Robert Carter writes to London merchant Alderman [Micajah] Perry, August 13, 1731, to cover a bill of lading (not present) for tobacco, and also to cover documents (not present) for Thomas Lord Fairfax (not present) concerning the Virginia government's actions in"granting away" lands in the "Upper parts of the Northern Neck."



Letter from Robert Carter to Alderman [Micajah] Perry, August 13, 1731


-1 -

Rap [pahannock, Lancaster County, Virginia]

August 13. 1731

Alderman Perry

Sir

     This covers a bill of lading for 4 hogsheads of my crop
Stemmed tobacco on board the Mary Captain Waff I expect they will rise
Well and clean Striptped free from those faults you complained of
last year and that all the rest of that sort that I have sent you
will Escape any harsh character from you

     I have already told you for want of having any
thing from my Lord Fairfax I had not foundation to ground a
letter to him upon however I have thought it may be for his ser=
vice to enclose to you some copies of the proceedings of this govern
ment in granting away the mountainous lands in the Upper part
of the Northern neck You will please to let his Lordship have them whe=
ther he will think them worth his Notice I must submit to his own thou=
ghts I am


              Sir
                  Your 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.

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] A bill of lading is "an official detailed receipt given by the master of a merchant vessel to the person consigning the goods, by which he makes himself responsible for their safe delivery to the consignee. This document, being the legal proof of ownership of the goods, is often deposited with a creditor as security for money advanced." ( Oxford English Dictionary Online . Oxford University Press. )

[2] In the minutes of the Council meeting of June 10, 1731, there are granted large tracts of lands that may be the ones Carter refers to. (McIlwaine. Executive Journals of the Council. . . . , 4[1721-1739]:245 f. )


This text, originally posted in 2006, was revised February 23, 2016, to add footnotes and strengthen the modern language version text.