A Collection Transcribed
and Digitized
by Edmund Berkeley, Jr.
List of Letters
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, University of Virginia Library
Summary
Letter from Robert Carter to James Bradley, May 12, 1732
Robert Carter writes to London merchant James Bradley, May 12, 1732, to complain that he has not received letters from him, but hopes they may be coming in the merchant's ship. He notifies Bradley of a bill of exchange, and promises an answer to his letter to Mann Page's executors.
Letter from Robert Carter to James Bradley,
May 12, 1732
-1
-
Rap[p]ah[annock, Lancaster County, Virginia]
May 12..1732
Mr. James Bradley
Sr
I have not receiv'd one line from you by any of the Ships yet
arriv'd relating to my own affairs I suppose you Confine yr.self to the Ship
you are sending to our River which Report says Capt. Barnes is to Command
but the Welcome
is not to Come again
The only occasion of this is to advise you that a few days agoe
I drew a bill of Exchange
upon you for one hundred pounds Sterling payable
to Colo. Henry Fitzhugh
which I desire yo. will pleas to answer at time
Yr. letter to the Exrs. of Colonel Page
were receiv'd by the Hannah &
shall take care to answer it in a proper way I remain
Sr.
Yr Humble Servant
Malbon
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] 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] The 140 ton Welcome
was owned by London merchant James Bradley to whom Carter would write about her on May 17, 1727
. John Trice (Frice) was her captain, 1723-1728. ( Adm 68/195, 154r, found in the microfilms of the 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] Henry Fitzhugh (1706-1742) of "Eagle's Nest," Stafford County, was educated at Oxford, and married Lucy Carter (1715-1763), Robert Carter's fourteenth child, in 1730. They had four children; after Fitzhugh's death, she married Nathaniel Harrison (1713-1791). He was a burgess and militia officer. (Carleton. A Genealogy. . . of Robert Carter. . . .
p. 451
; Robert A. Rutland, The Papers of George Mason, 1725-1792.
[Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1970]. I:lii
; and extensive generalogical notes, "Fitzhugh Family," in volumes 7 and 8 of Virginia Magazine of History and Biography.
)
[5] The Rebecca
was probably a London ship; she was of 300 tons, had a crew of 11, and was commanded by Samuel Malbon in 1731-32. ( Adm. 65/195, found in the microfilms of the Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.
)
This text, originally posted in 2006, was revised May 6, 2016, to strengthen the footnotes.