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

AD
1723
Robert Carter Diary, 1723

     Robert Carter records the work being done on and his visits to his plantations, the prevailing winds and a hurricane, visitors he received including members of his family, trips to Williamsburg and the sums he spent while there, arrival of ships with goods from Britain, movement of tobacco from outlying farms on his sloops and its placement on ships bound for Britain, and extensive details of his bouts with gout.



Robert Carter Diary, 1723


1723
[Kept at "Corotoman" on the Rappahannock River, Lancaster County, Virginia]

     


-folio 7 recto -


Janr 1 [1723] Odar went for Nomini
10 Coll Page & his wife came here staid
till the 16th
15 My daughter Burwell came here brot the
horse Dragon with her wth Coll Page
came mr Wormley Jo Ring Whiteside
lay here two Nights
19 Odar came home brot 40 hds Tobacco
8 hds Corn 5 Cask Sydr 2 beevs 3 weathrs
1 barrel beans 30 hoggs [ . . . ] wool
Old Iron a Cask of Apples
18 Amy Cosby had 6 lb white Sugr
19 Sydr let me know his time was out
22 a loaf Sugr Cutt some of it gone before
my Salt Peter found put to drying by the fire
took fire sett the plank a fire twas with some
difficulty put out
My Daughter Burwell brews me some Ale
mr Booth was here had a horse here to Fleets bay
Mitchel came here fryday 18 staid here
till Monday morning 21 th went away [ . . . ] Phil Smiths
23 Mitchel came again 24th went away recd my Lettrs
f[rom Da] wkins per Willis


-folio 7 verso -


1722 [1723]

Janr 25 went to mr Burwell Wormeley with my daughter Burwell
came home that Night
mr Stagg was here Coll Balls Family Mitchel at mr Wormly
-- --
I agreed with shaw & signed Articles Sydnr went away
-- --
Stagg went away sonday morning
28 I heard Guns yesterday expect my Son is come in.
my flatt [boat] has gone for Wolf house & Corotoman Tobb
no work last week by Harry Quarry
29th. at Night my Son John came home in Company
with Coll Page
the Coachman told me I had ten hds & a half of
Corn
30th mr Wormley came here & Armistead Churchi[ll]
Doctor Man came here this day
31 th a fine morning & a fine warm Spell we hav[e]
Feb had for sevl Days together
Jno Shaw had a new whipsaw & file
2 Richd Meeks was here Edwd Young brot me a
horse the same day
4 mr Bell came here Coll Ball & his son here
Coll Armistead mr Wye Captn Keiling Whiteside
5 My Son went with me to Mid[dlese] x Court I lent
him 20£ in Currt money told him I should
Charge it to his Accot.
I recd of mr Grimes 20£ in paymt of the 20£
I let Lister [have] upon Coll Spotswoods Accot.
I came home in the Night Tho Edwds wth me.
mr Turbervile came home with me a sunday
Went away Wednesday morning Stayd Tuesday
at my request.
my Son Jno goes to the Southward his return in
certain.
6 a fine dayW[ind] SW a fresh Gale Arthr Lees
Ship arrivd Captn Ewing in the Virg[ini] a Mer[chan] t
arrivd from Topsham brot me Lettrs from
both the Burridgs Accot ofSale & Accot
Currt from Robt Burridge .
7th another Ship came in Sight W[ind] WSW
blew fresh all day.
this Ship provd to be the Carter she got up this
day to her Moorings Captn [Benjamin] Graves came to my
house abt 4 Clock lay here all Night
I bottled of a Cask of Petomak Cydr No A [?]
30 doz of Bottles 6 doz new Cork out of
my little Bag came from Tucker.


-folio 8 recto and folio 8 verso -

[Folio 8 in the diary is a scrap tipped into the original pages bearing modern handwriting on which someone has set out the dates and the days of the week for 1722-1724.]


-folio 9 recto -

Febr 18 1722 [1723]

Captn Graves Capt Keeling Escridg here
I bot of Keeling rum Sugr
14 I recd of mr Shapleigh Cash made Sterl
at 19d wt to the Crown in part discharg
of his Protest. -- -- £17"0"3
18 my rum came ashore I bot of Keeling
10 hds 2 Tearces 1 hd 2 tearces before
took eight Gall to fill them up
tw[o] Cask Sugr weight [ . . . ]
mr Stagg came here Geo[rge Carter] went to Coll
Balls
Nan Vitty delivd of a dead Child
I took out a Loaf Sugr 7 remains
I tapt a Cask brandy drew of 7 qts the Cask
wanted above 6 Inches being full
20 I took Physick 22 I took Anderson
Doctor Lomax Escridg Graves went away
23 I had 23 Lambs, had a fine Nights
Rest this Night Read Doctr Tilletsons
Sermon on this Text Let him that nam
eth the name of Xt depart from iniquity
a rainy morning W[ind] Shifted to NW Cold
blows hard
It Snowd in the afternoon & all night Sunday
the 24 rainey all day & Night I went not to Church
Coll Ball came from mr Turberviles lay here on
Sunday Night I have lost 3 young lambs in
Yeaning this hard Spell W[ind] at NW & North
all this hard Spell my Cellar had a great
deal of water in it I pumpt it out one ew[e]
died I have now 26 Lambs the Carters -- --
Longboat forct in here by bad weather
25 W[ind] continues NW cold & clear
Cha Coachman goes to Mill for indian Meal
26. 29 Lambs,W[ind] continues NW an easie gale a
fine day not cold Wee pickt over or Apples
Amy Cozby had some Powdr blew
Shrove Tuesday gave G[eorge] C[arter] a Cock to throw at
-- --
Mar 1 a warm day So[utherl] y [wind] cloudy & rainey 2d do of
fair warm day 3d a warm day wind
SoE. 4th rainey warm wind So a Chinch
appeard Kit came here 33 Lambs
mr Bell Doctor Mann her[e] Tapscott came
-folio 9 verso -

March 1722/3

5 H[arry] Tapscot is to begin my frame tomorrow One Harvy had my
business last night
A rainey morning warmW[ind] SoE
abt Noon W [ind] at SoW I was 6 hours getting to
Bess Woods walkt from [there?] to mr Wormleys
lay there wind so hard afraid to Vent[u] r[e]
home
6th W [ind] at SoW so hard Staid at rosegill
all day all day [sic ] writ to Mitchel Ad[am]
Graves promist to Send round my
Goods cald abd the Carter staid there
1 1/2 hour drunk some Mountain came
home hald up my Pinnace Harry
Tapscot here
7 I sent I sent [sic] Kitt away mr Meeks
books went with him W [ind] SoE warm
Odar came here went away wod
not stay unless I wod give him mor
wch wod not agree to Mechan brot a
Lettr from my Son dated 4th
8 blew very hard I went to Mill found every
thing out of Ordr Morris & Wm Waugh
mett me set the Mill agoing before sun
down ground all Night
9 my Son & Daughter Burwell came her[e]
10 wee went to Church mr Stepto Doctor
Man D Lee mr Turbervile mr W Jones
T Edwds came home with me went away on
Monday
10 I prepared Lettrs for the falls Coppage
came here. I sent my Stafford business away
with him my two Servts Collen and Par
ker came down for their freedom dues
[Note that the entries for March 11th and 12th appear on the next page of the diary. EB]
13 I dischargd them Tho Edwds & Ph Smith
here 14 I agreed [with] Cullen to Serv till middle of
Novr mr Grimes Captn Willis came here Smith
Edwds went away mrs Amy [Cosby] had Sugr
15 sent my boat twice aboard the Welcom
Robt Donald writ to me abt his Servts
-folio10 recto -

March 1722/3

11 Charles fetched 6 bushels English meal
12 my Sloop went away with 30 hds Tob abd
Belladine I writ into the freshes to Staffor[d]
to Ptomak this week Charles brot Indian
Meal 12 for my Sloop.
18 Cha Jones came from Nomini brot Letters from
Escridg Meeks Turbervile I sent away lorights
I recd Leres from Stark Pemberton
W at SW blows hard very warm
21 My daughter Burwell & my Son went away
22 my Daughter used about the Sassafras Water
a loaf of Sugr 4 lb Powder Sugr 6 lb brown ditto
6 loaves of old Sugr left 16 whole loaves of new
Sugr & a peice 2 Ing[ot] s best 1 large d[itt] o of the 2d a Carboy of the 3d.
Daracoat Saild this morning
23 my daughter Harrison went away my
Barg Sett them up to mr Wormeleys Gard
iner & Sam Taylor got drunk at Urbanna
came not home till late in the eveng
Capt Graves came here on Sunday mr
Turbervile also dind with me went
25 both away on monday John Barbar
claimd his freedom my ten hds Ada[m]
Graves sloop took in brot my Goods from Mid[d] l[ese] x
26 Charles goes to Mill W [ind] at NE Graves
sloop Sails
28 I bottled a Cask Nomini Cydr 23 doz in
my own bottles 6 doz for Capt Graves
Phil Smith lay here
I went to brick house Colemans Purs[el] ls
was taken sick coming home wit[h]
such a faintness was forct in to mr
Steptos
where after a sleep I recrui
ted & came home
29 I bottled another Cask Cydr 28 doz
I went to Town to the meeting of the GGors
of the Colledg the 1st of April twas Tues
day 3 Clock afternoon before we had do[ne]
got home fryday the 4th Apl brot Graves
Carpenters ashore wth me to make a
Mast for my sloop mr Turbervile
went away imediately I gave awa[y]
a Crown for Coach hire 1/2 Crown to
make Coll Page boats gang drink
-folio10 verso -

Apl 8 1723

Captn Wilson arrivd the 6th from Antego
Yesterday Martha had a Sugr Loaf Harry
Taylor a pr falls so had Jno Harvy
this day sent to mr Holloway for a Writ T Edwds
Meclean I bot of mr Thomson 6th of Apl 1723
Apl 10 Cha Coachman goes to Mill for Indian [corn]
a great deal rain yesterday W[ind] at NE
then N & NW Cloudy this morning W [ind] at
NW Jo Gregory out of sight last night
13 Captn Wills had my Sloop the Georg in
to his Employ she was riggd Yesterday
this morning Sailed her new rope Biscoes book.
Capt Wilson here I agreed wth the Barbar this
day
15 I met Carter at Corotoman sent Lettrs
by him Ordered the Wolf house peopl
to keep no Holiday
18 gave out 3 gro[ss] Corks the first out of my
new Corks bottled 29 doz of Cydr.
my Sloop goes for Petomk for a Load
of Tobo for the Carter the Ships Carptrs
hath bin here part of yesterday & to
day mending my Sloop & flatt un
til 12 Clock.
20th Cha Jones has now at the hills 40 Sheep
18 Lambs 67 hed of Cattle 10 Calves
att the wolf house there is 15 Sheep 11 Lambs
there is 54 of Cattle 10 Calves
Buckles 38 Sheep 17 Lambs 50 head of Cattle
1 Calf. I gave [John] Buckles some thred for his people
Changlins has 55 head of Cattle 3 Calves
55 Sheep 25 Lambs.
20 I go from home I got to Town on monday
I pd 20S for Carter & Eliz Burwells Entrance
with Stagg
I pd to d[itt] o 10S for Geo I pd to ditto for
his Plays & Ball six pd out of his Obligation
I pd to Fra Thornton 3 pd of mr Burwells Est[ate]
I pd Sheriffs of York & Ja[mes] Citty mr Burwells dues
I come out of Town Saturday 4 May got home
the 6 at Night my Sloop came this day from
Nominy brot the Carter 50 hds freight 15 hds
my own Tobo
-folio 11 recto -

May 8th 1723

Captn Adam Graves Sloop came for ten hds
10 Gregory carried aboard the Carter 50 hds my
Tobbo 35 of Nomini Crops 15 my home
Crops was dischargd & came home the 11
11 Charles Jones brot me Accot: that Tho Edwds
had Ordered away G Curtis Crop wch I ne
ver heard of before Jones brot from Curtis Tho
Edwds Noat from Curtis to him to bear him harm
less dated 5th May Keeling boat took the Tobo
in the 8th May
My sloop went for the falls 2 servts with him.
mr Rd Lee here had Widow Nelms Protest, Dawk
ins
Accot agst Conolly.
Thomas brings me 8 hds Tob out of Corotoman
-- --
15 Charles Cochm [an] bring[s] 36 bushels Salt into
the Pantry
13 Keeling was here gave me bills Lading
Graves here he has now 600 hds aboard
I dispatchd away Edwds Young
14 I sent my Letters for Keeling to mr
Mechams
Captn Watkinson in the Vine Arrivd [sic] 10th of
May brot my goods from mr Pemberton
Captn Graves taken with an Ague in Church 12 May
had again on monday took Bark had it on
Tuesday took bark went on board pretty
hdw a Season this 2 or 3 daies
14 Martha had 2 lb Powder Sugr for Coffee
James Keys came here this morning at
break day made six Weeding hoes
15th workt again upon hoes made [omission in text] this day
Robt Gordons [sic ] pays me in the hands of
mr Dawkins 7"0"9 in part discharg
of his debt
-- --
6 mr Innis Capt Wills Mate was here
had Noats on my Collectors for Tobo
-- --
delivd to Captn Carter Coll Tarpley protest Indrs
Jno Heal Wm Stamps W Ball for £37 0d
to be reumd for me of by all the Indorsers
18 Captn Bowman arrivd & 3 more North B[ritai] ns
19 & 18 rainy all day
20 I go from home my Cooper G[oes . . . ] to mr
Meeks
give him a hat Drawe[rs. To] his Mate
drwers Manl now at mr D[ . . . finish] ing Cart[s]
this day Prince came hom[e . . . ] ter[ . . . ]
Arm Cha. Jones [ . . . ]
-folio11 verso -


1723

May 20 4 lb wt Sugr 12 lb bro ditto to mrs Amy
Besides my pocket Expences I pd away at Town
16 pd to Captn Jones for a pipe of wine
a Moydr to W Robinson tow[ards] his Fees
a ddoublone to Coll Ball towds my horse
2 guineas to mr Boin for my Commission
a guinea left with mr Hickman for the Govrs
I recd of mr Thornton his Int[erest] money 13:16 Cash
I recd of mr Nelson 48S Ster for 3 years rent of
8 hundred Acres of Land in Stafford belonging
to mr W Bucknrs Heirs
bot of mr Chiswell a Cask Coco pd by Dr Blare 5.10
my Sloop came from the falls 8th June brot 50 flitch
bacon 24 Jowles 49 Gamons 20 Goards fatt 76
hds Tobo
20 June the Assembly rise Prorogd to 9th Novr.
21 1 Clock at Night I got home begin Sheathing
my Sloop 24th finisht her monday 1st July
27 my other sloop dischargd from the Booth
28 I agreed wth Geo Thomas a Seaman I am
to give him 30S per month 1/2 goods 1/2 money
I gave out 2 l[b] Coffee 4 l[b] w[hi] t[e] Sugr 12 l[b] bro[ken] ditto
July [1] I finish sheathing my sloop this day
I finish Cleaning my other sloop
[John] Buckles came to me abt Josh Harrison I ordd
him before a Majestrate to be whipt
2d I began my writing for England
4 my Sloop went away betime for Pe
tomak in the afternoon It blew hard
at So Ea a great deal of rain W [ind] came
to NE raind all Night 5) very rainy & windy I finishd busins
this Night
6 I sent 18 hhd abord the Vine in my
Sloop Bashfords Power of Atturney
to mr [Micajah] Perry executed Capn: Smith had
my Lettrs for Town to Coll Jennings
my Sonn mr Holloway Took my
leave of Ben Graves abt 6 in the
Evening I gave him 4 shoats one for
Low, 4 Barrel Corn 6 Gees 2 Turkey
6 gammons 29 qts Cordial Water 1 doz
Made[ira] 1 lb Jesiuts Bark 2 Guineas
Cap[tain Car] ter had 30 Gall rum 50 lb
Sugr
-folio12 recto -

1723

July 7th the Carter weighd afternoon turnd down
below my house fird no Gunns
8 this morning the Carter turning down before
I got up Monday.
Yesterday Gardiner & McClean took my
Periaugo went aboard while I was gone
to Church after I came home while I was at
Dinner without my knowledg or leave
took my Periaugo again followd the
Vine down the river as low as Cherry
Point
could not overtake returnd home
after they had bin ashoar at Gibsons.
-- --
I load abord my Sloop 22 old Arranoco hds
for Captn Bowman & ten hds for Sarah
-- --
The Carter about 5 Clock this afternoon
out of sight.
10 our Court met mr Chambers he showd
me a Lettr from Alex Murrah of
the 9 of May tell him all Stemd
Tobo was prohibited the Bill had
a 2d reading was ordered to be En
= grost the Outport Mercha[n] ts & the
Scotch joind together & don this.
a lettr from Murrah 6 May says no
thing of it that twas to take place June 1724
I recd Rent Rolls from mr Downm [a] n
Captn Eskridg had no Bills for me turns
me over to Meeks tells me the Bills [of exchange] of
his that Meeks Sent me was for some
Corn that Coll Lee had.
I had a Judgmt agst Conway & Daven
=port
for 15"-"-
Captn Ball told me that my sloop was at
the mouth of Coan my other sloop had
bin wth Downman he was gon with
them to Pay my Tobo
11 Jo Carter brot his Accots & Rent Rolls
paid me Chins 10£ fine in Gold 20S he stopt his sala[ry]
paid me the Cash he recd for Qt Rents at Sterling w[eigh] t
-- --
12 mr Smith here brot me a Lettr from my Sonn writ
from mr Holloway for T Edwds
4 of my home Overseers sworn to their Crops.
my Molasses brot me from Doc [ . . . . ]
the Barbar came here this day [ . . . . ]
Gardinr disobeyd my Ordrs ab[out . . . .]
tore out of hand fetchd blood [ . . . . ]
-folio12 verso -

July 16 1723

Captn Carter came here wee setled an
17 Accot he is in my debt £20
18 [Captain] Bowm[an] & Doctor Lomax came here I
Settled an Accot with him
19 & 20 I settled an Accot wth Rd Meeks
21 Sunday Captn Fowler in the Content arri
ved from Jamica
-- --
mr Bell in his discours about Envy had
sevl plain innuendos at Tho Edwds & my
differences. Alex[ande] r jealous of the honr don to his
Captns Join house to house grasping at all be
fore him Contention best stopt in the begin[in] g
best way to come up with the industrious
man the Night Walker the early river the
violent Pursuer in his business to shake
of Laziness effeminate pleasures drunk
enness & to Pursue the Vigorous man wth
Emulation wch was a different Nature to
Envy, the Favors of a Govr &c
-- --
23 Martha a loaf of Sugr 1 l[b] powderd d[itt] o
my Daughter Harrison came here
I went to Midd[lese] x with mr Harrison came
home the same Night was at mr Grimes
he promist me Credit for Coll Ludwels Qt Rents
26 Sealed up my Le[tte] res for the Sarah
27 mr Edwds came here I had his bills [of exchange] for 9£
mrs Lomax went away Poor Mang[ori] t[e]
Overseer here Tho Marshal here.
30 given to my Daughter Harrison a suit of old
Damask Linnen a Cagg S[wee] t Meats a ps fine
holland No 1860, 14 ells at 6 S per ell
-- --
mr Bell mrs Bell here Betty Lee Sett mr Por
ters horses over the river in my flatt [boat]
my Sloop Ann came down the river 24th brot
28 hds Tob 5 from Major Smiths 3 from Coll [John]
Tarpley
20 from mr [William] Downman
25 bad weather came up W [ind] at NE raind
4 daies Successively very hard Sunday in
the Night & morning on monday abt 8 Clock
W flew abt to W blew very hard all day Tob
[mi] ghtily broke & bruisd Trees brok down
[Cor] n Layd & a great deal broke.
-folio13 recto -

Augst 2 1723

Capt Fowler left his Negro with me if I
keep him am to give 7500 £ for him
I am to give him for his best Jamaica rum
3/8 [shillings] Cash, his best Muscavad Sugr 35S per hundred
for 52 Lb Larpool Goods at 1st Cost 10,000 lb
Tobo in 13 hds
The Gardiner had Shirts the Negro Wenches
Peticoats Aprons Phil a Shirt
Ship Sarah went by the House Captn. Rich [ard] son
this day the Gardiner treated me very sawcily
told me [he] valued not beating with many other im
pudent answers wch were to many to re
peat
5 Captn.Richdson went out of the river he carried
my second Bills of Exch [ange] & many Lettrs
I gave my daughter Harrison 2 guineas
I gave Captn. Rich [ard] son a Shoat barrel Corn
4 Gammons a doz Chickens
Tho Carter last week had a Noat for 50 busl Corn
Major Fleet had [ . . . ] Lb Sugr at 7 1/2 per l
Sent an Invoice to Captn Carter on fryday
when George was sent for
My sloop went for Wiccocomoco 31th July lay 3 daies for want of
Corn
Coll Page sent my Lettrs per his man last of July
my Daughter Harrison left me 30th July
-- --
with my Lettrs I had the Paqt relating to the
Case of the Weeks & a Commission out of
the Chancery
Captn Ric[hards] on brot my Paqt of Prints
5 mr Ja Reed & Captn Whiteside came
here stayd all night went away be
fore I was up Doctor Man went away
Capt Carter came here.
-- --
6 Mart [h] a had 2 lb Coffee 1 lb powdr Sugr
7 I sent to Mill Ordered Charles to have his
meal measured
-- --
mr Jno Bagg here I took a Mortgage from him
of his home Plantation & twenty Slaves as
Security for 200£ of mr Burwells money
wch I gave him Bills for
I prepare for making Cydr
Captn Fowler sent me 11 Peices Linnen
27 Peices Fustians
8 Geo Thomas in my sloop brot from Wicoco 19 hds
1 hd from mr Tho Lees
-folio13 verso -

Augst 1723

9th I begun making Sydr
Amy Cosby had 12 lb Musco Sugr
15 Martha had a Loaf of Sugr 19 Amy Cosby
had 3 oz dd Sugr
20 my sloopt went to the falls carried 11 hds
on board Captn Ben [Graves]
I had made 23 Butts Sydr 11 Coolers next day
I writ rid wth my Son to all the Quarters gave
him Wauney a Madar Negro from Corotoman
21 I sent Jon Shaw & two of the Sawyers to carry
up my Plank to the Mill & to bring home a hd To
they came home the 23 carried but one Stock
of Plank
24 Went to mr Wormeleys wth my Son came
home that Night slept in the boat good part of the way the Awnning down
Wauney went wth him
he had a Suit fustian Jacket & breeches
of Linnen shoos Stockings & hat
Captn Eskridg was here gave me a Noat on
mr Burgess for part of his wine 3"10 Ster
had a loaf of dd refind Sugr I writ to Captn.
Hooper by him
26 gave Martha [ . . . ] pd powderd Sugr Overhald
some Lockers of my Wives Store found
some Papers of mrs Swanns & sevl Goods
I had forgot gave Gardiner Shoos Stockins
also Da [nie] l Mclean
my Son G [eorge] had a feavor Saturday night
took a Vomit Sunday it workt 9 times very
brisk & well this morning
Danl Carter came here had away my
List of Negro Children a bushl of new wheat
mem [oran] d [um] my Sloop from Petomak came home
the 22, Thursday brot 73 hds Tobo from
Stafford my West [morelan] d Tobo left behind I had
Lettrs from Hoopr Cartr Johnson Dr Bell Meeks
this morning I was taken a little lame in my
right Ancle Attributed it to my walk
Sunday in the Evening at noon I grew worse
by five of Clock I prepared for a fit of the
Gout at night could hardly stirr went
to bed at 1/2 an hour after ten. writ sevl
Lettrs for Eng [lan] d in a great deal of pain
-folio14 recto -

Augst 27th 1723

I had a pretty good night was feavorish abt 2
hours slept well the latter part of the night
wakt pretty easie continued so till I rise Cap
Cennedy came here I finisht my letters in
a great deal of pain abt 11 he went away
was carried into the parlor drank 3 dishs
of Coffee & milk was brot back to my own
room the two scotch pills I took at going
to bed workt twice abt 10 Clock cant stirr
but with a world of pain took to my
Crutch the least motion of the pained
Ancle puts me on a rack fallin came here
to Settle Accots I had 2 stools more at Night
abt 4 in the afternoon I eat a porringer of Chicken
broth with bread in it also some of the minct
Chicken drank a glass of Cydr & Water was very
full of Pain all the rest of the day removd into
the Parlor at Sunsett staid there till 10 Clock
very full of Pain & very restless till going to
bed, after being in bed fell asleep for abot a Qr
of an hour wakt in abundance of pain
was very restless till 4 Clock had a feavor &
mighty difficulty of breathing could [not] res
t nor find eas any where or in any pos [i] t [io] n
abt 5 Clock was somewhat easie went of the
feavor Slept till seven drank water in
the Night 2 or 3 times did not agree with
me several times I washt my mouth. I rise
abt 8 drank a pott Sage Tee, The Pain
in my ancle continues as violent as evr
can['t] stir my foot without being upon
a rack cant stand without a Crutch &
very badly with one. was carried in a Cha[ir]
into the Parlor at 11 a drank 3 dishes of Coff
ee & milk wch sett very well very restless
with my Pain howevr had the Barbar to
Shave me eat a porringer of greuel wth
Curr [an] ts pleasd me well had 3 loos stooles
in the Evening my pain very racking if I did
but stirr at night my left foot in some pain
Jno Lewis came here staid all Night I pd him
26S 18S for prising & receiving 3 hds Tobo
8S for 2 Scabbords I wa very uneasie till
10 Clock my left foot still growing wors I
had a Tankard of drink made water
a little Sydr loaf Sugr went to bed, soon was takin with
a feavr heat & driness in my hands & feet
& great restlessness tumblin
& tossing
-folio14 verso -

1723 Augst 28

& shifting side every minute broken disturbd Sleep
till 3 Clock had a Candle lightd drank sevl times of
my tankard from 3 slept pretty easily till 7
29th rise at 8 could hardly stand on my left foot
my right not in such racking pain only w [hen]
I move drank 3 dishes sage Tea Jno Gibson cam [e]
here after him mr Bell & one Scott a schoolmastr I drank
three dishes of Coffee & milk after Dinner my Dinr
was only a porringer of Greuel & Currts I slept abt 1/2
an hour had 3 stools this day by fitts I was pretty easie
when I humord the lying of my foot my left foot grows rather
better this day we Cutt markt & Dockt or Coults 8 were
horse Colts 3 were Phillies mr Bell & scot went away
before night at 10 Clock I went to bed slept in a disturbd ma-
nnr till abot 1 wakt In a shivering & cold sweat lay in a great deal
of misery till abt 3 my fevr declind water high cold
fell asleep after 4 contind Napping till pas 7 very
easie of pain rise after eight drank 3 dishes of Sage
Tea this is the 30th of the month
30th after Tea I drank 3 dishes of Coffee & milk
was pretty easie all the forenoon my left
foot grew worse my right better I read all
the forenoon set up in my Chair grew more
uneasie in the afternoon for my dinner
I eat hominy & pancake drank Cydr & Water
at Night was very uneasie read now & then
but wth a great uneasie ness had no stool
this day went to bed about 10 got a short
Nap lay till two before got to sleep then
slept till five a very bad night I had take
it together my left foot now the worst of
the two am an intire Creeple have not
movd a Step these sevl daies only as I am
carried abt in a Chair between two [rooms?]
Augst 31. got a good Nap this morning
between two & 3 hours rise between 9 &
10 very lame my left foot the worst
Geo read me 4 Chapters in the new Testamt
I drink three dishes of Coffee & milk after
came here Whitesid Ja Read & Captn Ben [Graves?]
they dined here I eat a whole Squirrel drank
plentifully of Cydr & six Glasses of Wine
mr Stagg came here abt 12 Clock taught all
day staid a Saturday Night I had a violent
night both for pain & uneasieness I ghess by
the wine I drank my left foot Continues the
worst
-folio15 recto -

Septr 1 Sonday 1723

I rise abot 8 drank 3 dishes of Sage tea abt 11 I drank
my Coffee & Milk Coll Ball came here & went
to Church Stagg agreed to Come 20th of this month
& to teach this year went away abot 12 I had a fine
Stool in the afternoon while they were at Church
I got a fine Sleep which refresht me very
much read 2 Sermons of Doctor Blairs I eat
a broiled Pigeon that was highly seasond wth
Peper eat some Burmudas Potatoes &
some Apple Pye drank abt a pint of Cydr in
all most qualified wth water at night drank
a large draft of water Coll Ball staid wth
me till 8 Clock I went to bed abt 11 slept
till past 1 had an out of [ . . . ] dream wakt in
a great deal of pain in both feet the left most
continued very restless for above an hour
rise up strove to vomit could bring nothing
up but flegm afterwd fell asleep & wakt
abt six pretty easie .
2d I rise abt 7 Clock used my feet to walk
to my Chair drank 3 dishes of Sage Tea
hath bin sultry hott all this last week
continues so. Captn Whiteside had 2
Oz of Ypococuana for mr Wormeley
mr Stagg had a Jugg of Vinegar
2 I drank Coffee & milk read a great deal cold [not] walk
abt the house wthout a stick Rollins came
out of Westmd I eat stewd Squirrel & the broth
drank Cydr & Cydr & water sevl times Sett
up till ten a Clock was taken with a pain
in my left leg fro [m] the knee down to my An
cle alwaies when I stir very troublesom
in the Night came Sawny wth Lettrs from
his Master my Son &c I had a very un
easie Night could not get to sleep till
fair day light slept till 7 Clock
3d sent Sawny away the same in my
left leg Continues drank Coffee and milk
Gregory came from on bord J Reids Ship deli
vvd but 12 hds brot one ashore I eat small
fish for dinner drank wine freely &
wine & Water, at night I took 2 of my
Scotch pills drank white wine wth mr
Turbervile almost a bottle went to bed
at 11 slept till past one got up put on
my gown slept till 3 then my Physick
-folio15 verso -

Septr 3d 1723

Physick Gript me & workt plentifully
went to sleep again in my gown slept till
7 my physick workt again.
4 rise at 8 read writ a Noat for Charles
to go to Mill for Indian [corn] my Pain in
my left leg continues very painfull
when I stir cheifly in my knee Cool weat [he] r
wind at NW drink Coffee & Milk prepare
Jo Grigory for the falls for a load of Stones
G Thomas wth the other Sloop comes down wth a
Load of Stones mr Stepto &c here playd at Cards
till 3 Clock in the morning my Leg very
Stiff the Pain in my Left leg went quit[e]
away
5 I went to the Race Colol Ball with me
who lay here that Night stayd wth me next day
6 I rid to Corotoman Point I believe Catchd Cold
7 my leg wors had an uneasie Night
8 went to Church very uneasie that day & night
Wind Changd grew Cool & colder the fore pt of
of the Night had a fire made
9 warmer in the morning my leg easie r
swelling somewhat abated
Captn Carter here came wth me from Church
Cha fetchd Corn from the Hills Kit came down
brot me a Letter from Eaton from Hooper
Geo [the] Coopr went for Nomini Saturday 7th
9 sent [Richard] Haines to find a man for my sloop
Skipper trimd his flat
10 my sloop wth [George] Thoms went for the falls
my foot mends day by [day] swelling yet
remains Jemmy from my daughtr
Burwell
came here went away
immediatly
Martha had a pound Coffee 1 lb wt Sugr
Amie [Cosby] had 6 lb bro Sugr 4 Oz Bark
I sent to the falls to Dr Bell Kit carried
2 lb thred a bagg I paid Coll Ball 5 1/2 Pistols
being remainder due for horse brod Stern
11 my leg easie some swelling yet re
mains cant wear a Shoo on my right foot
went to Court in my Barg had a scuffle wth Edwds
in the Court abt my Accot of the Administration
of mrs Swans Estate my Accot Past the Court
allowd me 10£ for the funl Charges
-folio16 recto -

Sepr 11 1723

brot home major Smith Captn Escridg Captn White
side
they drank two bo[tt] les rack
12 paid Smith 20£ for Turnr 14£ for freight
Escridg went for Wmburg Smith home a
rainy morning I agreed wth the brick
maker he began to make the Yard.
I rid to the Church in the evening a shoo
on my left foot my right foot a little
painfull in the Night slept well the night
before very indifferently
13 put on a heel Slipper on my right foot
left of my leg flannel the brickmaker finisht the
Yards I rid there at Night slept indifferently
14 came a man in Westmd from the upper parts for a
Warrt I rid out went to Jacksons Mill Eat some
Drum at mr Bells slept well the lattr part of the
Night was very heavy
15 a rainy morning went to Church mr Bell
read prayers at Night came Captn Escridg brot
me the Govrs Express for regulation of the Militia
Lettr from my Son mr Holloway mr Robtson
did not sleep this Night till past 3 then slept
till 7 rise very muddy
16 dispatcht a Lettr away to the Governr
another to my Son shipt 24 hds Tobo on
board Captn Grayson rit a circular Lettr
to the Com[mande] rs of the Militia in the Northern
Neck went to bed at 10 slept till 1/2 an hour
after one this day came David Waugh
with a Lettr from Russel two Suggestions
from Travis & Foley I writ to Russel to Hoo
per W Waugh brot me a Lettr from Edwds
I put on both my Shoos on Sonday my feet very
uneasie abt 2 Clock in the Night monday morn
W [ind] at NW weathe[r] cool
17 I prepare for my Journey to Petomak
18 I set out at 1/4 after 8 reacht Nomini
about 5 in the Evening
19 sent Lettrs to CollRobinson Mason Tayloe
Allerton Allerton refuses to Serve
went to [double arrowhead symbol for Lloyd's] Qrs met Coll Tayloe Saw
Dicksons Mill
20 went to Hickory Thicket & Oxfords
21 went to Nomini Church mr Dbuts preach[ed]
22 Sunday went to Captn Escridgs lay there
-folio 16 verso -

1723

Sepr 23 from Capt Eskridgs went to Captn McCarty
from thence to Coles Point E[skridge] & M[cCarty] in Compa[ny]
met Collo. Lee he went wth us we dind at his
house I went home in the Night
24 went to Marshalls & the Old Ordina[ry]
lay at Major Ashtons lay there.
25 went to Wallaces Old Ordinary &
Marshals got home at Night Captn E[scridge?]
came [as far as ?] Belfield & he lay there
26 took a view of my Mill orderd the ma
king a Wast , the Miller ghesses 250 barrls
Corn 4 1/2 wheat Sett off for my Journey
1/2 an hour after ten reacht home abt
Seven staid at my Mill an houre
grew lame after I got home went
to bed at 10 slept till 4
27 rise very lame cant walk wthout
a great deal of Pain took some Pills
drank 2 dishes Chocolate Captn Woodw[ar] d
came here
28 resolvd on a Voyage to the falls went to my
home Quarters
30 agreed with Bryan a Brickmaker to
make me 200 M bricks next Summr
I am to pay him 6500 lb Tobo Ja Carter
came here I gave him an oz of Bark
Jno Shaw I orderd to go upon mending
the Glebe Kitchen
I have now 13 bottles Lime Juice
Tho Berry came here he Agreed to selle m[e]
some salt I'm to send it out of hand.
Octor 1 mr Coppege came here last Night he brot me the
Scheme of Brent Town Land promises to finish all
my Warrts on the broad run Ball run & in the
little fork this fall
I gave him a Noat to James Web for 2 steers
I went to Jacksons Mill gave Waugh Ordrs to
Strenthen the Mill Gang came home abt 3
Set abt packing up my thenigs for the falls my
boat was trimd Tallowd & launchd my Sloop
with Gregory was dispatcht & saild bound to
the falls
Octobr 2d rise at 3 Clock prepare for my Journey
to the falls was out just 12 daies got home
on sonday Night the 13th of Octor Captn Eskridg
came here on monday Night after dark
-folio 17 recto -

Octobr 15th. 1723

To mr Turbervile 6 lb Sugr 2 gall rum 3 gall rum
Octor 17 my Son Robt came home in Compa[ny] wth
Captn Willis
20 I went from home lay at my Daughter
Burwells Sunday lay at mrs Burwells dind
at Coll Pages
21 got into the Genl Court abt 2 Clock Satur
day night lay at mrs Burwells dined
there Coll mrs Burwells Wilkinson Shavd
me gave him a mild half Crown
went to Town on Monday calld at Mer
chts hundred got into Court 2 Clock Robn to town
went to town with me
26 lay at mrs Burwells 2d lay of Novemr at mrs Bur
wells Wilkinson Shave[d] me dind at Coll
Pages Collo. page came to me Monday
Morn 4th Octr came home wthin Night
Money paid away and given while I was out

pd to mrs Page for my Daughter         
Harrison her Accot at Pratts -- -- 11"13
to my D[aughte] r Burwell for mrs Smith         
for 1/2 her Wages on Accot of my         
Children -- -- 5" 4"
to mrs Sullivan . . . . . . . . . . 4"
to Bowcock -- -- 0"13"6
to mr Brays Maid -- -- 0"10"
to Peter a milld 1/2 Crown         
to mr Holloways man Ben -- -- 0:4
Some other small Gifts         
paid the Barber & his man -- mild 0"6
paid pickled Herring -- -- 0"4

98 dunghill fowles 27 Gees 37 Turkeys ducks &c
202 in all
Novr 6. bot of Ruth Wood 11 Chickens
of mrs Kirk 6 d[itt] o for 2 lb Wool
7 a discovery is made by McClean & Captn Carter
that Tho Austin & Robt Bisco[e] had Combind to steal a prizd
hodhd of my Tobo shipt off to go aboard Captn
Rich[ar] dson
markt RB no 7 Rich[ar] dson refusing
to take it in Its brot back & put into the Sloop
landing house also two hds brot home of Bi[sc] o[e]
in my Carte a hhd of mine from Normds Ford
is broke up to fill them up for this Roguery Bis
coe Coven[en] ts to Serve a Year so doth Austin
8 mr Chichestr here to the 11th in this time this
Agreemt transacted
11 I agreed with Robt Horton to be my Over
seer at the wolf house


-folio 17 verso -



Novr 13 1723
Our Court day Tho Austin acknowledg
his Indenture Collo. Barber acquaints me
me he had Seizd [Thomas] Glascocks who had fled
for Murther his Estate Coll Tarpley in
the behalf of Glascocks Heir offers to En
ter the Land as Escheat
messrs Lee Man Wm Strother came home
14 I agreed with Strother to be my genl
Overseer over my affairs at the falls
write to Hooper Coppedg by him
16 Bisco had his freedom dues Harry
the Taylor a Suit Cloths
Martha had 1 3/4 lb Coffee 1 lb wt Sugr mrs Amy [Cosby]
6 lb bro Sugr
17 Sunday my Son Robert came home
19 I agreed with an Overseer for Walliss
with Poor writ to Captn Eskrid abt McCar
tys
Processioning to Meeks
Sent Jemmy over the river my boat brot
me my Lettrs by Keiling & a great ma
ny for other People
20 I sent away a great many L[ette] rs
by T Gumby to mr Steptoes
mr Boush sent me 32 barrels Tar
10 barls Pitch sevl of the Tar [barrels had] Water
in them & some a great deal Trash
one barl Pitch not full by a 3d
writ to Boush abt the Tob at Lyons
Creek
& Merchts hundred
-- --
23 Jo Gregory came from the falls brot 5 3/4 hd
Wheat 4 beevs Tallow 84 [lb.?] a Venison
for me 1 ditto for mr Lee 2 beevs for the
Lees brot down Gollyfars family
Amy had 8 lb Sugr for beef
Peter Smith had a qt rum Gregory a qt
a stripping day monday 25th
25 Captn Keiling came here Captn
McCarty
& Jno Fitzhugh
26 went away Posford Sloop brot
me 2 pipes of wine came into York
in the Judith Cobs boat brot my Sons
things mr Harrisons Charles carried
Bess away to his m[aste] rs 30 lb Cocoa Nuts now


-folio 18 recto -


Novr 27th 1723
mr Cha Burgess &c here they are to Enter into
a Rule of Court for my determmation
of their difference my Sons Papers for
his Northern Neck Fees &c came to me
I answerd his Lettr closd it with a String
writt to Coll Page mrs Burwell Kemp
sent by Captn McCarty to Captn Eskridg
the Westm[orelan] d Papers for Newton
Jonathan Gibson here has the King Georg [County]
Papers as Coll[ecto] r
Isbel weighed my old Cocoa Nutts 70 lbs
mr Downman Sherif of Richmond here this
week settled an Accot gave him for this
years Collections new Powers
Decr 5 W Waugh sent me the following Ac[coun] t
of Cattle recd of Simon Sallard
1 Cow 8 years old wth Calf
3 Cows 6 year Old
2 heifers 3 years old wth Calf
2 Steers 3 years next spring
3 Bulls 3 years next spring
1 heifer ditto 2 Calves
-- --
66 & 33 lb Yarn Blanch Flowrs Noat
from Wm Waugh gave a Noat on Store 40S
9 went from home rid in the Night from Cooks
Mill the way very wett was very cold & Stiff when
I got to my Daughter Burwells
10 was very lame got to Town by 12 Satt in Court
till within Night was very cold my feet
Numd Eat heartily at mrs Sullivans sat up
till twelve had an uneasie Night
11 very lame but little pain kept my Cham
ber all day eat heartily in the evening
drank a pt wine with Coll Jennings had a
very tedious Night sleep very broken
12 downright lame could hardly stand
my feet much sweld could not get one
of my Slippers up at heel was coacht to
Coll Jennings & back to Town from Town
went to New Qurs in mr Holoways Char[io] t
was carried into the boat was carrd
up to mrs Burwells in a Chair very lame
& in great Pain


-folio 18 verso -

Decr 12 1723
had a very severe Night little Sleep
13 could not stand nor budg but as I was
carried was Seizd with a violent pain
in my knee held me all that day could
get no Shoo on had a miserable Night
14 the Pain in my knee continued feet
very much sweld could not get on my
Stocking had a very bad Night
15 the pain in my knee left me both
feet very much sweld had a very [bad] night
slept little till towds day
16 Continued very lame could not [move] but
as I was carried had a very uneasie
Night slept little till towds morning
17 much in the same Condition both
in the day & in the Night
18 no Amendmt fine warm weathr
resolvd home next day
19 rainey much in the same Condition
raind all day the Night not much
better Coll Page fast kept above Stairs
these 3 daies we saw not one another
20 a fair day but cold Came away from
mrs Burwells abt 12 Clock reacht mr Worm
leys
just after Sun sett no Shoo hath bin
on my foot since I left the Town I Catcht
Cold this [day] mr Wormeley lay out of his
bed for me had a very uneasie Night
21 was carried down to mr Wormeleys
Boat had a fine Passage home W [ind] at NW
Stagg & Whiteside came with me
coming in to the Boat was the first
time I usd my feet they sweld very
much at Night my sleep very broken
& interrupted Coll Ball & his Family
went away so did Stagg & whiteside
on sunday morning being 22 I mend slow
ly my Children went to Church mr Ball
went to Church with his Sisters Coll Ball
staid with me for want of horse


-folio 19 recto -

Decemr 1723
22 Coll Ball & his family went away in
the evening I had a very uneasie Night
23 continue very lame just able to hobble
with my Cane & Crutch sent Sam the Taylr
away to mrs Burwells with things for Rachl
& a lb Tea mr Bell Man Woodwd came here
24 they went away my lameness somewt
abated at Night my feet sweld as much
as ever
25 Christmass day I walk a little bettr
with my Cane can Endure my great sliprs
my rest very much broken my feet swell
every Evening & almost in continual
Pain
26 this morning I walk better can mak[e]
a Shift to hobble alone
I sent mr Wormeley a Cask Choice Vinegar
I gave Stag a bottle Lime Juice I sent 30 busl
Salt up to Coll Pages Quarters I sent 30 hds
@my Crop Tobb aboard Captn Fowler
fine weather too good for the time of year
a Sourer [?] after It is to be feared
Captn Cant in the Burwell arrived into York
Thursday 19th of Decemr had my Lettrs sent me
by Docto[r] Nichol[a] s man the same evening
I also recd my Lettrs & Accot from Tucker came
in the Amelia Captn Lawrence sent me from home by my Sonn Robert
-- --
27 My Legs swell as much at Night as evr
slept pretty well Swelling somewhat
[abated] in the morning D Lee Dr Man[n] here
set up till 11
28 they staid here Swelling in my fee[t]
much the same
29 they went to Church mr Zuil & Man[n]
came back catcht Cold this day Took Pills
in the Night
Physick wrought kindly had an easie
night
31 W [ind] at NW all this day continue Lame
feet swell as much Henry & Peters
here dispatcht away



NOTES



Source copy consulted: Robert Carter Diary, 1722-1727, Robert Carter Papers, Acc. No. 3807, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia. Charlottesville.


The editor reviewed this text January-March 2010, added coding for expansions of many words for the modern text, and numerous footnotes to the original and modern texts prepared originally in 2001. Many of the added footnotes came from work that was done between 2001 and basic completion of the project in 2009; others were based on publications that appeared in that period, and on new research.



[1] Josh Odar was one of Carter 's overseers and is mentioned often in the diary.


[2] Mann Page (1691-1730) of "Rosewell," Gloucester County, married in late July or early August 1718 Judith Carter, Carter's fifth child by his wife Judith Armistead. Page attended Eton and Oxford, and was appointed to the Council shortly after returning to Virginia. In 1726 he began the house at "Rosewell" but he did not live to complete it. Mann Page II finished the construction; the house burned in 1916, and it is now a "romantic and noble ruin." ("Council Proceedings," Virginia Magazine. . . . ; and O'Neal, Architecture in Virginia , 101. ).


[3] Elizabeth Carter (1692-1734) married in 1709 Nathaniel Burwell (1680-1721) of "Carter's Creek," Gloucester County, and, in 1724, Dr. George Nicholas. (Carleton. A Genealogy. . . of Robert Carter. . . . p. 114. )


[4] John Wormeley (1689-1727), a younger son of Ralph Wormeley (d. 1701) for whom Carter had been a trustee in John's youth. When his older brother, Ralph, died in 1714, John inherited all of their father's considerable estate in Middlesex and York counties. He married Elizabeth Tayloe and had six children. (See "Letters Concerning The Estate Of Ralph Wormeley" in the opening page of this web site ; and Edmund Jennings Lee. Lee of Virginia 1642-1892. [Heritage Books, 2008 reprint found on Google Books, 9/10/2009], 147. )


[5] Jo Ring and Whiteside are presently unidentified.


[5.5] Carter's meaning of the term "weathers" is not clear, but the Oxford English Dictionary suggests that it can mean "the fleece obtained from the second or any subsequent shearing of a sheep."


[6] Amy Cosby seems to have been an important house servant, probably the housekeeper for Carter , then a widower, and is mentioned a number of times in the diary.


[7] This may have been Thomas Booth of York County who held a power of attorney after 1709 from Robert Bristow (1688-1737), a prominent Englishman and member of Parliament, who had a plantation at Fleet's Bay, Northumberland County. Carter had turned down the opportunity to be Bristow's Virginia agent. (Tyler, "Inscriptions on Old Tombs in Gloucester Co., Virginia." ; and Sedgwick, Romney. The History of Pariament. . . Commons. p. 488.


[8] Fleet's Bay is at the east end of Northumberland County not far from Corotoman. (Miller. Place-Names . . . . p.51 . )


[9] Omitted.


[10] There are many references to Charles Stagg in Carter's diary where he is usually referred to as "Mr." He seems to have been a major overseer.


[11] Omitted.


[12] "Corotoman," or "Buckles," was a property very close to Carter s home, also called "Corotoman." But this property was under the direction of an overseer named John Buckles, and Carter frequently refers to it as "Buckles." ("John Buckles, Overseer James Rob, Carpenter." Brown and Sorrells. People in Profile. pp. 112-118. )


[13] Armistead Churchill (1704-1763) was the son of William Churchill of "Bushy Park," Middlesex County. (Harrison, Landmarks. . . . , 346. )


[14] Dr. Mann has not been identified.


[14.5] A whipsaw, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, was a "frame-saw with a narrow blade, used esp. for curved work." Apparently it was often fairly long with handles on each end.


[14.6] A pinnace was "a small light vessel, generally two-masted, and schooner-rigged; often in attendance on a larger vessel as a tender, scout, etc." It could be rowed as well. ( Oxford English Dictionary )


[15] Richard Meeks was described by Carter in a letter of July 15, 1720, as the "general overseer" of the property that he consistently referred to by its tobacco mark of a double arrowhead or double "L"; it seems to have been the properties belonging to John Lloyd, widower of Carter's niece, Elizabeth. Lloyd went to England about 1700. Carter apparently leased the lands from him.


[16] Dr. John Bell (d. 1743) was the minister of Christ Church and St. Mary's White Chapel parishes, Lancaster County, 1712-1743. ( John K. Nelson. A Blessed Company: Parishes, Parsons, and Parishoners in Anglican Virginia, 1690-1776. [Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 2001]. p. 304; and "The Reverend John Bell Christ Church Parish Rector," in Brown and Sorrells. People in Profile. pp. 25-34.


[17] This probably was Captain William Keiling of the Betty. ( Survey Report 6800 summarizing Adm. 68/194, Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia. )


[18] This may have been the John Lister who was paid by the Council of Virginia on May 30, 1723, "for Erecting Batteries on the River Rappahannock." (McIlwaine, Executive Journals of the Council . . . , IV(1721-1739), 39. )


[19] Alexander Spotswood (1646-1740) had been the governor from 1710 to 1722.


[20] "Thos. Edwards, a little petty Fogging Lawyer the Clark of our County that hath as much Mettle and more cunning for Contention then his predecessor had" Carter wrote to Landon Jones, July 23, 1723. Edwards was clerk from 1720-1746. ( Within the Court House at Lancaster. Lively, VA: Lively Printing Services, Lively, VA: Lively Printing Services, [1976]. p. 15. ; and "Thomas Edwards, Gentleman, Clerk of the Court." Brown and Sorrells. People in Profile. pp. 94-103.)


[21] George Turberville (d. 1742)of "Hickory Hill" in Cople Parish, Westmoreland County, a justice and burgess. He married Lettice Fitzhugh and information can be found in "The Fitzhugh Family," Virginia Magazine of History and Biography , 7(1899-1900): 196-199, 317-319, and 425-427 , and in Norris. Westmoreland County, Virginia.


[21.5] This Arthur Lee may be the youngest son of Francis Lee (1648-1724), third son of Richard Lee the emigrant; Francis had returned to England to become a merchant in London. ( Lee, Edmund Jennings. Lee of Virginia, 1642-1892: biographical and genealogical sketches of the descendants of Colonel Richard Lee. ( Baltimore, MD: Reprinted for Clearfield by Genealogical Pub. Co., 1999, 1974). p. 71.)


[21.6] "Topsham is a suburb of Exeter in the county of Devon, England, on the east side of the River Exe estuary between Exeter and Exmouth. . . . Topsham's position, offering a sheltered harbour to seagoing trade has enabled it to thrive as a port, a centre for fishing and shipbuilding," (Wikipedia, 1/12/2010)



[21.7] Carter refers to the British merchants John and Robert Burridge.



[22] A vessel named the Carter traded to Virginia for many years; she is most often referred to as the Carter Frigatt . The captain in 1706 was Thomas Graves who is mentioned in the Lancaster County Court Orders Book for judgements against him obtained by Carter . Later, the Carter would be commanded by Baily Kent, 1718-1721, Thomas Dove, and by Benjamin Graves. She was owned by Carter and William Dawkins in 1720.


[23]Benjamin Graves and his brother, Adam (d. 1726), were the sons of Captain Thomas Graves, long a captain of vessels trading to Virginia, and a special friend of Carter ; they also commanded vessels in the trade.


[23.5] According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a "tierce" is a third part of something.


[24] William Ball (1686-1745) of "Millenbeck," Lancaster County, not far from "Corotoman," was a close friend of Carter's, a justice, burgess, and wealthy and powerful man. ( Mann. "William Ball. . . ." )


[25] Nan Vittey was a servant of Carter's. Her name was found in the Lancaster County Court Order Book 7, l721-1729, p.92, Archives Research Services, Library of Virginia as abstracted in Jones, Orders Book Entries . . . Referring to "Robert Carter. . . ." p. 112.


[25.4] After this still birth, Carter went into Lancaster County court and complained of his "loss and trouble" due to her actions, and she was ordered to serve Carter one year after the expiration of her indenture, or "one thousand pounds of Tobacco as the Law directs." ( Lancaster County Court Order Book 7, l721-1729, p.92, Archives Research Services, Library of Virginia as abstracted in Jones, Orders Book Entries . . . Referring to "Robert Carter. . . ." p. 112. )


[25.5] The Oxford English Dictionary. states that the term "physick," when used to refer to a medicine, means "cathartic or purge."


[26] "Anderson's Scots Pills, a product of the 1630's" had been invented by Patrick Anderson, a Scot, who wrote in a book published in 1635 that he had learned the secret of the pills in Venice. He passed the formula to his daughter Katherine who in turn passed it to a doctor named Thomas Weir in 1686. Weir obtained letters patent on the formula from James II in 1687. ( George B. Griffenhagen and James Harvey Young, "Old English Patent Medicines in America," in Contributions From the Museum of History and Technology. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1959. Paper 10, 156-183. )


[27] Carter owned a number of volumes of sermons by Dr. John Tillotson; see Wright, Literary Interests of the First Carters...


[28] Yeaning means to bring forth a lamb. ( Oxford English Dictionary )


[28.5] Carter probably means the mill located on the southern bank of the eastern branch of the Corotoman River, about four miles due north of his home, on a tract of over 1,000 acres. It would be inherited by Charles Carter. (Sorrells. Landholders & Landholdings. p. 32. )


[29] Carter failed to complete his thought at this point.


[29.5] A chinch is a bed-or house-bug. ( Oxford English Dictionary )


[30]"Rosegill" was the Wormeley home in Middlesex County; it lay between Rosegill Lake and Urbanna Creek, across and slightly up the Rappahannock from "Corotoman." (Rutman and Rutman, A Place in Time: Middlesex. . . . p. 46 ff. )


[31] Waugh was an important overseer for Carter until his death in January 1726; he seems to have been in charge of Jackson's mill as well.


[32] Captain John Steptoe lived on land that later (about 1778) would be known as Kilmarnock in Lancaster County. ( B. Brainard Edmonds, Kilmarnock . Kilmarnock, Va.: Little Pebble Press, 1976, 6. )


[32.5] John Coppedge (d. ante 1724) appears as a justice of the peace in Northumberland County in 1714, but was not listed in 1726 there when the name appears as the surveyor of Lancaster County. ( Louis des Cognets, Jr., English Duplicates of Lost Virginia Records. [Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. 1981], pp. 27, 36. ; and Carter to John Chelton, April 6, 1724, for death date.)


[33] Collen was an indentured servant, a painter, whom Carter called "an honest carefull Sober felow and may be able to gett a Comfortable livelyhood when he comes to his own man" in a letter of July 14, 1720 , to the Perrys. Although in that letter the clerk has carefully placed a crossing line on the vertical strokes of this name, it is likely that the name was "Collen" as Carter in this diary entry for March 10, 1723, Carter wrote the name as "Collen."


[33.5] Philip Smith was sheriff of Northumberland County in 1723-1724. (McIlwaine. Executive Journals of the Council. . . . , 4[1721-1739]: 34,67. )


[33.6] Charles Grymes (c. 1692-1743) was the son of John Grymes of Middlesex County, but lived at "Morratico," Richmond County where he was sheriff, burgess, etc. He was a member of the Council ( "The Grymes Family." Virginia Magazine of History and Biography . 28[1920]: 90-96, 187-94, 283-85, 374-75. and Ryland. Richmond County Virginia. . . . pp. 500, 504, 514.


[34] The Welcome was commanded at this time by John Trice (or Price) and was owned by London merchant James Bradley. The captain in 1730 as William Barnes. She was a vessel of about 100 tons. (See Carter s letter to James Bradley May 17, 1727 , and Adm. 68/195, ff.154r, Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia. University of Virginia. )


[35] Carter refers to this unidentified ship by its captain's name.


[36] This may be the Charles Jones who was a long-time overseer for Carter at Hills Quarter in Lancaster County.


[37] Nomini, or "Nomini Hall" as it would later be called, is on "Nomini Creek in Hague, Westmoreland County." This creek is in the northeast section of the county, and flows into the Potomac River. See the website (http://www.nominihall.com/) for "Nomini Hall," which is open to the public, for more information about this interesting house.


[37.5] The letters ("lorights") that Carter wrote into the diary are clear, but his meaning is not.



[38] John Stark was a prominent Glasgow merchant in the sugar trade. He served as as baillie and provost (mayor) from 1725-1727. ( John M'ure. The History of Glasgow. [Glasgow: D. Macvean and J. Wyllie & Co., 1830. pp. 227-228] as seen on Google books; and "Provosts of Glasgow" at "Welcome to Glasgow" at http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/AboutGlasgow/LordProvostsmessage/Provosts+of+Glasgow.htm.


[38.5] "The dried bark of this [the sassafras] tree, used medicinally as an alterative; also an infusion of this." An alterative is a substance "having the tendency to produce alteration; esp. applied to medicines which alter the processes of nutrition, and reduce them to healthy action." ( Oxford English Dictionary )


[39] While the term "ingot" is generally used in the sense of "a mould in which metal is cast" or the resulting shape of cast metal, it is likely that Carter refers to a molded shape of sugar. ( Oxford English Dictionary )


[39.5] A carboy is "a large globular bottle, of green or blue glass, covered with basket-work for protection, used chiefly for holding acids and other corrosive liquids." ( Oxford English Dictionary )


[40] Carter mentions a Captain Darracott in letters of 1720 and 1721 to Bristol mechant John King, and a Captain John Darracott's wife, Cecilia, died in 1737 and was buried at the home of her father, William Massie Massey), of New Kent County. ( "Personal Notices From the Virginia Gazette," William and Mary Quarterly , 1st. ser., 5(April 1897): 242; "John Darracott of Hanover Co., Va. & his wives." Darracott Family Genealogy Forum on Genealogy.com at http://genforum.genealogy.com/darracott/messages/38.html examined 5/12/2010; and "Massie Family," ibid. , 1st. ser., 13(January 1905): 202-3. )


[40.4] Carter probably used the word "barge" in the sense of "a rowing boat; esp. a ferry-boat." ( Oxford English Dictionary )


[40.5] Urbanna was a town in Middlesex County built on lands orginally owned by Ralph Wormeley who resisted the idea after the town was authorized by the act of 1680. But development began after his death in 1701 and the passage of the third town act in 1706. ( John W. Reps. Tidewater Towns: City Planning in Colonial Virginia and Maryland. [Williamsburg,VA: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1972]. pp . 78-9. )


[41] Brick House Quarter was located in Lancaster County and was a "collection of parcels acquired before 1732 from various owners"; in the 1732 inventory, there were 20 slaves, 63 sheep, 45 hogs, and 46 cattle on the place. (Sorrells. Landholders & Landholdings. p. 23; and "Carter Papers: An Inventory.. . ." )


[41.2] Coleman's was a farm apparently in Lancaster close to Brick House and Pursells.


[41.4] Tobias Purcell purchased 150 acres in Lancaster County on the Corotoman River from Martha Norris on February 5, 1689, and Robert Carter bought the tract from him in 1696. The land would be a portion of that guaranteed to Betty (Landon) Carter in the jointure agreement signed before her marriage to Robert Carter in 1701.( Gertrude Entz Gray. Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants, Volume 1, 1694 -- 1742. [Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1987] p. 87. Google Books, 8/11/2011; )


[41.5] Captain John Steptoe lived on land in Lancaster County that later (about 1778) would be known as Kilmarnock. ( B. Brainard Edmonds, Kilmarnock .[Kilmarnock, Va.: Little Pebble Press, 1976] p. 6. )


[42] "Town" was Williamsburg to Carter .


[43] The "colledg" was the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg; Carter was on its board and often served as Rector.


[43.5] Falls is "the loose end of the tackle, to which the power is applied in hoisting," because it is "an apparatus for lowering bales, etc.; also Naut[ical] in pl[ural]." ( Oxford English Dictionary )


[44] Robert Biscoe (1699-1748) was born in London and educated at Chrst's Hospital school. He became one one of Carter's clerks about 1716, writing letters and keeping accounts for the busines. He completed his indenture in 1724, prospered modestly as a merchant and farmer, married Elizabeth Lawson, and in 1743, wrote a book, The Mechant's Magazine; or Factor's Guide. (See the lengthy sketch of Biscoe in Brown and Sorrells. People in Profile. pp. 45-56.


[44.5] Captain Peter Wills commanded the Booth in 1723-1724, and the Amity, a vessel of 500 tons and 21 men, in 1727-1729. ( Survey Report 6800 summarizing Adm. 68/194, and Survey Report 6801 summarizing Adm. 68/195,Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library,University of Virginia. )


[45] Charles Jones was a long-time overseer for Carter at Hills Quarter in Lancaster County. Carter wrote to him there in 1727, and he appears in Carter's will as the overseer on that property.


[46] "Changlins" was a farm owned by Carter located in Lancaster County relatively close to Corotoman.


[46.5] Carter Burwell (1716-1756) was Robert Carter's grandson by his daughter Elizabeth (Carter) Burwell and her first husband, Nathaniel Burwell (1680-1721), and Elizabeth (1718-?) was his younger sister (Carleton. A Genealogy. . . of Robert Carter. . . . pp. 128, 143. )


[47] Carter probably refers to his grandchildren, Carter (1716-1756) and Elizabeth Burwell (1718-?) who may have taken dancing lessons from Charles Stagg (d. ca . 1735), the manager of the first theatre in Williamsburg, and a dancing master.


[47.4] This was probably Elizabeth Nelms (d. 1761) of Northumberland County, widow of William Nelms (1699-1719), ("Richard Nelms ." at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nelmstnms/Virginia/Richard%20Nelms.htm. Inspected 3/2/2010)


[47.5] Patrick Connelly appears on a 1716 list of titheables in Christ Church Parish, Lancaster County ( "Tithables in Lancaster Co., 1716." William and Mary Quarterly 1st. ser., 21[July 1912]:107. )


[47.6] "A malarial fever, marked by successive fits or paroxysms, consisting of a cold, hot, and sweating stage. The name ague was apparently at first given to the burning or feverish stage, but afterwards more usually to the cold or shivering stage, as being the most striking external character of the disease." ( Oxford English Dictionary )


[48] "The bark of various species of the Cinchona tree, from which quinine is procured, formerly ground into powder and taken as a febrifuge [fever reducing agent]." ( Oxford English Dictionary )


[48.5] John Tarpley (1661-ca. 1739) was sheriff and a justice of the peace in Richmond County. After complaints received by the Council, Tarpley was removed as a justice on May 22, 1723.( "Capt. John Tarpley I Family," , http://www.next1000.com/family/EC/tarpley.johnI.html. 8/24/2009; and McIlwaine. Executive Journals of the Council. . . . , 4[1721-1739]:38. )

[48.6] According to the Oxford English Dictionary, "resumed can mean "to take back to oneself (something previously given or granted)." Carter means that he will recover the money from the persons who endorsed Tarpley's bill.


[49] Samuel Bowman commanded the Lucia (or the Lucy ) which seems to have been a London ship.


[50] A hole in the page obscures a number of words at this point in the diary.


[51] A moidore was "a Portuguese gold coin current in England and its colonies in the first half of the 18th cent., then worth about 27 shillings (now hist.)." ( Oxford English Dictionary Online )


[51.5] Richard Hickman (d. 1732) had been deputy clerk of Middlesex County in 1709. After Governor Hugh Drysdale's death, the Council appointed him to manage the Governor's house and its gardens. His name appears a number of times in the Council minutes as he was its doorkeeper, and as he took out land patents. From Carter's letter to William Robertson July 15, 1727, in which he complains that "Mr. Hickman is very dilatory with his probatted Administrations," it seems that Hickman must have done other work for the colonial government. ( Edward W. James. "Libraries in Colonial Virginia." William and Mary Quarterly. 3[1,#4, Apr. 1895]:248-51 for Hickman's inventory recorded May 15, 1732, listing many books; "Notes from the Journal of the House of Burgesses, 1712-1726." William and Mary Quarterly. 21[1,#4, April 1913]:257 mentions his being Council doorkeeper; "Notes from the Journal of the House of Burgesses, 1727-1734, William and Mary Quarterly. 22[1, #1, July 1913]:54,56-58, mentions his being clerk of the Committee of Propositions and Grievances; and McIlwaine. Executive Journals of the Council. . . . , 4[1721-1739]:114. )


[51.5] This may have been William Buckner of York County who died in 1716. He had been a justice of that county, and also surveyor general of the colony. ( Library of Virginia. Online Index of Wills, 1/27/2010; and McIlwaine. Executive Journals of the Council. . . . , 3[1705-1721]:223.


[51.6] A flitch is "the side of an animal, now only of a hog, salted and cured; a 'side' of bacon." ( Oxford English Dictionary Online )


[51.7] Jowls are "the cheek," in this instance, the cheek meat of a hog. ( Oxford English Dictionary Online )


[51.8] A gammon is "the ham or haunch of a swine," or "the bottom piece of a flitch of bacon, including the hind leg; also, a smoked or cured ham." ( Oxford English Dictionary Online )

[51.9] "Betime" or "betimes" means "in good time, in due time; while there is yet time, before it is too late." ( Oxford English Dictionary Online )


[52] John Bashford (d. 1735), son of Symon and Grace Bashford, married Elizabeth Heath. In 1726 he was to present affaidavits in Northumberland County court to prove his parentage and marriage because "he had fallen heir to an estate in England." He had appealed to Carter for help several years earlier, and Carter had enlisted London merchant Micajah Perry to assist. ( "The Heaths of Northumberland County, Virginia," William and Mary Quarterly 1st ser. 24: 109-115] .)


[52.1] A shoat is a "young weaned pig." ( Oxford English Dictionary )


[52.5] Solomon Low was Carter's sons' schoolmaster in England. See Carter's letter to hime of July 5, 1723 .


[53] Pirogue was "originally: a long narrow canoe hollowed from the trunk of a single tree. . . . Subsequently also: any of various kinds of canoe or small open boat. ( Oxford English Dictionary Online )


[53.5] Carter means the Cherry Point in Lancaster County located "southwest of White Stone" down the Rappahannopck River from Corotoman.The name is still in use today. Miller. Place-Names . . . . p. 25.


[53.6] Gibson's Plantation was a property located close to "Corotoman" in Lancaster County. Carter purchased 375 acres in 1703 from Edward Gibson, later adding 90 acres from adjacent property. In Carter's inventory, Ezericum Crowder was its overseer, and Carter sometimes refers to the property as "Crowders." (Sorrells. title>Landholders & Landholdings. p.18; and Carter Papers: An Inventory. . . ."


[53.7] Oronocco tobacco was one of two major types grown in Carter's day. It was "bulkier and coarser than sweetscented . . . had a sharper leaf 'like a fox's ear,'" and was stronger in flavor "than sweetscented." ( Arthur Pierce Middleton. Tobacco Coast: A Maritime History of the Chesapeake Bay in the Colonial Era. [Newport News, VA: Mariners' Museum, 1953]. p. 97. )


[54] Alexander Murrah was a Glasgow merchant.


[54.5] Parliament passed an act forbidding the importation of stemmed tobacco in 1722. John Randolph was sent to England in 1729 as agent for Virginia to try to have the act overturned; his mission would be successful. ( Arthur Pierce Middleton. Tobacco Coast: A Maritime History of the Chesapeake Bay in the Colonial Era. [Newport News, VA: Mariners' Museum, 1953], 116. )

[54.6] Out port means "a port outside a particular place; any port other than the main port of a country, etc.; spec[ically], a British port other than London." ( Oxford English Dictionary Online )


[55] The trading policies of Scots merchants were of considerable concern to Virginia planters and English merchants at this time, and the matter came before Parliament in 1723. Vessels sent by Scots were crewed by captains and factors authorized to pay good prices in Virginia which enabled them to obtain full cargoes. English merchants argued that the only way the Scots could afford to pay such good prices was their ability to avoid paying duties on the tobacco at home. Micajah Perry appeared before Parliament and gave statistics of the duties paid by his firm in earlier years and the far smaller amounts paid in the past several years because his ships could not obtain full cargoes in Virginia. (Price. Perry of London. . . . pp. 64-65. )


[55.4] William Downman was a justice of Richmond County from 1718, sheriff in 1722 and 1723, and a tobacco inspector in 1731 and 1732. (Ryland. Richmond County Virginia. . . . p. 504. and McIlwaine. Executive Journals of the Council. . . . , 4(1721-1739): 12, 34, 238, 286 )

[56] Carter took John Conway and George Davenport to court over a debt of £64/16/5 due from a bond they had given in 1712. (Jones, Orders Book Entries. . . . p. 114. )


[56.4] 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. ( "Dictionary of Financial Scam Terms" at http://www.fraudaid.com/Dictionary-of-Financial-Scam-Terms/bill_of_exchange.htm. 8/22/2005 )


[56.5] The Coan River is located in Northumberland County flowing roughly northwest into the Potomac. Miller. Place-Names . . . . p. 31.


[56.6] Joseph Gregory "was a son of Thomas Carter II, and grandson of Thomas Carter the immigrant, of Barford on the Corotoman River near Merry Point." He would be appointed tobacco inspector in 1727 and a justice of Lancaster County in 1734. Apparently he was working for Robert Carter as a collector of quit rents and other fees at this time. (Brown and Sorrells. People in Profile. p. 18; and McIlwaine. Executive Journals of the Council. . . . , 4[1721-1739]:238, 320. )


[56.7] Quit rent was the term used for "a (usually small) rent paid by a freeholder . . . in lieu of services which might otherwise be required; a nominal rent paid (esp. in former British colonial territories to the Crown) as an acknowledgement of tenure," in this case, to the proprietors of the Northern Neck. Carter as the proprietor's agent, collected these payments. ( Oxford English Dictionary Online )

[57] The end of each of the last four lines on this folio break off without obvious damage to the page.


[58] There are several mentions of a ship named Content in Carter's diary and letters; various men commanded her at different times. She may have been a Liverpool vessel.


[59] Anne Carter (1702-c. 1743) had married in 1722 Benjamin Harrison IV of "Berkeley," Charles City County. She was Carter's first child by his second wife, Elizabeth (Landon) Willis Carter. (Carlton. A Genealogy. . . of Robert Carter. . . . pp. 2, 253. ).


[60] not used


[61] The Sarah was commanded by Captain Richardson and was based in Weymouth.


[62] Betty, daughter of Ralph Wormeley, married John Lomax (1675-1729), in1703. He was born in North Shields, Northumberland, England, and came to Virginia in 1701. Through his wife, he acquired "Portobogo," Essex (later, Caroline) County. He was a justice of the peace. (Lomax Family Bible records. .)


[63] Mangorite (or Mangorike) was a farm in Richmond County "in the vicinity of present Downing Bridge spanning the Rappahannock and present-day Little Carter Creek. . . . It consisted of 1,800 acres belonging to Colonel Moore Fauntleroy in the seventeenth century." Carter bequeathed it to Landon Carter. (Miller, Place-Names . . . , p. 93. . Greene, The Diary of Colonel Landon Carter . . . , 5. )


[63.3 ] Damask is "a rich silk fabric woven with elaborate designs and figures, often of a variety of colours. Also applied to figured materials of silk and wool, silk and cotton, or worsted or cotton only, used for furniture-covering, curtains, etc." ( Oxford English Dictionary )

[63.4] Linen is fabric made from flax. ( Oxford English Dictionary )

[63.5] Holland is, according to the OED Online, a "linen fabric, originally called, from the province of Holland in the Netherlands." 18cnewenglandlife.org states in its "Glossary of Textile Terms" that it was a "a closely woven white linen used especially for shirts and bed linen." ( "Glossary of Textile Terms." 18c New England Life: Clothing & Accoutrements. http://www.18cnewenglandlife.org/18cnel/glossary.htm.3/15/2010. )

[63.6] Ell is a measure defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as "a measure of length varying in different countries. The English ell = 45 in[ches]."

[64] Tarpley and Downman were prominent citizens of Richmond County, each serving as sheriff at various times. (Ryland, Richmond County Virginia . . . , 500. )


[64.5] Muscovado is "raw or unrefined sugar obtained from the juice of the sugar cane by evaporation and draining off the molasses." ( Oxford English Dictionary )


[65] Thomas Carter (1672-1733) was the second of that name in Lancaster County, and may have been Carter's first cousin as there is evidence that their fathers were brothers. He lived at "Barford" in the northern part of the county. ( Catherine Adams Jones, The Early Thomas Carters of Lancaster County, Virginia . Lancaster, Virginia: Mary Ball Washington Museum & Library, 1982.


[66.5] Henry Fleet (d. 1735) was the third member of a distinguished Lancaster County family to bear this name, and was justice, sheriff in 1729-1730, coroner, surveyor of roads, and militia officer. ("Rebecca Banton Mysterious Woman of Wealth" in Brown and Sorrells. People in Profile, pp. 129-30. )

[66] This was a farm owned by Carter , probably located in Northumberland County where there is a creek of this name.


[66.5] James Read (Reid) is not referred to as "captain" which means he was an official of John Stark's firm on a trading vessel who was empowered to do its business in Virginia. He was aboard the Charles, a Glasgow ship that was owned by Stark. Carter specifically refers to "Your Ship" and "the Charles of Glasgow" in a letter to Stark of September 4, 1723 .

[66.6] William Whiteside commanded the Lucy in 1727; she was a brigantine, and apparently called at Madeira, as Carter ordered wine from merchants there by her. (See Carter to Heyward, Miles & Rider, June 29, 1727 .)

[66.7] This may have been John Bagge (1682?-1726), rector of St. Anne's Parish, Essex County, 1709-1711 and 1718-1726. He had served Sittenburne Parish in Richmond County, 1711-1716. Unfortunately, Carter did not note where the property was on which he took the mortgage which makes it difficult to determine the mortgagor. See letters to various merchants about this time reporting the bills of exchange that Carter wrote to pay the £200 to Bagge.( John K. Nelson. A Blessed Company: Parishes, Parsons, and Parishoners in Anglican Virginia, 1690-1776. [Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 2001]. p. 304. )


[66.8] Fustians is "coarse cloth of cotton and flax, thick twilled cotton with short nap." (( 18th Century Trade Terms (Fabrics), "Of Silk, Terms Of Silk, Cotton, Linen and Wool,"[Compiled from] The Beekman Mercantile Paper 1746-1799 at http://www.18cnewenglandlife.org/18cnel/ofsilk.htm, 5/4/ 2007 )


[67] Thomas Lee (1690-1750) of Westmoreland County was the son of Richard Lee II, and nephew of Edmund Jenings; he would build "Stratford," and succeed Carter on the Council. For a good article on Thomas Lee, see that on Stratford plantation's website. ( Burton J. Hendrick. The Lees of Virginia: Biography of a Family. [Boston: Little Brown, 1935]. pp. 48, 51, etc. )


[67.4] The abbreviation "dd" that Carter used for the sugar may refer to double ground or refined, but "dd" is too common for the original meaning to be clear.


[67.5] Carter omitted the captain's last name.


[68] A butt was a "cask for wine or ale, of capacity varying from 108 to 140 gallons. . . . a measure of capacity = 2 hogsheads, i.e. usually in ale measure 108 gallons, in wine measure 126 gallons; but these standards were not always precisely adhered to." ( Oxford English Dictionary )

[69] Thomas Hooper was appointed sheriff of Stafford County in 1719. (McIlwaine. Executive Journals of the Council. . . . , 3[1705-1721]: 500. )


[70] Carter 's second wife, Elizabeth (Landon) Willis Carter, had died in 1719. (Carleton. A Genealogy. . . of Robert Carter. . . . p. 2. )


[70.5] John Lewis (1669-1725) of "Warner Hall," Gloucester County, had been a member of the Council since 1704. ( Louis B. Wright and Marion Tinling, William Byrd of Virginia: The London Diary 1717-1721 and Other Writings. [New York: Oxford University Pres, 1958]. p. 458 )


[70.6] Jonathan Gibson (d. 1729) "established Gibson's Tobacco Warehouse on the Rappahannock river on the dower land of his wife, Elizabeth (Thornton) Conway Gibson"; it was located "immediately opposite Port Royal in Caroline County. ( King George County Virginia Will Book A-1 1721-1752 And Miscellaneous Notes . [Fredericksburg, Va.: Privately Printed, 1978], 237. .)


[70.7] Carter probably means that the colts were castrated, marked, possibly by branding ("to mark indelibly, as a proof of ownership . . . by way of brand. spec. to mark [cattle or horses] with a brand."), and had their tails docked ("cut short, curtailed; with short or shortened tail") ( Oxford English Dictionary )


[71] Carter owned James Blair, Our Saviour's Sermon on the Mount ... Explained ... in Divers Sermons and Discourses . (Wright, Literary Interests of the First Carters... , p.55. )


[71.5] "The so-called Irish potato, a native of the Andes, was introduced into England in the sixteenth century. A ship is known to have carried potatoes from England to Bermuda in 1613, and in 1621 the governor of Bermuda sent to Governor Francis Wyatt of Virginia two large chests filled with plants and fruits then un-known to the colony, among them potatoes, which were planted and grown in the settlements along the James River. In 1622 a Virginia bark brought about twenty thousand pounds of potatoes from Bermuda to Virginia. Their cultivation did not spread widely, however, until a party of Scotch-Irish immigrants brought potatoes with them to Rockingham County, New Hampshire, in 1719. Because of this introduction and because potatoes had become a major crop in Ireland by the end of the seventeenth century, 'Irish' became a permanent part of the potato's name." ( "Potato" on Answers.com , citing the Encyclopedia of American History, at ttp://www.answers.com/topic/potato, reviewed 2/12/2010.


[71.6] "Qualified" can mean "limited, modified, or restricted in some respect." Carter means that the cider h ad been dilued with water. ( Oxford English Dictionary )


[71.7] "Ipecac, the shortened form of ipecacuanha, was first brought to Europe from Brazil in 1649 by Piso, a Dutch physician; the dried root, reached Paris about 1658. . . . Ipecac was the only ingredient which was later found to be of any medicinal value." "The active alkaloid [of ipecac], emetine, causes vomiting. . . ." ( T. E. C. Jr. M.D. "A Brief History of Ipecac (Ipecacuanha)" published in Pediatrics , Vol. 46 No. 1 July 1970, pp. 96, and online at http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/46/1/96. Inspected 2/12/2010 ; and Chelsie Vandaveer. "What is ipecac?" online at KillerPlants.com, http://www.killerplants.com/plants-that-changed-history/20021231.asp, Inspected 2/12/2010 ).


[72] Reid was captain of the Charles , a Glasgow ship.


[72.4] Richard Haynes was one of Carter's sloop captains, and his name is found relatively often in the diaries. See also Carter's letters to Richard Meeks, June 30, 1729 .


[72.5] A pistole was a "Spanish gold double-escudo dating from the 1530s and surviving into the 19th cent.; (also) any of various coins derived from or resembling this from the 17th and 18th centuries." ( Oxford English Dictionary Online ).


[72.6] Rack was a "beverage now generally composed of wine or spirits mixed with hot water or milk and flavoured with sugar, lemons, and some spice or cordial; but varying greatly in composition with time and place. Usually qualified by the name of a principal constituent, as arrack. . . . ." Arrack is "a name applied in Eastern countries to any spirituous liquor of native manufacture; especially, that distilled from the fermented sap of the coco-palm, or from rice and sugar, fermented with the coco-nut juice." ( Oxford English Dictionary )


[72.7] This mill, sometimes referred to by Carter as the small or little mill, was located in in the "northwest corner" of Robert Carter's Poplar Neck Quarter in Lancaster County near the head of Dymer Creek about a mile south of present-day Kilmarnock on Route 3. Carter had acquired the property from Reverend Andrew Jackson and others in 1695. William Waugh supervised it. (Sorrells. title>Landholders & Landholdings. pp. 11, 15, 20, 23. )


[72.8] Drum is the "name of various American scaenoid fishes which have the power of making a drumming noise; among these are the 'salt-water drum' (Pogonias chromis) found on the Atlantic coast. . . ." ( Oxford English Dictionary )

[73] Hugh Drysdale (ca. (1670-1726) was lieutenant governor under the Earl of Orkney, the titular governor who never came to Virginia. Drysdale arrived in Virginia in September 1722 and ruled the colony until his death in July 1726. Carter, as president of the Council, would succeed him.


[73.5] William Russell (1680?-1741) was a well-known ranger and explorer who eventually settled in Prince William County (later Fauquier). Fairfax Harrison thinks he may have been one of the rangers who accompanied Spotswood's Knights of the Golden Horseshoe. (Harrison, Landmarks of Old Prince William. p. 204. )


[73.8] George Mason III (c. 1690-1735), justice, sheriff, burgess, and county lieutenant of Stafford County,father of the constitutional theorist. (Copeland and MacMaster, The Five George Masons. pp. 50-86 ; and George Harrison Sanford King, The Register of Overwharton Parish Stafford County Virginia 1723-1758 And Sundry Historical and Genealogical Notes . [Fredericksburg, VA: privately printed, 1961.] )


[73.9] John Tayloe (1687-1747) of Mt. Airy, Richmond County, who served as justice, burgess, colonel of militia, and as a member of the Council after 1732. (Ryland. Richmond County Virginia. . . . pp. 115-16. )


[74] Willoughby Allerton (1664-1724) was a prominent citizen of Westmoreland County where he was burgess, sheriff, and militia officer. (Allerton Genealogical Data at http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~edburton/fam03055.htm, 4/16/04; and McIlwaine. Executive Journals of the Council. . . . , 3[1705-1721]: 92,146,381,420. )


[74.5] "Hickory Thicket" was located in Richmond County "northeast of Warsaw" according to Miller's Place-Names of the Northern Neck of Virginia , p. 66. (Miller, Place-Names . . . , p. 93.


[75] It is not clear what property Carter refers to; he had an overseer named Roger Oxford in 1732, and it is possible that Oxford was already working for Carter in 1723. The property presumably was in Richmond or Westmoreland counties.


[75.5] Lawrence De Butts (1693-1752) was Irish-born and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He came to Virginia in 1721 and became the minister of Washington Parish in Westmoreland County. After his marriage, he left Virginia for Maryland where he was minister of William and Mary Parish until his death. ( John K. Nelson. A Blessed Company: Parishes, Parsons, and Parishoners in Anglican Virginia, 1690-1776. [Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 2001]. p.97 . )


[76] "Cole's Point" was in Westmoreland County " in Coles Neck just east of Lower Machodoc Creek on the Potomac" according to Mary R. Miller. The property, of some 1,350 acres, descended to Robert Carter III, according to Louis Morton. (Miller, Place-Names. . . . p. 32. and Morton, Robert Carter. . . . p. 70.


[77] This farm has not been identified.


[77.5] Old Ordinary , a tract in Westmoreland County, had 15 slaves, 87 hogs, 57 cattle, 27 sheep, and 6 horses in the 1733 inventory of Carter's estate; James Whaley was then its overseer. (Carter Papers: An Inventory. . . ." .)

[77.6] Henry Ashton (1670-1731) was a prominent citizen of Westmoreland County where he was burgess, justice, and sheriff. (Norris. Westmoreland County, Virginia. p. 107; and David W. Eaton. Historical Atlas of Westmoreland County Virginia. Richmond: Dietz Press, 1942, in an undated reprint. p. 43.

[78] Old Ordinary , a tract in Westmoreland County, had 15 slaves, 87 hogs, 57 cattle, 27 sheep, and 6 horses in the 1732 inventory of Carter 's estate; James Whaley was then its overseer. ("Carter Papers: An Inventory. . . ." )


[79] "Belfield " (Bellfield) or "Rock Spring" is in Richmond County and "has belonged to the Bellfield family since the early eighteenth century, and was named for the spring one quarter mile below the house." (Miller, Place-Names. . . . p. 136. )


[79.5] This mill was located on the southern bank of the eastern branch of the Corotoman River, about four miles due north of Carter's home, on a tract of over 1,000 acres. It would be inherited by Charles Carter. (Sorrells. Landholders & Landholdings. p. 32. )

[80] A mill's "waste" is a gate or other device in the mill dam that allows the discharge of water not needed to turn the wheel. (Derived from the definitions in the Oxford English Dictionary


[81] Thomas Woodward commanded the Providence , a London vessel of about 90 tons owned by John Hyde and Company. ( There are a number of records concerning this vessel in Adm. 68/194 [ff. 27r, 77r, and 130r] and /195 [ff. 152v] which may be consulted in the records of the Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia. )


[82] Falls Quarter was located in King George County, and had twenty-four slaves, three horses, and thirty-eight cattle in the 1732 inventory of Robert Carter's estate; it lay on lands patented in March 1704 by James Innes for Carter . ("Carter Papers: An Inventory. . . ." ; and Harrison, Landmarks. . . . p. 198. )


[82.3] Carter's Home Quarters included his holdings in Lancaster County, many of which had been obtained by his father, and most of which he had inherited from his older brother. "Corotoman lay at the southernmost point of these tracts on the north bank of Carter's Creek. (Sorrells. Landholders & Landholdings. p. 25. )


[82.5] James Carter (1684-1743), of Stafford County, was the younger brother of Carter's dear friend and associate, Captain Thomas Carter of Lancaster County, and was one of Carter's chief managers. ( Joseph Lyon Miller, "Captain Thomas Carter and His Descendants," William and Mary Quarterly. 1st ser., 17(1908-09): 275-285. )

[82.6] The glebe in an colonial Anglican parish was the land owned by the parish on which its minister lived. In the case of Lancaster County's two parishes, Christ Church and St. Mary's White Chapel. it consisted of some 839 acres lying about two and a half miles (longer by roads) northeast of "Corotoman." John Bell, the minister during Carter's lifetime, lived there. Carter as a church warden, would have been one of those responsible for the upkeep of the house on the property.(Sorrells. Landholders & Landholdings. p. 11. )

[83] John Coppedge appears as a justice of the peace in Northumberland County in 1714, but was not listed in 1726 there when the name appears as the surveyor of Lancaster County. ( Louis des Cognets, Jr., English Duplicates of Lost Virginia Records. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. 1981, 27, 36. )


[84] Broad Run lies in today's Fauquier and Prince William counties, running roughly northwest to southeast until it joins Cedar Run in Prince William to form the Occoquan River. ( Alexandria Drafting Company. Regional Northern Virginia. [Alexandria, VA: Alexandria Drafting Company, 2002.] See the indexes and maps for these counties. )


[85] Little Fork drains into what was named the Hedgeman River, a branch of the Rappahannock, on the 1751 Fry-Jefferson map; modern maps label the Hedgeman as the main branch of the Rappahannock. It was in the area labeled as Prince William County by Fry and Jefferson.


[85.5] A John Webb was the overseer at Morattico a large farm of some 1,800 acres in Richmond County, in the 1733 inventory of Carter's estates. (Miller, Place-Names of the Northern Neck. . . . , 19, 102-103, and "Carter Papers: An Inventory. . . ." )


[86] Carter probably acquired this Lancaster County property from Jackson; it is referred to in the Lancaster County Court Orders book as "Robert Carter . . . his mill formerly called Jackson's mill." (Jones, Orders Book Entries. . . . p. 321. )


[87] This property is six miles southeast of Williamsburg; in his will, Carter directed that it be called "Carter's Grove" in perpetuity, and this is the name it bears today. The house on the property was built by Carter's grandson, Carter Burwell, beginning about 1750.


[87.4] Mrs. Sullivan ran the boarding house where Carter stayed while in Williamsburg.


[87.5] The Oxford English Dictionary states that dunghill fowls are "common barndoor fowls, as distinguished from the game-cock, etc. "


[87.7] Richard Chichester (1657-1734) came to Virginia in 1702. He married Anne Fox Chinn, and settled in Lancaster County. ( "Virginia Gleanings in England," Virginia Magazine of History and Biography , 21 (1913):249-253. )


[87.8] Lancaster County Court Orders Book 7, 1721-1729, p. 129, as abstracted in Jones, Orders Book Entries . . . Referring to "Robert Carter. . . ."


[87.9] Charles Barber had been sheriff of Richmond County in 1704 and 1715, and its surveyor in 1721. (McIlwaine. Executive Journals of the Council. . . . , 3[1705-1721]: 271,398, and 540 )


[88] "William Forrester had been murdered on November 5, 1723, by Thomas Glascock whose son Gregory was named as an accessory." The lands owned by Glascock reverted to the proprietors, and Carter apparently managed them for some years for the benefit of Glascock's heirs; he later acquired title to the properties which are mentioned in his will. (Ryland. Richmond County Virginia. . . . p. 101.


[88.5] John Tarpley (1661-ca. 1739) was sheriff and a justice of the peace in Richmond County ( "Capt. John Tarpley I Family : ?England and Virginia. " http://www.next1000.com/family/EC/tarpley.johnI.html )


[88.6] There is no property named "Wallace" in Carter's will. Perhaps he refers to it by its overseer's name.


[88.7] There is a Lyons Creek on the south side of the James River slightly upstream from "Carter's Grove." It forms the boundary of Surry and Isle of Wight counties.


[88.8] John Fitzhugh (d. 1733) of Stafford County, a younger son of William Fitzhugh of "Bedford." He was a burgess from Stafford in 1727. ( "The Fitzhugh Family." Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 7[1899-1900]: 317-19. )


[88.9] Thomas Posford commanded ships trading to Virginia from London for many years. He was a friend of William Byrd (1674-1744) who recorded Posford's name in diary entries made both in Virginia and in London. Two of his commands were the Harrison and the Hannah . (Tinling, Marion. The Secret Diary of William Byrd. . . . ; Louis B. Wright and Marion Tinling, eds. The London Diary (1717-1721) and Other Writings. [New York: Oxford University Press, 1858]; J. Douglas Smith. "[Capt.Posford mentioned in Byrd's Diary 1709-12-commander of the ship "Harrison]" 'Wetherburn's Tavern Historical Report, Block 9 Building.' Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series-1638. at http://research.history.org/DigitalLibrary/View/index.cfm?doc=ResearchReports%5CRR1638.xml; and Survey reports 6800 on Adm. 68/194 and 6801 on Adm. 68/194-5, Virginia Colonial Records Project.


[88.95] A Captain John Cobb commanded the Willis , a ship of 300 tons with 20 men, in 1727-28. The ship was owned by merchants Haswell and Brooks which may have been a London firm. ( Survey Report 6801 on Adm. 68/194-5, ff. 4r, Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia. )


[89] "In an action of debt between Charles Burges Gent plt & Bryan Pullen deft for thirteen thousand pounds of Tobo . . .," the parties agreed to allow Carter "finally to decide & determine their difference on this suit from which they jointly agree not to appeal. . . ." (Lancaster County Court Orders Book 7, 1721-1729, as abstracted in Jones, Orders Book Entries. . . . p. 116. )


[89.4] Matthew Kemp was a successful merchant in Middlesex County where he was also a justice, militia officer, and sheriff. (McIlwaine. Executive Journals of the Council. . . . , 4[1721-1739]: lv, 12, 107, 200, 205. See also numerous references in Rutman and Rutman, A Place in Time: Middlesex. . . . )


[89.5] William Downman was a justice of Richmond County from 1718, sheriff in 1722 and 1723, and a tobacco inspector in 1731 and 1732. (Ryland. Richmond County Virginia. . . . p. 504; and McIlwaine. Executive Journals of the Council. . . . , 4(1721-1739): 12, 34, 238, 286 )


[89.6] Simon Sallard (d. 1747) was referred to in the 1733 inventory of Carter's property as "Mr." He was then the manager of the plantations in Richmond and Northumberland counties, and the overseer of Brick House Quarter in Richmond County. ("Carter Papers: An Inventory. . . ." ; Morton. Robert Robert Carter of Nomini Hall. p. 33; and Greene. The Diary of Colonel Landon Carter. . . . p. 304. )


[89.7] In Carter's time, a chariot was a light, four-wheeled open carriage. ( Oxford English Dictionary. )


[90] Captain Constantine Cant commanded the Buwell which may have been owned by William Dawkins and Micajah Perry as Carter would report her arrival to each of them. ( Adm. 68/194-195, found in the microfilms of the Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia ; and Survey Report 6800 for Adm. 68/195, ff. 76v, op. cit. . )


[91] This probably was the Princess Amelia, Weymouth merchant Edward Tucker's ship commanded by Captain Lawrence. (Survey Report 9729 detailing the Weymouth Port Books, found in the microfilms of the Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.)


[92] John Zuil was a merchant and was probably the ship's captain that Carter mentioned in his diary August 1,172,. "Zuil Saild Gave me a Bottle Snuff." In what British city Zuil lived is not clear, but it may have been Liverpool because city directories of 1767-1773 list a John Zuil as a merchant, first in Cable Street, and later, in King Street. This probably would have been a son of the man Carter knew, given the shorter lives at this period. ( "Yuil Family Newsletters," Issue #24 Fall. 1998http://www.http://yulefamily.com/newsletters/yule24.htm, 11/6/2009. )



This revised text posted March 29, 2010.