Old Letters of the Revolution Source: The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Jul., 1903), pp. 47-52 Published by: Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1914743 . Accessed: 19/05/2014 10:59 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The William and Mary Quarterly. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 193.105.154.67 on Mon, 19 May 2014 10:59:47 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
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Old Letters of the RevolutionSource: The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Jul., 1903), pp. 47-52Published by: Omohundro Institute of Early American History and CultureStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1914743 .
Accessed: 19/05/2014 10:59
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
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Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserveand extend access to The William and Mary Quarterly.
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queath to my two grandsons, Charles Jordan and George Bates, 500 acres of land in Henrico county, on the north side of James River, to be laid off at the lower end of a tract of 1,030 acres, which I have Tarleton Woodson's bond for, and if they should die before they come of age, it is my will that my two grandsons, Samuel and Matthew Jordan, have the two parts." (Goochland County Records.)
5 COL. JOHN8 FLEMING, burgess for Goochland in 1732 and 1737, married Hannah Bates, and his will was recorded in Cum- berland county, 27 December, 1756. It names children, 9 John4, to whom he gives the plantation called "Maiden's Adventure," Captain First Virginia Regiment in the Revolution, killed at the battle of Princeton 1776. 10 Charles, Lt.-Col. Continental Troops, Third Virginia Regiment. 11 Thomas, Colonel of the Ninth Virginia Continental troops, died 1776. 12 William, Judge of Virginia Supreme Court, born July 6, 1736, died in Chesterfield county, February 15, 1824, leaving daughters. 13 Richard. 14 Mary, married, in 1748, William Bernard. 15 Car- oline.
9 JOHN4 FLEMING (John, Charles, John), burgess for Cum- berland county, in 1759, 1760, 1761, 1762, 1763, 1764, 1766, 1767', calls himself "attorney-at-law," in his will, married Su- sannah , and had issue, 16 John, named in his will in Cum- berland county, proved 27 April, 1767. He names also father John, and brothers Charles, Thomas, William and Richard. Col. John Fleming, "an eminent practitioner in the law," died Janu- ary 2 1767. (Virginia Gazette.)
(To be Continued.)
OLD LETTERS OF THE REVOLUTION.
These letters were sent me by Judge W. J. Leake, of Rich- mond, with the following comments:
When the iaxall Mills were sold, a few years ago, there were found stored in old boxes and trunks many musty old letters and papers, the accumulation of one hundred years in the Haxall family. The purchasers of the mills immediately began to pull down the buildings, and these papers were searched over for old postage stamps by some one, and disarranged and much torn.
No one of the Haxall family took charge of them, so had some
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of them, musty and rat-eaten, taken to my house, and stored in the basement.
Among these papers were many apparently belonging to the estate of Duncan Rose, and from all I could gather, I suppose- .M1r. Williamr Haxall, of Petersburg, Va., was his executor or administrator, and hence they found their way into the attic of one of the buildings of the Columbian, or Haxall's Mills.
I understand that Duncan Rose was a Quarter Master or Com- pany Agent of the State of Virginia during the Revolution, then one of the Auditors during the same period, and at the time of his death, which was about 1801-'03, he was one of the Masters for the High Court of Chancery.
I send you herein: 2. A letter dated June 4, 1778, from Archibald Richardson to
Duncan Rose, Suffolk, Va. It has no signature, but seems to have been delivered to William Turner (as well as I make out the name) for him to deliver to Duncan Rose.
1. An autograph letter of Thomas Jefferson to Duncan Rose, dated December 13, 1781.
3. A letter from Conway Whittle, dated Norfolk, 13th of September, 1798, to Henry Haxall, Petersburg, Va., in which Mr. Whittle speaks of the arrival in Norfolk of Mr. Haxall's' brother, presumably William Haxall, as in the close of his letter the writer sends his love to Philip Haxall.
The letter is to Henry Haxall, commonly called Harry Haxall, of Petersburg, Va. The three Haxalls, viz., William, Harry and Philip, were great friends, as shown by these old papers of Messrs. Conway and Fortescue Whittle, and they were engaged in commerce separately and on joint account frequently, char- tering vessels for European ports and the West Indies, especially for Barbados, and Martinique, and Jamaica. These three Hax- all brothers were natives of Exning, Suffolk Co., England, and children of William Haxall and Catherine Newton, his wife, of that place. (See Bristol Parish.)
William2 Haxall, the eldest of these sons, first came to Bar- bados, and thence to Virginia in or about 1780. He first settled at Norfolk, but shortly afterwards moved to Petersburg, and in 1786-'87, he was a member of a firm of merchants doing large importing and exporting business under style of laxall & West, in Petersburg, Va. Mr. West seems to have lived in Baltimore.
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IHenry Hlaxali, a brother, seems to have come later. In 1797 the firm has changed to William and I. Haxall, and so con- tinued for many years.
Philip Haxall, another brother, seems to have come to Peters- burg about 1786, when only sixteen years old, and was first em- ployed in his brother William's business, or with Haxall & West, but in a few years went into partnership with his two brothers in the milling business of the Petersburg Mills, under style of P. Haxall & Co., and so continued until the two brothers, Philip and William Haxall, bought the Columbian Mills in Richmond, when Philip moved to Richmond.
The said Henry Haxall married the widow of John Shore, of "Violet Bank," but died without issue. Some interesting liti- gation grew from a fire which destroyed the house at "Violet Bank," and which was insured in the Mutual Assurance Society of Richmond.
William2 Haxall married a widow, Mrs. Jones (I don't know anything more of her), and he died without issue.
Philip Haxall married Clara Walker (see Slaughter's Bristol Parish), and left many descendants, though few are living of the name. My present wife is a great-granddaughter of Philip Haxall, thus-
Philip Haxall and Clara Walker. Issue: Richard Barton Haxall, married Octavia Thomson. Issue, Clara Haxall, mar- ried T. Billopp Grundy; issue, Clara Haxall Grundy, married, first, R. F. Beirne, second, W. J. Leake.
THOMAS JEFFERSON TO DUNCAN ROSE.
RICHMOND, Dec. 13, 1781. DEAR SIR:
I have the pleasure your favors of the 10th & 13th now before me. Should the report of the Committee of Trade or your claim come on while I am here I will propose the order that the commercial agent pay *your balance on a supposition that the account does in its nature belong to that department. This being done, it will be easy for you and he to accommodate your matters, as that any purchases you may make may be placed against his debts to you.
The warrants for ?10,000 & 11,680? which you mention to be ex- pressed for tobo due on public account, I suppose to be in part of your salary. I am informed since I came to town that the Assembly either have passed or will certainly pass an act for paying all the public debts -now outstanding, with their depreciation. When this will be done is
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not easy to forsee, but it gives a hope of justice some day or other. With respect to the warrant for ?11,250 it would be just that the public should pay on this the depreciation which incurred between the 18th of April & 23d of July, that is, between its date and paiment, had it never been paid I suppose it would come in on the footing of the two warrants first above mentioned; but being paid, it stands in an immense crowd of private losses by depreciation incurred while the treasury was with- out money, into which I apprehend the assembly will never enter on account of the multiplicity & intricacy of the accounts of that kind, which, in that case, would be brought in to be overhauled. This loss, therefore, however unjustly, will, I fear, fall on you. The depreciation from July 23 to Oct. 15, that is, from your receipt of the money at the treasury till paid to Mr. Cox for Genl. Morgan, cannot, with justice, be made the loss of any person but yourself, unless there was any default in Mr. Smith. The paiment made on the 15th of October to Mr. Cox (whom I understand to have been duly authorized to receive the money either for Genl. Morgan or Mr. Beall) should in honour, as it does in law, discount so much of the 15 M. tobo, as it was worth at that time, and, of course, that you are liable either in law or honour for the bal- ance only.
Make no apology to me for giving me opportunities for serving you. The obligation is on my part, & so will ever be deemed, as I am, with very great sincerity, Dr Sir Your friend & servt
I reed yours of 2d current, and really am astonish'd at the masterly Stile in which you express yourself; shall endeavour to the best of my poor abilities to give a full answer.
With respect to the Hhd Hats you mention I know nothing about, C. Calvert, haveing never inform'd me which was the State's goods (by Capt Archer), or which was yours, they appear to be all Jumbled to- gether is the reason of my sending Pork instead of Goods for fear of a mistake which I would willingly avoid. It is out of my power to make a proper distinction until C. Calvert returns.
The team of 5 horses know not anything about the waggons haveing- never been in my care; I should suppose Majr Cowper could inform you, as Col. Finnie has appointed him quarter Master at Suffolk, under whose directions I consider the waggons. The Team drove by Rawlings no doubt has reach Suffolk before this. Drivers is not to be got here on any terms.
The waggoners it seems has complain'd to you that they are to go Wmsg. for their pay, and be doc'd half their acet. You request me to, contradict this report. How was it possible for me to contradict a
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Carter fabricating a story to Obtain their money of you at Suffolk to take every note that Carters brings make a, proper Invoice of the Tobo is impossible, some of them brings no note, and others comes without a Head in the Hhd they bring, & the Tobo clear of the Staves which obliges me to have Tobo rold in the House without a Hhd, and a Cooper is not to be got here, as I before inform'd whatever Tobo that may be Stolen in Calvert's Absence shall take particular Acet of none has been stolen since he went a way; it lies here expos'd, & nobody on Savees side to take it away.
You tell me I am to pay Cartage, but first of all, I must be furnished with a Sum of Money for that purpose.
- Whatever Mr. Hawkins tells you about the Tobo I know not. I only desired him to let his Negroes put 49 Hhd in the house that then lay on the wharf brought by Cooke. I was only to pay him for putting it in the House.
You say I should consider whether I have a proper Authority lav- ishly to give away the publick Money, from which I know not what to infer, without you suppose Hawkins & myself in Liegue together to rob the publick. I do assure you, Mr Rose, this part of your letter cuts me to the very heart.
I have done business for the publick for more than twelve Months, & never had such an ungenerous charge laid to me by your superiors.
You seem to suppose matters in your own imagination, and conclude them to be fact, from which you pass condemnation unheard.
I never made the least agreement with Hawkins about Cartage, as I expected Capt. House would do his duty in pressing his waggons.
You tell me you are appointed one of the Auditors, and caution me against glareing impositions. I tell you, Sir, I am not afraid for my Accts to appear before any body of Men in the World, much more before two or three Auditors.
I never had an Acet disputed, & was it to be the case now or for any of them to be disallowed, thank God, providence has placed me in that State of life in which I can live independent of any Man or set of Men.
C. Calvert did offer me a Sum of money here provided I would draw on the Treasurer, which I did not think I had a right to do. I told him I would take it, & give him a receipt to pay Cartage, but he did chuse to do it.
Endorsed, June 5th, 1778. I this morning reed the within letter from the hands of Mr Archd Richardson as from himself to Mr Duncan Rose.
party to Hampton Roads to see a prize last evening brought in by the Frigate Constitution. The prize is a French Cruiser of 20 or 22 guns, and full of men taken on this Coast. The particulars I have not heard. The Capt of the Constitution is just arrived from the roads. Of Course the particulars will be related.
Your brother Intends returning by next post; by him I shall write again fully; dull times here and general distress for Cash to pay the Custom House. If you have more than you want, it would be an act of Charity to give me temporary aid. The schooner Mary arrived this day from Martinique; she was Chartered by your Master Wm when here, and loaded on Joynt act with friend White. I went on board Expecting letters for both, but not a single scrape. The Capt says the Consignee wrote you by a vessel for Baltimore. The reason he had no letters was he was bound for St. Thomases, and did not Expect to be here. He says the flower sold for $12 Dollars.
Give my love to Philip-health & respect- C. WHITTLE.
Address, Mr. Henry Haxall, Mcht Petersburg.
Endorsed, Conway Whittle, 13 Sept, '98.
HOW THE PLANTERS FROM VIRGINIA SAVED THE PLYMOUTH COLONY.
The Pilgrim Puritans from Holland sailed under a charter obtained from the Virginia Company, intending to make their settlement somewhere near the Delaware Bay. Under this char- ter, John Carver was elected Governor, and when, by miscalcula- tion, they landed in Massachusetts, the compact signed in the cabin of the Mayflower simply repeated the substance of the general orders of the Virginia Company. (See Eggleston's Beginners of a Nation, page 173.) The liberal-minded Sir Ed- win Sandys, who was -such a friend of the Virginia colonists, was also a patron of the Pilgrims as well. Nevertheless, New Eng- land writers have not been content with giving the Pilgrims the honor due to them. Hutchinson, in his History of Massachu- setts, asserts that the Virginia Colony had virtually failed, and that the Pilgrim settlement was the means of reviving it (Hutch- inson's History of Massachusetts, Vol. I., p. 11). This has been often repeated on no other authority than that of Hutchinson, who wrote nearly a century and a half after the event.
Now this is a remarkable case of reversing the cause and effect. Bradford's contemporary Narrative shows very clearly that the
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