Administrative Information

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Publication Rights/ Restrictions on Use

Before publishing quotations or excerpts from any materials, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Librarian/ Assistant Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts, and the holder of the copyright, if not the Rockefeller Library at Colonial Williamsburg.

Preferred Citation

Robert Wormeley Carter Diary, MS 41.1, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Acquisition Information

Gift, 1941.

Alternative Form

Also available on microfilm (M-1317.1)

Biographical/Historical Information

Robert Wormeley Carter (1734-1797), of Sabine Hall, member of the House of Burgesses, 1769-1776, of the State Conventions of 1774 and 1775, and of the House of Delegates, 1779, 1781-1782.

Scope and Content Information

The diary, written on interleaved pages in the Virginia Almanack for 1776, pertains to his personal and business affairs at Sabine Hall, including plantation upkeep and work and agreements with overseers. Other entries record a meeting of the Committee of Safety for Richmond County, VA; Carter's defeat in the 1776 election for the Convention; a general militia muster; births, marriages, deaths, and visits; and money paid out and due--mostly for gambling debts at whist and tredrille.

Friends and relatives mentioned in the diary include Capt. Ball, [William] Beale, Mr. Thom[a]s Brockenb[rou]gh, [Charles] Carter, Col. L[andon] Carter, Mr. Colston, M[oore] Fauntleroy, Dr. Nicholas Flood, [the Rev. William] Giberne, James Gordon, John Guthrie, Jesse Hill, Col. F[rancis Lightfoot] Lee, Harry Lee, Mann Page, Jr., Col. Peachy, Harrison Randolph, Col. Tayloe, and John Wormeley.

Index Terms

Persons:

• Ball, Burgess, 1749-1800.
• Braxton, Carter, 1736- 1797.
• Brockenbrough, Thomas, d. 1795.
• Carter, Charles, 1732-1806.
• Carter, Landon, 1710- 1778.
• Colston, William, 1744-1781.
• Fauntleroy, Moore.
• Flood, Nicholas, d. 1776.
• Giberne, Isaac William.
• Guthrie, John.
• Hill, Jesse.
• Lee, Francis Lightfoot, 1734-1797.
• Lee, Henry, 1729-1787.
• Page, Mann, 1749-1803.
• Peachey, William, 1729-1798.
• Randolph, Harrison.
• Tayloe, John, 1721- 1779.
• Wormeley, John, d. 1785.

Subjects:

• Gambling--Virginia--History--18th century--Sources.
• Almanacs, American--Virginia.
• Plantation management--Virginia--History--18th century-- Sources.

Corporate Names:

• Virginia. Committee of Safety.
• Virginia. Convention (1776)

Geographical Names:

• Virginia--Militia--History--Revolution, 1775-1783-- Sources.
• Virginia--History-- Revolution, 1775-1783--Committees of Safety--Sources.