Carrington Family; Wm. and Mary Qrtly., Vol. 1, No. 4 Transcribed by Kathy Merrill for the USGenWeb Archives Special Collections Project ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net *********************************************************************** Carrington Family William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Papers, Vol. 1, No. 4, (Apr., 1893), pp. 225-226. CARRINGTON FAMILY Mr. Peyton R. Carrington, of Richmond, writes an interesting letter con- cerning the Carrington family. He quotes from a letter of Mrs. Elizabeth Carrington of Buckinghamshire, England, 18 July, 1868: "I was perfectly aware of the connection between your branch of the Carrington family, that is if you are descended from the George Carrington, son of Mr. Paul Carring- ton, who went to America. He is put down in our record as having emigrated * *". The granddaughter of George, the emigrant, Miss Eliza G. Carrington, daughter of his youngest son, Major Mayo Carrington was alive in 1868, and remembered the crest of the family on some pewter plate that she had brought from her old home, Boston Hill, Cumberland Co., but could not distinctly describe the crest. The arms of the family of Mrs. Elizabeth Carrington of Buckinghamshire, England are: "Ar on a bend sa. three lozenges of the field. Crest - out of a ducal coronet or a unicorn's head sa. George Carrington came to Virginia in 1723, with the family of Joseph and William Mayo. But it seems that long ere that time, Paul, his father, had visited Virginia, as the following letters attest: Barbadoes, April ye 15th 1703. Mr. Paul Carrington: Sr we have ordered Capt. Hawkings to apply himselfe to you when he arrives in Virginia. Wee desire that you would assist him in fraughting ye sloop Back for the Island. If you cannot fraught her in five weeks' Time at ffive pounds per Tunne then wee Desire you would send her for Philadelphia to Mr Charles Sober. What ffraught shee makes to Virginia wee Desire that you would Remitt in Tobacco, Pitch & Tare in ye Sloop. If ye Sloop ffraught in Virginia, wee desire that you would put 50 live Hoggs on Board out of ye ffraught money. We leive it to yor managemt not doubting but that you will do for us as if it were your own. Wee wish you a Prosperous Voyage from yor ffriends & Servts ANTHO PALMER & Compa. Barbadoes, Aprill ye 13th 1703. Capt. Richard Hawkins: Wee do Order you to Repair on Board ye Sloope Elizabeth whereof you are Master and Get ye vessell under Sail & keep Company wth ye Man of Warr as farr as Shee will goe to ye Northward and when she Lieves you then make ye best of your way to Virginia, and when Please Page 226. God you arrive there apply your self to our ffriend Mr Paul Carrington, & hee will assist you in getting fraught Back for the Island. If you find you cannot Gitt fraught at five pounds Pr Tunne and be Laded in a month or ffive weeks Time then lay out the ffraught money in Tarr & Pitch & goe for Phila- delphia and apply yorselfe to onr ffriend Mr charles Sober & he will assist you in Getting ffraught for this Island. Pray be as Speedy as you can in making a Quick voyage that you may go home for London wth ye ffleet that Intends to sail ye Latter End of July next, wee wish you a Prosperous voyage. Concludes from yor ffriends to serve you ANTHO PALMER & CO. These letters were used in a suit at a court held for York Co., June 24th 1703, between "Paul Carrington of ye Island of Barbadoes, Mercht", and said Hawkins. The complaint of Carrington was that: "Whereas ye sd Paul Carrington at the port of Carlile in ye Island of Barbadoes upon ye 15th of Aprill in ye Second year of ye Reigne of ye Queen that now is Shippped severall goods &c. upon ye sd sloop whereof ye sd Hawkins was then Master and Bound for James River in the Dominion of Virginia wch sd goods &c. consisted in Negroes, Rum, Sugar and Molasses and wear to be delivered in good order and well conditioned at ye port aforesd were waste, Damnified, &c., to his Damage 200L. Genll Issue not Guilty by Hawkins' Attorneys Richard Wharton and Robert Hyde. Jury Impanelled and verdict - "Not guilty". Counter suit by Richard Hawkins, Mariner, &c. for 48 pounds sterl. due from Paul Carrington for the "ffraught of 18 Negroes and one White Boy". The Defendant by his attorney, Mr. Samuel Selden(1), pleaded "Nil debit per patriam". And both plaintiff and defendant produced their orders from owners of the sloop. Verdict by the jury, "We find for the defendant". ________________________________________ (1) Samuel Selden was founder of the Selden family in Virginia, and a lawyer. In estimating the edcational facilities of the Colony, we must not overlook the influence of the legal profession. Franklin Minor of Va. said: "To my observation no influence has been so potent to inform the minds of our people, as the debates of our speech-making politicians in the Legislature and on the hustings". (Letters and Times of the Tylers, Vol. I., p. 237). The lawyers early developed in the Colony, and, though legislated against at first, after 1660 secured acknowledged ascendency. Charles Francis Adams says that in New England the legal profession was of little moment until about 1758. And yet, as he properly observes, "the controversies which terminated in the war and revolution of independence were all upon points of law" - Life of John Adams, I., p. 36.