Original Letter - Thomas Ludwell; Wm. and Mary Qrtly., Vol. 3, No. 3

Transcribed by Kathy Merrill for the USGenWeb Archives Special Collections Project

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Original Letter

   Thomas Ludwell

   William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 3.

   (Jan., 1895), pp. 197-199.

                             ORIGINAL LETTER.

   [This letter, the original of which is found among the Ludwell MSS., Virginia Historical
Society, should be read in connection with "The Ludwell Family", October number 1892.]

THOMAS LUDWELL, OF BRUTON, ENGLAND, TO PHILIP LUDWELL, OF VIRGINIA.

                                                    BRUTON, 4 January,m 1723-'4.

MY HONOURED KINSMAN,

   I am very much obliged to you for ye good account you gave me of ye happiness & prospering
conditions of that part of my Relations in Virginia.  I pray God to increase his Blessings
upon them that they may abound in all ye good things of this Life and that which is to come.
I thank God ye most part of us here are in a good way, but my oldest kinsman Robert Ludwell
has

Page 198.

made a Breach amongst us by marrying a young Wench of no Fortune nor Reputation, insomuch that
though I used all the persuasion I could think of to hinder it & requested all my friends to
do the same, yet he went perversely on & concluded it on purpose to affront me.  This gave me
some uneasiness at first, but to show him I would not bear it, I altered my will & have settled
an Estate of 2000 lb value I designed for him on his younger Brother, John Ludwell, who
married into an honest Familie & lives handsomely.  Capt. Williams of Briston came hither last
Spring & saw by accident a young girl of my youngest nieces I have bred up & told Capt. Fry
he was certain she was of kin to ye Ludwells, she being so well like ye Daughter Mrs. Hannah,
upon which I often call her by ye same name.  Her mother has 8 more of them & I saw all ye 9
at dinner with her this Christmas time.  I thank God she goes in very cheerfully among them &
shall not want my assistance.  We drank yr Tok'n merrily when Capt. Williams was here, & I
have put on a mourning ring in Memory of yr good Father.

   I have rec'd ye 2 Hhds of Tobaco you were so kind as to send me & thought my Kinsman R. L.
should have gotten Money by them, but upon this Rupture between us, he refused to undertake
ye doing of it; so I desired my Friend Capt. Whitchurch to sell them for me in Bristol, where
ye comodetie at present is very low & these tho' one of htem be stript yielded but 7d. 3/4 per
lb. & ye money to be payd in 3 Months.  The charges of bringing them over, ye cost in ye
Country &c will bring me about 40s in pockett.  But in this we must be beholding to our godly
neighbors of Scotland, who pay less Duty & consequently undersell us.  I do not write this to
complain of ye hard Bargains, for I shall take care to sell you ye balance in such goods as 
you direct me to buy at Bristol Fair ye 25th Instant, having no hopes of procuring you such
servants as you want, that being a thing no practicable here; and I am afraid to be conserned
in it, lest I should be accounted a Kidnapper.  Not but there are enough gardners & other 
workmen to spare here, but they will live meanly & send their Families to ye Parish to be
relieved, rather than hear of such a long journey to mend their condition.

   As to ye Cottington Relations ye eldest brother lives on his Estate at Funthill in Wilt-
shire & as I have heard has only one child, ye younger brother has ye estate at Godmanster &
Discow & living upon it a Bachelour at present.

   When ye goods are bought, they shall be sent by ye next ship

Page 199.

bound for York River with an account of them which I hope may go as safe as ye To. came
hither.

   Be pleased to give my humble service to yr Lady & Familie & to all my other Relations in
ye part of ye world & to believe me to be,
           Honoured Sir,
              Your most humble Servant and Kinsman,
                                               TH. LUDWELL.