05 July 1823

Antigua July 5^th 1823

Sir.

                Inclosed you will receive a Bill of lading for eight Hdds of Sugar shipped on board the West Indian Brig, Cook Master, which ship left this port yesterday for London.

  These 8 Hdds are the only ones we have been able to make since my last letter, on account on the first Instance of calm weather, & since of a continuance of extreme heavy rains, more of which has fallen on this property,& generally throughout the Island than I have ever seen in a given time since I have been in this Country, I may even say for the present crop think is too much, but we must look forward to its paying us the next, as should have made more sugar but the bad (state?)of our roads would not admit of Carting the canes.  We have now about forty five Acres to take off which probably may make about 30 Hdds & which if the weather permits shell be ??? as fast as possible.  I would have suffered them to stay over as they were planted very late but on the current state of the weather our Cotton Crop for the next year would suffer and also prevent my planting the quantity of provisions needed we will therefore get on as fast as possible altho the sugar may not be as good as I could wish.

  I returned from Barbuda last week we have had an equal share of rain there, and I trust we shall have a large proportion of provisions planted, after this month I mean to take up my residence on that Island till after the Hurricane months.

  I hope if the present rains continue Antigua will make as large Crop next year, and that working Oxen will be in demand, we have a great number fit for sale; what I brought to this Estate have turned out well, without them I would have done ????  I have offered the pick of any Oxen on the Estate for sale which may be a means of getting rid of Barbuda Oxen.  Beef Cattle I can get little or nothing for I have sold a few ?? Cows at one shilling per pound formerly they fetched ??? this is the best price I can get & therefore must continue it, by the West Indian I forwarded to M^r. Trattle a duplicate of the Bill of Lading for the above mentioned sugar

                                                                I remain

Sir Your Most Obedient

Servant

(signed) John James

  

Reference: Gloucestershire Records Office, Microfilm no.351, Section no.6, D1610 C24

Accessed through Simon Fraser University library

09 June 1823

Clare Hall June 9^th 1823

Sir.

  By the Packet I received your two letters, one respecting Mr Blackburns claim, inclosing a letter to you from Mr Carr on the subject; it gave me great pleasure the(?) receiving it, as I feared the claim might have been brought on the last Court day, which was Tuesday last, & the last day for recovery this year. There letters I have given to the lawyer employed, & have requested him to write Mr Carr fully on the subject, which I purpose sending to him through you. Your other letter of the 20 April was also a great relief to me, as it enabled me to satisfy the clamorous of the creditors of Clare Hall, & last week I was beset on all quarters, many of there debts have been long standing, two actions were brought against the Estate, one for £12 .2 this I was not aware was owing, the amount never having been rendered to me; this I immediately paid. The other from Carlisle the Sadler for £152:9, who attempted to turn a produce account into cash; making at least 100 per cent difference; I have tended him rum which he has refused to take; I have therefore employed Mr Musgrave the Attorney General to make him the tender according to law & defend the action if not accepted. Some other cash transactions of Mr Icks I have been obliged to pay & have drawn on Mr Trattle for them as well as the taxes & Overseers salaries which I trust will be accepted, Mr Trattle shall have the accounts sent him by the George Hibbert, the greater part of Mr Eldridges account has been bearing in trust since April 1822. Inclosed you have a Bill of lading for fifteen Hds of sugar by(?) the Geo: Hibbert she will sail tomorrow or next day by her I also send you four Turtle, besides the 30 Hd^ds sugar shipped, I have paid away & sold 10 Hd^ds which has enabled me to pay a number of the small balances due, also one Hd^d paid the Customs House. The liberal authority you given me in your last letter will I trust enable me to get rid of the greater part of the debts, but I will withhold as many as I can & send you the sugars, was the whole of the crop appropriated to do this I think it would pay everything due in this Island. I shall if I can avoid it, pay the Debtors only in part, the debt due Doing & Aird of £234:1.9³/₄ & which was included in the first sent you, does not belong to you, as it was priv(?) to your taking full possession of the Estate they have therefore consented to give it up.

                The weather for the last three weeks has been very much against sugar making not having sufficient wind to move the mill, at the same time we have had an immense quantity of rain which tho it will do the present canes no good, will I trust be of much benefit to the next crop; as well as to the provision; of which I shall plant as much as possible in fact the quantity I mentioned to you would all have been planted had I been able to get of the rotten canes; I am happy to find that there is a good wind this morning & hope it will continue as the rain(?) changed last evening, Mr Osborn has furnished me with yams to plant. My next letter will be most probably from Barbuda.

                I remain

Sir

Your Most Obedient Humble

   Servant

(signed) John James

Reference: JJ276 Robson Lowe collection on microfilm 24995, University of Texas at Austin, Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection.

05 May 1823

Clare Hall May 5^th 1823

Sir.

                In my last letter of 11^th April I informed you that in consequence of your mentioning that the first sugars would probably bring a good price, I would ship by the two first vessels what I might have ready; I have therefore sent by the Glaphyra for London which will sail in a few days fifteen Hd^ds for when I enclose you are Bill of lading; I shall write Mr Trattle & send him by the Glaphyra a duplicate of the Bill of lading; also the list of the debt due. I had fifteen other Hd^ds ready for the Geo Hibbert as soon as she comes to St Johns, which will be in about ten days; but on their sugars I shall be under the absolute necessity of drawings some Bills; I have been very much pressed for the last two or three days for payments of some cash accounts some due last month, & some due three or four years back; but have refused until the sugars had sailed. Mr Eldridge has been very pressing, the amount of whose account you will see in the list I sent, it bears interest; I have therefore promised that he shall have a Bill by the next Packet, the Overseers must also be paid in Cash, Sugars for Cash will sell him for next to nothing, I have only been offered four Dollars equal to about 18 shillings Sterling per hundred weight, which price I have refused to part with any; Rum, & Molasses are equally low, but I trust by & by in payment of the debts they shall bring something higher, in fact I will do the best I can. I have had two or three small accounts sent to me since I sent you the list of debts, together not amounting to one hundred pounds Currency, I shall purchase as little as possible this year. A few Boards & shingles we must have, what I may be obliged to purchase I will pay for immediately in produce.  I am happy to say the weather since my last has been pretty favorable for the next Crop, I hope it will continue.  All the Canes are planted except the pieces which have Provisions, these can only be planted as the Eddoes & Potatoes are taken out, and they will keep but a short time out of the Ground, but I trust we shall complete all by the end of this month.  I still think we shall fall very little if any thing short of the quantity of Sugar I mentioned in former letters.  And we shall fully complete the quantity of land for Canes & Provisions for next Crop.

  Mr. Osborn I am happy to say is much better but still unwell, I find he means to try the Benefit of a trip to Barbuda the next time I go there, which will be as soon as the Glaphyra sails; I left it on Wednesday last, we had had fine rains on Monday I had planted Corn & Potatoes & left them planting more.

  The Articles for the smiths shop are arrived & the House nearly finished, it will save much expence.  Mule Harness which amounted to a pretty large sum will be done in future at Barbuda, as well as many other Items which you will observe by a reference to the list of debts due.

                I remain

Sir

Your Most Obed^t

   Servant

(signed) John James

Reference: JJ275 Robson Lowe collection on microfilm 24995, University of Texas at Austin, Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection.

11 April 1823

Clare Hall April 11^th 1823

Sir.

  The present Packet has brought me your favor of 18^th July you may rest assured that everything shall be conducted on this Estate with the utmost Economy, in one thing I have certainty added to the expense by increasing the Negroes allowance; on your Windward Estates they are all allowed twelve pints of Corn per week, on all others in this neighbourhood they have ten, on this property they had but eight, I now give them ten pints, the Negroes made no complaint because they were allowed in a manner to do what they pleased, Mr Ick told me the reason they had not this allowance of other Estates was they were so near town they could sell grass to help themselves, they are now I am happy to say perfectly content & do their work properly. We have been dreadfully dry some time past, but it is with much pleasure I inform you we had a good shower the day before yesterday, & yesterday morning, also some this morning, I had planted two pieces in the dry weather because I would not (???) the plants, these rains will I hope save them, I am now planting more, and shall have in before night 70 Acres,25 more to plant, 75 of which are well manured the rest shall be if possible, for the next year I shall plant from 25 to 30 Acres of Yams, the same quantity of Eddoes and about 14 Acres of potatoes which if there is weather will be a fair proportion.  For the two last weeks I was obliged to stop making Sugar as it began to be a little soft, we commenced again on Monday last, and have now eighteen Hd^s in the Curing Houses; of very fair Sugar, better I believe than has been made on the Estate for some time, of this Mr Trattle will be the Judge as I shall forward what may be had to him by the first Vessels the Glaphyra & Geo Hibbert (say) from 20 to 30 Hds.  I first intended keeping them till I had your orders respecting the debts due from the Estate in this Island, but your last letter mentioning that the first Sugars home would probably bring a good price will induce me to send as many as I can get ready; but then I must be under the necessity of drawing some Bills  I have been much pressed for payment of several Accounts by this Packet many of which Mr Ick had engaged to pay on the first of the present month, I shall put them off as long as possible and examine their Accounts narrowly, but such is the poverty of the times in this Island every one is craving for their money.  I trust my Accounts this year will be trifling nothing shall be purchased that can be dispensed with; the weather lately has been against us, but having taken care of the late canes I still trust we shall make the quantity of Sugar I mentioned in my former letters, in future I hope to be enabled with the help of Barbuda to manure every piece of Land that may be planted.  I have just heard that M^r Blackburns answer to your Bill in Chancery has again arrived in this Island, I can give you no particulars as the boat follows the Packet this afternoon; I suppose it will be bought before the Master immediately, your instructions respecting it I shall be happy to have.  M^r Jarvis arrived in the Packet I met him at Bettys Hope on Sunday last. I am sorry to say M^r Osborn has (been? Letter damaged) extremely and dangerously Ill, but am happy to say is now getting better.  I was at Barbuda last week we are very dry there I shall go back again in a few days & remain some time as I am endeavouring to put as much more land as possible having for provisions, in future I shall pay attention to your observation respecting the correspondence in the two properties, my family has been at Clare Hall since Christmas, and will remain here till the Hurricane months.  I suppose the Glaphyra will sail early in May

                    I remain

                                                                Sir

Your Most Obedient

Servant

 (signed) John James

Reference: JJ274 Robson Lowe collection on microfilm 24995, University of Texas at Austin, Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection.

16 March 1823

Clare Hall March 16^th 1823

Sir.

I am at last enabled to forward you the list of Debts due from this Estate in this Island, amounting to the sum of £3051.1. 1¹/₄  exclusive of £413.13:3³/₄ for which I had drawn on you to pay taxes & overseers salaries, there may be a few small accounts which have not yet come in but they cannot be to any amount you will observe that the doctors amount forms nearly one half of the amount they appear not to have received any thing for several years, I shall be greatly obliged by receiving your instructions respecting there amounts, & if you would wish me to apply any of the sugar towards their liquidation, I think many of them will be satisfied with receiving part of the amounts, the Doctors I know will. It will therefore be for your consideration what part of the amounts you will allow sugar to be applied to. I have opened new set of Books for the Estate, that the old Accounts may not interfere with mine; & I hope to have them in a more simple form than what are generally kept. We are now very (letter damaged) has been obliged to begin crops, have done but little as yet from want of wind we have made but 5¹/₂ H^ds & have about 2 more to make from a piece of 8 acres the sugar is pretty good, & I still hope we shall fall little if anything short(? Damage) of the quantity I mentioned in my two last letters. We had a good shower since I last wrote which enabled me to plant two more pieces, I am preparing all the land I can for provisions & hope to get in sixty or 70 acres of yams, Eddoes, Potatoes etc. I trust if I am enabled to dispense of the sugar in payment of the debts now due, that I shall not have an occasion to draw on you this year except for taxes & overseers salaries, these must be paid in cash many of the Debts will be due on the first of next month, I have no doubt but I shall be able to put many of them off till I hear from you, I am informed that sugar in paying that cash debts would bring about 6 Dollars per 100 pounds & from 25 to 30 per unit more in paying produce debts (the dollar is nine shillings currency), there would then be no 4 ^½ per cent duty, no Corks, freight or any store charges - several of the charges in the present accounts I shall be enabled to do away with in future, such as Blacksmiths work, repairing mule harnesses etc, which I shall now get done at Barbuda, I much fear from the falling off of the weather that this Island generally will make little more than it did last year..

  I have not been at Barbuda since I last wrote and from the want of wind this last week I have not heard from thence, when the last vessel came over they were getting in the Corn which I find was turning out pretty well, I have ordered a good deal of new (unreadable) to be sent for planting provisions. I shall go over next week, I was anxious to see this Bill fairly a (unreadable) on this Estate.  I am

Sir

Your Most Obedient Servant

(signed) John James

 

Reference: Gloucestershire Records Office, Microfilm no.351, Section no.6, D1610 C24

Accessed through Simon Fraser University library