Search

This collection is made up of four letters from sugar planter and cattle farmer Charles Gordon Gray of Fairfield, St. James, Jamaica, to his father Charles Gordon Gray, Sr., at Stratton House in Somersetshire. The Gray family had three plantations in St. James, Jamaica, including Virgin Valley, Prospect, and Fairfield. The younger Charles Gray provided his father with updates on the status of crops and rum production, shipments of sugar, financial and legal matters, enslaved laborers and a mention of the potential for revolt, and the handling of Prospect Pen land.

This collection is made up of four letters from sugar planter and cattle farmer Charles Gordon Gray of Fairfield, St. James, Jamaica, to his father Charles Gordon Gray, Sr., at Stratton House in Somersetshire. The Gray family had three plantations on Jamaica, including Virgin Valley, Prospect Pen, and Fairfield. The younger Charles Gray provided his father with updates on the status of crops and rum production, shipments of sugar, financial and legal matters, enslaved laborers and a mention of the potential for revolt, and the handling of Prospect Pen land.

See the box and folder listing below for details about the contents of each letter.

The Gardner family papers document the management of Joseph Gardner's Jamaica plantation after his death in 1780. The letters primarily concern Joseph's brother Theophilus Gardner, a Philadelphia merchant, who inherited the estate and attempted to manage and sell the property over the course of the following decade.

The Gardner family papers consists of 7 letters, 2 drafts of letters, and 1 financial document. The financial document is a note for £1103 with interest, addressed to John Gardner. The next six items are letters sent to Joseph's eldest brother Theophilus Gardner, who was the "heir at law" to the estate.

Items include the following letters: James White of Savanalamar, Jamaica, who informed Theophilus of his brother's death (1780); Andrew A. Robinson of Kingston, Jamaica, who warned that the estate was being mismanaged (1784); John Wedderburn, temporary manager of the estates, who described the production of and debts accrued by the estate and looked into having the property sold (1785 and 1786); and John Cunningham of Montego Bay, Jamaica, who took over the estate management (1789). The final three items are letters from Theophilus Gardner while he is in Jamaica with his daughter Betsy, including a letter and draft to his wife Peggy in New York, in which he described in detail his efforts to settle the estate (1789). The final item is a draft of a letter, written by Theophilus Gardner, that further details dealings with the estate (1789). These documents provide insight into plantation management and the difficulties of estate transfers in 18th-century Jamaica.