BUSINESS DEALINGS OF ROBERT B. VOSS RELATED TO TOBACCO IMPORTS, LANDS IN KENTUCKY AND KANAWHA [VIRGINIA], etc. Four letters addressed to him from various correspondents, 1786 - 1810, including John Tayloe

The letters, all addressed to Robert B. Voss, concern his business interests. The group includes: 1) Henry Martin, London to Mr. R.B. Voss, in his absence Mr. Edwd. Voss, Richmond, Virginia. 2 Feb'y 1786. 2 pp., approx. 325 words, folded and addressed on the integral leaf. Some short tears at folds, affecting a word or two, but all in a clear hand. Martin informs Voss that he has taken this opportunity to forward "your Box with [Ha.?]" and then discusses the British Parliament's coming session in January 1787 which will take up the matter of a duty on Tobacco. The bill in question would reduce duties for the merchant or importer, splitting it with the tobacconist or manufacturer, thereby hoping to discourage smuggling. Martin thinks this will prove more advantageous to the trade in America. [presumably this is a reference to William Pitt's "Consolidation Act of 1787" which was intended as a major revision of customs duties] 2) Jonathan Swift, Alexandria to Robert B. Voss, Esq., Attorney at Law, Culpeper, c/o Mr. Vernon at Rappahanock Forge. 2 Feb'y 1792. 1 1/2 pp., approx. 230 words, folded and addressed on the integral leaf. Swift says he had received from his friends Messrs. Lovell & Urquhart a copy of the patent and survey of the Kentucky lands he had purchased from Voss. Voss claimed he had lost the original patent and survey but could get another if he made oath he had lost them. Swift says that without original copies, he cannot resell the land. 3) John Tayloe to R.B. Voss, Esquire, Stevensburg, Culpeper Cty, Va. April 7, 1810. 1 1/2 pp., approx. 110 words, folded and addressed on the integral leaf. Short splits along several of the folds. Tayloe reports that he has all the papers relative to the Kanhawa [sic] land: "5800 acres sold to [Carter] Beverley & have executed my deeds to him for the same - which I have this [day] tendered to Mr. Lowe (sp?) - which he has refused to accept for you - alleging he had not your instructions to receive them." Tayloe says that in case he leaves the City before he can give him the papers, Voss will find them in the hands of Gen. Breckenridge. Boldly signed by Tayloe. [John Tayloe III (1770-1828) was one of the wealthiest men in Virginia at this time; a military officer, who had also served in the Virginia House and Senate.] 4) F.T. Hughes, Richmond to Robert B. Voss, Stevensburg, Culpeper. 30 Dec. [no year]. 1 p., approx. 125 words, in an impeccable hand. Regarding Voss's daughter attending his school for young ladies, Hughes apologizes for neglecting to mention in his ad that he had not yet acquired any musical instruments for the school by which they might be taught "the more polite though less useful branches of education," but that such instruction could be obtained "in the neighborhood." [Voss had a daughter Susan, the likely student]. Robert Brooke Voss lived in Richmond and later Stevensburg, Culpeper County, Virginia, working as an attorney. His brother Edward Voss managed part of the family brickyard business in Fredericksburg, and contracted to provide bricks for the construction of the state capitol building in Richmond. According to a history of the extended family by Michael Marshall, "The Vaulx Family of England, Virginia, and Maryland," [2012, pp. 136-7], this branch, spelling the name "Voss," advertised several parcels of land and dwellings in the Culpeper area for sale in the Independent Gazette of Philadelphia in 1786. Some ten years later, some of the same property was again for sale, in an ad on 9 Aug. 1796 in the Federal Gazette of Baltimore. This time mention is made of 10,000 acres "of valuable Kentucky LAND, 200 of which is military, 1000 on Cumberland River, 1000 at the junction of the Tennessee and Ohio river, which was located early in the year 1783.". …