Journal and Letters of Philip Vickers Fithian: A Plantation Tutor of the Old Dominion, 1773-1774.. Fithian Philip Vickers
of that colony. Struck by the beauty, good sense, and fortune of the young girl, he had secured her consent to become his wife. Frances Tasker Carter was an uncommon person. Notwithstanding the numerous children she had already borne her husband when Philip Fithian entered her household, she was still beautiful, elegant, and youthful looking. She was also well-informed and frequently surprised Fithian with the breadth of her interests. Ever cheerful and agreeable, she managed the household with fine success and carefully trained her seventeen children.
Besides a handsome dowry, Frances Tasker brought her husband a family influence that proved of great assistance in both his public and private career. Benjamin Tasker, her father, who had wide commercial connections, had served for thirty-two years as a member and President of the Council of Maryland, and for a period as acting-Governor. Her mother, Anne Bladen Tasker, was the daughter of William Bladen who had been successfully Secretary and Attorney-General of that colony. Thomas Bladen, her mother's brother, a former governor of Maryland, had removed to England and become a member of Parliament for Old Sarum, where he was now in an excellent position to promote the interests of his American relatives.[23]
Robert Carter led a busy life at "Nomini Hall." To utilize profitably the resources of an estate of seventy thousand acres was a task that demanded foresight and planning. He customarily cultivated as many as a dozen large plantations at once, and it was necessary that the operations on the several units be carefully integrated. Though tobacco constituted the crop of first importance on his estate, entire plantations were sometimes devoted to producing grain stuffs and supplies needed at "Nomini Hall" and on the other plantations. From time to time, too, Carter sought to develop other money crops which might supplement the constantly dwindling profits from tobacco. The preparation of new grounds to replace discarded fields constituted a laborious task that had to be coped with at intervals. He set up and equipped so many plantations that he resorted at one time to the signs of the zodiac for names for them.
Apart from the lands he himself cultivated, Carter rented or leased a large proportion of his estate to others. He developed an elaborate system of tenancy reminiscent in its principal features of the modern lien system and "share cropping." Lands were leased for varying periods under specific agreements as to the uses to be made of them, the provision of tools and other supplies by the landlord, and the proportion of the crops to be paid as rent. Other tracts were leased for a fixed money rental.
To Carter's interests as a planter and a landlord he added those of a manufacturer. When conditions made it economical or necessary to furnish his own supplies, he operated textile factories, salt works, grain mills, and bakeries to fill his own and his neighbors' needs. In his smiths's shops the simple farm implements of the time were forged and repaired, and work was also done for near-by planters. Through his wife's relations he received a one-fifth share in the Baltimore Iron Works. As part owner of this firm he produced bar and pig iron in large quantities on a commercial basis, and incidentally supplied raw materials needed on his plantations. He also carried on extensive operations as a merchant and factor. From his stores at "Nomini Hall," European manufactures and merchandise of every sort were dispensed. He owned a number of vessels which regularly carried supplies to the landings of other planters on the Virginia rivers and the Chesapeake and took their produce off their hands. Sometimes he provided these men with banking and credit facilities.
The scope of Carter's activities is indicated by the fact that at one time his slaves numbered over 500. In addition, he employed numerous white stewards, overseers, clerks, skilled craftsmen, and artisans. In a labor force so numerous and diversified the most careful adjustments in human relationships were necessary. In a very real sense Carter acted as a protector, father, physician, and court of last resort for all his people. No complaint was too insignificant to receive the master's consideration.
As part of the obligations of his station, the master of "Nomini Hall" served as a vestryman and a warden of his church in Cople Parish and performed other public duties. At the age of twenty-eight he was made a member of the governor's Council. His large estate made him eligible and his wife's uncle, Thomas Bladen, supplied the influence in England necessary to secure his appointment to this highest governing body in the colony. By virtue of belonging to the Council he also served as a colonel in the militia. As was customary, he was henceforth known as Colonel or Councillor Carter. In the latter capacity, he went twice a year to Williamsburg to advise the royal governor and to sit as a member of the General Court. For a decade after 1762 he found it pleasant and convenient to live at the Capital the greater part of the time. He acquired a residence in the town and established his wife and children there. With the outbreak of the disturbances which led to the Revolution, however, he returned with his family to "Nomini Hall" where he lived during the remainder of his active years, devoting his time to the development of his estate and the promotion of his commercial interests, the rearing of his family, and the quiet enjoyment of his scholarly and cultivated tastes. Despite his many duties, he spent much time in reading and in scientific investigation. An accomplished musician, he practiced daily on some of the numerous instruments at his home.
The social life of the family at "Nomini Hall" was of the most agreeable sort. Situated on a hill overlooking the Potomac and Nomini rivers, the mansion was admirably suited to the hospitable tradition of the region. A large rectangular structure of brick, covered with stucco, the great house was surrounded by more than thirty dependent structures or offices and presented an attractive and imposing appearance. The four principal offices were set off at a distance of one hundred yards from the corners of the house, and within the rectangle formed by these buildings was a long bowling green. Extensive and well-tended gardens provided agreeable promenades for members of the family and guests. One approached the mansion from the public highway through a wide avenue of poplars which terminated in a circle about the house. Viewed through this avenue from a distance, Fithian asserted, "Nomini Hall" appeared "most romantic, at the same time it does truly elegant."
The lower floor of the great house contained the master's library, a dining room, used also as a sitting room, a dining hall for the children, a ballroom thirty feet long, and a hallway with a fine stairway of black walnut. The upper rooms were used as sleeping quarters for members of the family and for guests. The older boys and their tutor slept above-stairs in one of the large offices that was also used as a schoolhouse. During the time Fithian was there Carter arranged to convert one of the lower rooms of this office into a concert or music room. Here he proposed to place the harpsichord, harmonica, forte-piano, guitar, violin, and German flutes which were in the great house, and to bring up for that purpose from his Williamburg residence, the organ which had been built for him in London according to his own specifications.
Seven of the nine surviving Carter children[24] and the Councillor's nephew, Harry Willis, were placed under Fithian's care. Benjamin, the eldest son, was a quiet, studious boy of eighteen. Robert Bladen, two years younger, loved the out-of-doors and cared little for learning. John Tasker, only four, was too young for instruction. Priscilla, the eldest daughter, was an attractive girl of fifteen. Anne Tasker, called Nancy, and Frances or Fanny, whom Fithian thought the "Flower of the Family," were thirteen and eleven respectively. Betty Landon was ten, and Harriot Lucy, a "bold, fearless, merry girl," was seven. Sarah Fairfax, the baby, was only a few months old at the time Fithian arrived.
Apart from the members of the family, the tutor, and the numerous domestics, various other persons maintained a more or less permanent connection with the household. Among these were Miss Sally Stanhope, the housekeeper, Mr. Randolph, who served as clerk and steward for Carter, Mr. Christian, a peripatetic dancing master who visited most of the great manor houses of the Northern Neck, Mr. Stadley, music master to the children, and Mrs. Oakley, who had nursed several of them at Williamsburg.
In no section of the colony were the great planters more numerous than in the Northern Neck; in none did they dominate society more completely. The families on the manor plantations associated on terms of intimacy. Gay assemblies, dances, balls, and banquets brought them together frequently. Dancing masters held their classes in rotation at the great plantation houses. At these homes their pupils assembled in turn, frequently accompanied by parents and friends. After the master had instructed the young men and women on these occasions, an informal dance was generally held. These families customarily congregated about the parish church
Sisters of Anne Bladen Tasker and Thomas Bladen had married Daniel Dulany, Samuel Ogle, and Christopher Lowndes, all men of important political and financial connections in their world.
Four of the seventeen Carter children were born after Fithian had left the family.