Letter to Colonel Daniel Parke, Jr. from William Byrd II

• Captain Parke was doubtless a kinsman of Col. Daniel Parke. father of William Byrd's first wife, who while Governor of the Leeward Islands, was killed during an insurrection. This Colonel Daniel Parke, Jr., was son of Colonel Daniel Parke, Sr., Secretary of State of Virginia, and Rebecca Evelyn, his wife; was himself for a time a member of the Virginia Council; was an aide to Marlborough at Blenheim and carried the first news of the victory to England, and as a reward was given the governorship of the Leeward Islands. He left a considerable estate, but it was for years the subject of great trouble and loss to his two daughters, the wives of John Custis and William Byrd.

To Captain Parke.

Westover, Febr'y 3rd, 1735. Dear Sir:

Surely I must have been very unlucky in the miscarriage of so many of your letters. I can recollect no more than two that I have had the pleasure to receive & neither of them from England, so I am quite in the dark, whether that which I directed thither came to your hand. But altho I had not the sad news from yourself, yet I was sensibly toucht with the account of your Shipwreck which I had from other People. The Sea owes you a great deal for what it has robbed you of & I wis.h with all my soul that Element may make you reparation some time or other. However I must own 'tis a comfort to understand that you bear your misfortunes so much like a Hero. If you can't perswade your Stars to prosper your worthy endeavours yet you support their Sullen Influence with cheerfulness, while others sink under such pressures you bear them with an elevation of spirit that makes you a gainer by your losses. For 'tis really worth while to suffer the worse spite the Devil can show you, to endure it with so much true philosophy.

I have maturely considered your project of coming hither with a large Ship the latter end of May. That will certainly be much too late for a young Interest that has most of its friends to make, especially when many accidents may fall out to make your arrival later. Besides our crop is so short that I am confident many old standers must go home dead freighted. These things duly considered, make me even against my own wishes, advise you sincerely not to come hither so late. I would by no means have you bawlkt in your first attempt lest you might determine never to make a second. In case you can Order your matters so as to come early next year, and declare for liberty of consignment you may trust your friends and your own perswading address to lead you.

If you could prevail with Mrs. Dunbar to side against her righteous brother Charles, it would be knights service, she may certainly release the debt if she pleases, because if it be due at all, 'tis due to Her, & as it was not recovered in her husband's life time, it can be no part of his Estate, & consequently can't go to his Executor. Besides it will make the suit appear much more monstrous and unnatural (to have one of Col'o Parke's murderers claim in his own right any part of his Estate). If Mrs. Dunbar will do so generous an act, I should be so far from grutching her any part of her good fortune that I should think she merited all Col. Parke did for her. I am no Prophet nor the son of a Prophet & yet I have a very strong impression that whoever brings so cruel a suit as this would be against Col. Parke's children (who would not gain one farthing by their Father's will if they must pay his West India debt), will never live to see the end of it. This I said of the late Mr. Dunbar, and I say it of all other such inhuman people who tread in his steps.

As for any papers that may of use in the causes, you are as good a Judge as I, which of them may be serviceable, and altho Col. Custice may not have deserved so much at your hands, yet it will be the more generous in you to benefit the Family in this particular, who will all think themselves highly obliged to you.

Hearing no further from your Friend Mr. Freeman about Westover, I have offered it to my old acquaintance Mr. Peter Beckford, of Jamaica, and expect his answer. I must dispose therefore to make myself easy & emancipate my self from that slavery to which all debtors are subject. The truth of it is this habitation lys at such a distance from the Bulk of my Estate, that I should get more than price by disposing of it.

All this Family join with me in wishing you all manner of Success in your affairs and hope providence will please to reward the Fortitude with which you bear adversity with a long train of good fortune & let us see with how much moderation you can flow in the Full tide of Prosperity. I am very affectionately,

Your.

-------------------- Lucy Parke Byrd was a product of a family in which great wealth was combined with misfortune. Her father, Col. Daniel Parke, abandoned his wife, Jane Ludwell, and their two daughters, Frances and Lucy, and returned to England where he managed to get elected to Parliament and to rise in prominence during the war with France of the early 1700s. Eventually appointed Governor of Antigua, in the Leeward Islands, Parke was killed in an uprising by island natives in 1710. 26

Daniel Parke II also had 2 natural children: Julius Caesar Parke, born about 1692 perhaps the son of a Mrs. Brown (alias Berry) referred to by Parke as a cousin who came to Virginia with Parke in 1692 and lived with him until 1697. The boy was brought up by Jane Ludwell Parke and was given an inheritance by Parke as "my godson".

Lucy, daughter of Mrs. Katherine Chester of Antigua and Daniel Parke II, was the principal legatee of Daniel Parke' estate. She married, apparently at age 11, Thomas Dunbar of the Leeward Islands, who took the name of Parke. They had three children: Daniel, Lucy and Elizabeth.

Letter to Colonel Daniel Parke, Jr. from William Byrd II

Captain Parke was doubtless a kinsman of Col. Daniel Parke. father of William Byrd's first wife, who while Governor of the Leeward Islands, was killed during an insurrection. This Colonel Daniel Parke, Jr., was son of Colonel Daniel Parke, Sr., Secretary of State of Virginia, and Rebecca Evelyn, his wife; was himself for a time a member of the Virginia Council; was an aide to Marlborough at Blenheim and carried the first news of the victory to England, and as a reward was given the governorship of the Leeward Islands. He left a considerable estate, but it was for years the subject of great trouble and loss to his two daughters, the wives of John Custis and William Byrd. To Captain Parke.

Westover, Febr'y 3rd, 1735. Dear Sir:

Surely I must have been very unlucky in the miscarriage of so many of your letters. I can recollect no more than two that I have had the pleasure to receive & neither of them from England, so I am quite in the dark, whether that which I directed thither came to your hand. But altho I had not the sad news from yourself, yet I was sensibly toucht with the account of your Shipwreck which I had from other People. The Sea owes you a great deal for what it has robbed you of & I wis.h with all my soul that Element may make you reparation some time or other. However I must own 'tis a comfort to understand that you bear your misfortunes so much like a Hero. If you can't perswade your Stars to prosper your worthy endeavours yet you support their Sullen Influence with cheerfulness, while others sink under such pressures you bear them with an elevation of spirit that makes you a gainer by your losses. For 'tis really worth while to suffer the worse spite the Devil can show you, to endure it with so much true philosophy.

I have maturely considered your project of coming hither with a large Ship the latter end of May. That will certainly be much too late for a young Interest that has most of its friends to make, especially when many accidents may fall out to make your arrival later. Besides our crop is so short that I am confident many old standers must go home dead freighted. These things duly considered, make me even against my own wishes, advise you sincerely not to come hither so late. I would by no means have you bawlkt in your first attempt lest you might determine never to make a second. In case you can Order your matters so as to come early next year, and declare for liberty of consignment you may trust your friends and your own perswading address to lead you.

If you could prevail with Mrs. Dunbar to side against her righteous brother Charles, it would be knights service, she may certainly release the debt if she pleases, because if it be due at all, 'tis due to Her, & as it was not recovered in her husband's life time, it can be no part of his Estate, & consequently can't go to his Executor. Besides it will make the suit appear much more monstrous and unnatural (to have one of Col'o Parke's murderers claim in his own right any part of his Estate). If Mrs. Dunbar will do so generous an act, I should be so far from grutching her any part of her good fortune that I should think she merited all Col. Parke did for her. I am no Prophet nor the son of a Prophet & yet I have a very strong impression that whoever brings so cruel a suit as this would be against Col. Parke's children (who would not gain one farthing by their Father's will if they must pay his West India debt), will never live to see the end of it. This I said of the late Mr. Dunbar, and I say it of all other such inhuman people who tread in his steps.

As for any papers that may of use in the causes, you are as good a Judge as I, which of them may be serviceable, and altho Col. Custice may not have deserved so much at your hands, yet it will be the more generous in you to benefit the Family in this particular, who will all think themselves highly obliged to you.

Hearing no further from your Friend Mr. Freeman about Westover, I have offered it to my old acquaintance Mr. Peter Beckford, of Jamaica, and expect his answer. I must dispose therefore to make myself easy & emancipate my self from that slavery to which all debtors are subject. The truth of it is this habitation lys at such a distance from the Bulk of my Estate, that I should get more than price by disposing of it.

All this Family join with me in wishing you all manner of Success in your affairs and hope providence will please to reward the Fortitude with which you bear adversity with a long train of good fortune & let us see with how much moderation you can flow in the Full tide of Prosperity. I am very affectionately,

Your. -------------------- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Parke

Daniel Parke (1669 – December 7, 1710) sat on the colonial Virginia governor's Council from 1695 until 1697. His elder legitimate daughter married John Custis, and his younger married William Byrd II. Parke served as an aide to John Churchill, 1st duke of Marlborough, and after the Battle of Blenheim carried news of Marlborough's victory to Queen Anne. Winning the queen's favor, Parke was the British governor of the Leeward Islands from 1706 to 1710. He was assassinated during a mutiny triggered by his self-enriching enforcement of Stuart imperialism.