To George Washington from James Biggs, 10 May 1759
From James Biggs
May 10th 1759
Sir
according to your Command ⟨I have⟩ sent you as near as I am able ⟨mutilated⟩ accot of the nigros and stocks ⟨mutilated⟩ Rest of the ⟨Estate⟩ of Colo. Custis on ⟨this⟩ shore1 Except ⟨in⟩ ⟨S⟩mith’s Island which I omited on accot of ⟨its⟩ being Rented out2 but if meteral may be seen by a leas that Mr Vollentine has in his pirsession⟨,⟩ heare is som corn which is sold tho. not delivered yet and will be about 1000 Bushells.
⟨mutilated I⟩ am at Command your humble ⟨sevt⟩
James Biggs
ALS, ViHi: Custis Papers.
James Biggs was the overseer of the Custis plantation on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, in Northampton County, which John Parke Custis had inherited through entail.
1. The Custis slaves on the Northampton estate were appraised at £377 sterling in the inventory of Daniel Parke Custis’s estate (doc. III-A–1, in Settlement of the Daniel Parke Custis Estate, 20 April 1759–5 Nov. 1761). Biggs’s own account of Negroes and stores has not been found. See also Appendix C, ibid.
2. There were two renters of Custis property in Northampton County. See doc. III-A–7, ibid. Smith Island is just off the Virginia coast in the Atlantic Ocean near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay.