Bath Town. May 16th. 1752 Sr.,

I wrote you last dated April 15th. at wch. Time I had Engaged all my Load, having had the promise of all yr. Tar from the people in whose hands it is, but debts that have been due a Year in this Country are always pd. of course. Capt. Coutanch has engaged himself Much to get in this Tar, & is at this present Time absent from Town on the same Business. What his Success will be I don't Know, but I verily think that Mr. Simpson1has us'd you ill, to charge Commssn. for Sales & then leave a parcell of old Debts to pick up. But I am in hopes that with a great deal of pains I shall be able to pick up a good part of it if not all, for Capt. Coutanch has laid a Scheme if it can be brought about that will answer. You may be sure I shall do my best. I conclude yr. very humble Servt.,

ROBERT-TREAT PAINE

LbC ;addressed: "To Mr. Wm. Fisher junr."

1.

John Simpson, Jr. (1728–1788), who commanded the sloop Ranger, was the son of John Simpson, a prosperous Boston merchant. The younger Simpson moved to Beaufort County sometime after 1750. He immediately became a leading figure in the community and was one of those most active in th establishment of Pitt County. He was a locally prominent Revolutionary figure, a delegate to the New Bern convention, and served many terms as an assemblyman and on the governor's council (Thwing Index; Samuel A'C. Ashe, Biographical History of North Carolina [Greensboro, N.C., 1905- ], 4:390–396).