1786 Virginia ALS Col John Travers Cooke to Huie & Reid Dumfries Merchants For Sale

Offered here is an original July 18, 1786 autograph letter signed (ALS) by Colonel John Travers Cooke (1755–1819) of Stafford County, Virginia, addressed to the important Dumfries mercantile firm Huie & Reid.

Written only a few years after the end of the American Revolution, the letter concerns Cooke\'s inability to obtain corn and his request that the merchants honor an earlier offer to spare him some from their own supply.

The reverse retains its integral address panel identifying Huie & Reid as merchants at Dumfries, together with the fascinating delivery notation “By Jack.” A contemporary docket further identifies the writer as “Col. John Cooke” and repeats the date, providing unusually strong internal evidence for the attribution.

TRANSCRIPTION

18th July 1786

Dr Sir,

I have not been able to procure any
Corn yet, must therefore apply to you for
your kind offer of sparing me a little of your
own stock —

I am Sir your Hble Servt.
J Cooke

Address Panel:

Huie & Reid
Merchts.
Dumfries
By Jack

Contemporary Docket:

Col. John Cooke
18th July 1786

John Travers Cooke was a prominent planter, magistrate, landowner and entrepreneur of Stafford County, Virginia.

Cooke belonged to the established planter society of northern Virginia and resided in the Stafford County area during the Revolutionary and early national periods. By the 1780s he was serving in local public affairs, including service as a county magistrate.

He later became closely associated with Daniel Carroll Brent in a variety of commercial enterprises. Cooke owned and developed valuable freestone quarry property along Aquia Creek, part of the important stone-producing region that supplied building material during the development of the new federal city of Washington.

Cooke also became associated with the historic Marlborough tract in Stafford County, one of the notable colonial-era properties of the region.

His family connections were equally significant. Cooke married Mary Thomson Mason (1762–1806), daughter of Thomson Mason and granddaughter of George Mason of Gunston Hall.

George Mason was one of the leading political thinkers of Revolutionary Virginia and the principal author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776, a document that significantly influenced later American declarations of individual liberty and the U.S. Bill of Rights.

Thus, even this brief commercial note survives from within the interconnected world of Virginia\'s prominent Mason, Cooke, Brent and neighboring planter families.

The recipients were Huie & Reid, an established merchant firm operating in Dumfries, Prince William County, Virginia.

Dumfries was an important colonial and post-Revolutionary port on the Potomac trade network. During the eighteenth century, the town served as a commercial outlet for the surrounding plantation districts of Prince William, Stafford and neighboring counties.

James Reid was associated with Huie, Reid & Co., whose surviving correspondence confirms the firm\'s activity as Dumfries merchants. Papers relating to Reid and the firm survive today in institutional collections, providing an unusually strong archival context for this letter.

Merchant firms such as Huie & Reid formed an essential link between inland Virginia plantations and larger Atlantic markets, supplying goods, extending credit and participating in the movement of agricultural commodities through Dumfries.

Cooke\'s request for corn therefore represents more than a casual personal note: it is a surviving example of the local supply and credit relationships connecting Virginia planters with Dumfries merchants in the immediate post-Revolutionary period.

The address panel bears the handwritten notation:

“By Jack”

This appears to identify the individual entrusted with physically carrying the letter to Dumfries.

The notation is particularly evocative of eighteenth-century communication practices, when private correspondence was frequently carried by servants, employees, acquaintances, estate personnel or other trusted messengers rather than through a formal postal system.

The document itself does not establish Jack\'s identity or legal status, so no specific identification is asserted here. Nevertheless, the notation provides an unusually tangible glimpse into how correspondence actually moved between Stafford County estates and the nearby commercial center at Dumfries.

This letter was written in 1786, only three years after the Treaty of Paris formally ended the American Revolution and one year before the drafting of the United States Constitution.

Its subject is everyday rather than political, which is part of its historical appeal. Cooke states plainly that:

“I have not been able to procure any Corn yet…”

He consequently turns to a known merchant connection for access to existing stock.

The letter therefore documents the practical agricultural economy of early national Virginia: food supply, personal credit, merchant relationships, plantation networks and hand-carried communication.

The association of Colonel John Travers Cooke, Huie & Reid of Dumfries, and an identifiable Stafford–Prince William commercial corridor makes this substantially more interesting than an anonymous eighteenth-century order or receipt.

Original handwritten manuscript on 18th-century laid rag paper.

The sheet displays visible laid and chain lines and appears to retain an armorial/crown-type watermark, best visible when backlit.

Approximate size as shown in photographs.

The letter remains remarkably legible for its age, with a strong Cooke signature and clear address panel.

Authentic period condition with significant age-related wear.

There are losses and irregularities along portions of the edges, particularly the left and upper areas, along with small holes/paper losses, toning, staining, historical fold lines and general handling wear.

Importantly, the main text, Cooke signature, Huie & Reid address, Dumfries designation, “By Jack” notation and contemporary Cooke docket remain substantially intact and legible.

Please examine all photographs carefully, as they form an important part of the condition description.

• Dated July 18, 1786
• Autograph letter signed “J Cooke”
• Contemporary docket identifies “Col. John Cooke”
• Attributed to Colonel John Travers Cooke (1755–1819)
• Prominent Stafford County planter, magistrate and entrepreneur
• Husband of Mary Thomson Mason
• Family connection to George Mason of Gunston Hall
• Addressed to Huie & Reid
• Identified as “Merchts.” at Dumfries, Virginia
• Early Virginia merchant and agricultural correspondence
• Discusses difficulty procuring corn
• Original courier notation “By Jack”
• Integral address panel
• Handmade laid paper
• Visible period watermark
• Excellent research piece for collectors of Colonial Virginia, Early American manuscripts, Stafford County, Prince William County, Dumfries, George Mason-associated material, merchant history, agricultural history and 18th-century Americana

Guaranteed original and period.