Chapter II: Part 2

It is certain that Thomas Gregg (being the Surveyor of Stafford
County) did Sep 2^d 1707 make a new Survey of the Town.... it is as
certain that Gregg had no regard either to the bounds or numbers of
the former Survey since he begins his Numbers the reverse way
making his number 1 in the corner at Buckner's 19 & as his Survey
is not to be found its impossible to tell how he continued his
Numbers. No scheme I have tried will answer, & the Records differ
as much, the streets according to Buckner's Survey running thro the
House I lived in built by Ballard tho his whole lot was ditched in
according to the Bounds made by Gregg.[47]

Whatever the intent may have been in laying out formal street and lot plans, Marlborough was essentially a rustic village. If Gregg's plat ran streets through the positions of houses on the Buckner survey, and vice versa, it is clear that not much attention was paid to theoretical property lines or streets. Ballard apparently dug a boundary ditch around his lot, according to Virginia practice in the 17th century, but the fact that this must have encroached on property assigned to somebody else on the basis of the Buckner survey seems not to have been noted at the time. Rude houses placed informally and connected by lanes and footpaths, the courthouse attempting to dominate them like a village schoolmaster in a class of country bumpkins, a few outbuildings, a boat landing or two, some cultivated land, and a road leading away from the courthouse to the north with another running in the opposite direction to the creek--this is the way Marlborough must have looked even in its best days in 1708.

FOOTNOTES:

[47] John Mercer's Land Book, loc. cit. (footnote 12).

THE DEATH OF MARLBOROUGH AS A TOWN

Could this poor village have survived had the courthouse not burned? It was an unhappy contrast to the vision of a town governed by "benchers of the guild hall," bustling with mercantile activity, swarming on busy market days with ordinaries filled with people. This fantasy may have pulsated briefly through the minds of a few. But, after the abrogation of the Port Act in 1710, there was little left to justify the town's existence other than the courthouse. So long as court kept, there was need for ordinaries and ferries and for independent jacks-of-all-trades like Andrews. But with neither courthouse nor port activity nor manufacture, the town became a paradox in an economy and society of planters.

Remote and inaccessible, uninhabited by individuals whose skills could have given it vigor, Marlborough no longer had any reason for being. It lingered on for a short time, but when John Mercer came to transform the abandoned village into a flourishing plantation, "Most of the other Buildings were suffered to go to Ruin, so that in the year 1726, when your Petitioner [i.e., Mercer] went to live there, but one House twenty-feet square was standing."[48]

FOOTNOTES:

[48] Petition of John Mercer, loc. cit. (footnote 17).

II

_John Mercer's Occupation of Marlborough, 1726-1730_

MERCER'S ARRIVAL IN STAFFORD COUNTY

By 1723 Marlborough lay abandoned. George Mason (III), son of the late sheriff and ordinary keeper in the port town, held the now-empty title of feoffee, together with Rice Hooe. In that year Mason and Hooe petitioned the General Court "that Leave may be given to bring in a Bill to enable them to sell the said Land [of the town] the same not being built upon or Inhabited." The petition was put aside for consideration," but within a week--on May 21, 1723--it was "ordered That Rice Hooe & George Mason be at liberty to withdraw their petition ... and that the Committee to whom it was referred be discharged from proceeding thereon."[49]

This curious sequence remains unexplained. Had the committee informally advised the feoffees that their cause would be rejected, suggesting, therefore, that they withdraw their petition? Or had something unexpected occurred to provide an alternative solution to the problem of Marlborough?

Possibly it was the latter, and the unexpected occurrence may have been the arrival in Stafford County of young John Mercer. There is no direct evidence that Mercer was in the vicinity as early as 1723; but we know that he appeared before 1725, that he had by then become well acquainted with George Mason, and that he settled in Marlborough in 1726.

Mercer's remarkable career began with his arrival in Virginia at the age of 16. Born in Dublin in 1704, the son of a Church Street merchant of English descent--also named John Mercer--and of Grace Fenton Mercer, John was educated at Trinity College, and then sailed for the New World in 1720.[50] How Mercer arrived in Virginia or what means he brought with him are lost to the record. From his own words written toward the end of his life we know that he was not overburdened with wealth:

"Except my education I never got a shilling of my fathers or
any other relations estate, every penny I ever got has been
by my own industry & with as much fatigue as most people have
undergone."[51]

From his second ledger (the first, covering the years 1720-1724, having been lost) we learn that he was engaged in miscellaneous trading, sailing up and down the rivers in his sloop and exchanging goods along the way. Where his home was in these early years we do not know, but it would appear that he had been active in the Stafford County region for some time, judging from the fact that by 1725 he had accumulated £322 4s. 5-1/2d. worth of tobacco in a warehouse at the falls of the Rappahannock.[52] He certainly had encountered George Mason before then, and probably Mason's uncles, John, David, and James Waugh, the sons of Parson John Waugh, all of whom owned idle Marlborough properties.

Mercer's friendship with the Masons was sufficiently well established by 1725 that on June 10 of that year he married George's sister Catherine. This marriage, most advantageous to an aspiring young man, was celebrated at Mrs. Ann Fitzhugh's in King George County with the Reverend Alexander Scott of Overwharton Parish in Stafford County officiating.[53] Thus, allied to an established family that was "old" by standards of the time and sponsored socially by a representative of the Fitzhughs, Mercer was admitted at the age of 21 to Virginia's growing aristocracy.

In this animated and energetic youth, the Masons and Waughs probably saw the means of bringing Marlborough back to life. Mercer, for his part, no doubt recognized the advantages that Marlborough offered, with its sheltered harbor and landing, its fertile, flat fields, and airy situation. That it could be acquired piecemeal at a minimum of investment through the provisions of the Act for Ports was an added inducement.

FOOTNOTES:

[49] _JHB, 1712-1726_ (Richmond, 1912), pp. 336, 373.

[50] "Journals of the Council of Virginia in Executive
Session 1737-1763," _VHM_ (Richmond, 1907), vol. 14, pp.
232-235.

[51] _George Mercer Papers Relating to the Ohio Company of
Virginia_, comp. and edit. by Lois Mulkearn (Pittsburgh:
University of Pittsburgh Press, 1954), p. 204.

[52] John Mercer's Ledger B is the principal source of
information for this chapter. It was begun in 1725 and ended
in 1732. The original copy is in the library of the Bucks
County Historical Society, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, a
photostatic copy being in the Virginia State Library. Further
footnoted references to the ledger are omitted, since the
source in each case is recognizable.

[53] JAMES MERCER GARNET, "James Mercer," _WMQ_ [1]
(Richmond, 1909), vol. 17, pp. 85-98. Mrs. Ann Fitzhugh was
the widow of William Fitzhugh III, who died in 1713/14. She
was the daughter of Richard Lee and lived at "Eagle's Nest"
in King George County (see "The Fitzhugh Family," VHM
[Richmond, 1900], vol. 7, pp. 317-318).

JOHN MERCER AS A TRADER

During 1725 Mercer pressed ahead with his trading enterprises. From his ledger we learn that he sold Richard Ambler of Yorktown 710 pounds of "raw Deerskins" for £35 10s. and bought £200 worth of "sundry goods" from him. Between October 1725 and February 1726 he sold a variety of furnishings and equipment to Richard Johnson, ranging from a "horsewhip" and a "silk Rugg" to "1/2 doz. Shoemaker's knives" and an "Ivory Comb." In return he received two hogsheads of tobacco, "a Gallon of syder Laceground," and raw and dressed deerskins. He maintained a similar long account with Mosley Battaley (Battaille) (Appendix C). From William Rogers of Yorktown[54] he bought £12 3s. 6d. worth of earthenware, presumably for resale. The tobacco which he had accumulated at the falls of the Rappahannock he sold for cash to the Gloucester firm of Whiting & Montague, paying Peter Kemp two pounds "for the extraordinary trouble of y^r coming up so far for it."

His sloop was the principal means by which Mercer conducted his business. Occasionally he rented it for hire, once sharing the proceeds of a load of oystershells with George Mason and one Edgeley, who had sailed the sloop to obtain the shells. Only one item shows that Mercer extended his mercantile activities to slaves: on February 18, 1726, he sold a mulatto woman named Sarah to Philemon Cavanaugh "to be paid in heavy tobacco each hhd to weigh 300 Neat."

That Mercer was turning in the direction of a legal career is revealed in his first account of "Domestick Expenses" for the fall of 1725 (Appendix D). We find that he was attending court sessions far and wide: "Cash for Exp^s at Stafford & Spotsylvania," "Cash for Exp^s Urbanna," the same for "Court Ferrage at Keys." He already was reading in the law, and lent "March's Actions of Slander," "Washington's Abridgm^t of y^e Statutes," and "an Exposition of the Law Terms" to Mosley Battaley.

FOOTNOTES:

[54] William Rogers, who died in 1739, made earthenware and
stoneware at Yorktown after 1711. See C. MALCOLM WATKINS and
IVOR NOËL HUME, "The 'Poor Potter' of Yorktown" (paper 54 in
_Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology_,
U.S. National Museum Bulletin 249, by various authors;
Washington: Smithsonian Institution), 1967.

SETTING UP HOUSEKEEPING

Mercer's domestic-expense account is full of evidence that he was preparing to set up housekeeping. He bought "1 China punch bowl," 10s.; "6 glasses," 3s.; "1 box Iron & heaters," 2s. 6d.; "1 p^r fine blankets," 1s. 13d.; "Earthen ware," 10s.; "5 Candlesticks," 17s. 6d.; "1 Bed Cord," 2s.; "3 maple knives & forks," 2s.; "1 yew haft knife & fork & 1 p^r Stilds [steelyards?]," 1s. 10-1/2d.; "1 p^r Salisbury Scissors," 2s. 6d.; and "1 speckled knife & fork," 5d.

In addition, he accepted as payment for various cloth and materials sold to Mrs. Elizabeth Russell the following furniture and furnishings:

Ster. £ s. d.
By a writing desk D^o 5
By a glass & Cover D^o 7 6
By 18^l Pewter at 1/4 D^o 1 4
By 6 tea Cups & Sawcers 2/ D^o 12
By 2 Chocolate Cups 1/ D^o 2
By 2 Custard Cups 9^d D^o 1 6
By 1 Tea Table painted with fruit D^o 14
By 6 leather Chairs @ 7/ 2 2
By a small walnut eating table 8
By 1/2 doz. Candlemoulds 10
By a Tea table 18
By a brass Chafing dish 5
By 6 copper tart pans 6

At the time of this purchase, the only house standing at Marlborough was that built by Thomas Ballard in 1708. It was inherited by his godson David Waugh,[55] who now apparently offered to let his niece Catherine and her new husband occupy it. Mercer later referred to it as "the House I lived in built by Ballard."[56] From his own records we know that he moved to Marlborough in 1726. He did so probably in the summer, since on June 11 he settled with Charles McClelland for "cleaning out y^e house." Unoccupied for years and small in size, it was a humble place in which to set up housekeeping, and indeed must have needed "cleaning out." It also must have needed extensive repairs, since Mercer purchased 1500 tenpenny nails "used about it."

Throughout 1726 Mercer acquired household furnishings, made repairs and improvements, and obtained the necessities of a plantation. On February 1 he acquired "3 Ironbacks" (cast-iron firebacks for fireplaces) for £8 4s. 2d., as well as "2 p^r hand Irons" for 15s. 5d., from Edmund Bagge. From George Rust he bought "3 Cows & Calves" for £7 10s., a featherbed for £3 10s., and an "Iron pot" for 5s.

His reckoning with John Dogge opens with a poignant note, "By a Child's Coffin": Mercer's first-born child had died. On the same account was "an Oven," bought for 17 shillings. Dogge also was credited with "bringing over 10 sheep from Sumners" (a plantation at Passapatanzy, south of Potomac Creek). Rawleigh Chinn was paid for "plowing up & fencing in my yard" and for "fetching 3 horses over the Creek." Also credited to Chinn was an item revealing Mercer's sporting enthusiasm: "went on y^e main race ... 15/."

From Alexander Buncle, Mercer acquired one dozen table knives, three chamber-door locks, two pairs of candle snuffers, and two broad axes. His account with Alexander McFarlane in 1726, the credit side of which is quoted here in part, is a further illustration of the variety of hardware and consumable goods that he required:

£ s. d.
2 p^r men's Shooes 9
1 Razor & penknife 2 6
2-1/4 gall Rum 6 9
9 gals. molasses 13
12^1 brown Sugar 6
6-1/4 double refined D^o 20^d 10 5
1 felt hat 2 4
1 q^t Limejuice 1
2 doz. Claret 1 10
2 lanthorns 6
1 funnell 7-1/2
1 quart & 1 pint tin pot 1 10-1/2

* * *

By 2 doz & 8 bottles Claret 2 8
By a woman's horsewhip 3
By 1^{oz} Gunpowder
By 10^l Shot
By 1 wom^s bound felt [hat]

Mercer's comments, added three years later to this record, signify the complexities of credit accounting in the plantation economy: "In July 1729 I settled Accounts w^{th} M^r M^cFarlane & paid him off & at the same time having Ed Barry's note on him for 1412^l Tob^o (his goods being extravagantly dear) I paid him 1450^l Tob^o to M^r Thos Smith to ball^{ns} accts."

Another of Mercer's accounts was with Edward Simm. From Simm, Mercer acquired the following in 1726:

£ s. d.
1 horsewhip 4
1 fine hat 12
9 y^{ds} bedtick 3/4 1 10
1 p^r Spurs 8
1 Curry Comb & brush 2 9
2 p^r mens Shooes 5/ 10
1 p^r Chelloes 1 10
2 p^r wom^s gloves 2/ 4
2 p^r D^o thread hose 9
2 p^r mens worsted d^o 8
2 p^r ch^{kr} yarn 3 4
1 Sifter 2
1 frying pan 4 6
7 quire of paper 1-1/4 9 8
6 silk Laces 4^d 2

FOOTNOTES:

[55] John Mercer's Land Book, loc. cit. (footnote 12).

[56] Petition of John Mercer, loc. cit. (footnote 17).

ACQUIRING LAND AND BUILDING A NEW HOUSE

Mercer's first actual ownership of property came as a result of his marriage. In 1725 he purchased from his wife Catherine 885 acres of land near Potomac Church for £221 5s. and another tract of 1610 acres on Potomac Run for £322.[57] His occupancy of the Ballard house, meanwhile, was arranged on a most informal basis, three years having been allowed to pass before he paid his first and only rent--a total of 12 shillings--to his uncle-in-law David Waugh.

In January 1730 the following appears under "Domestick Expenses": "To bringing the frame of my house from Jervers to Marlbro ... 40/." Associated with this are items for 2000 tenpenny nails, 2000 eightpenny nails, and 1000 sixpenny nails, together with "To Chandler Fowke for plank," "To J^{no} Chambers &c bring board from Landing," and "To John Chambers & Robt Collins for bringing Bricks & Oyster Shells."

In the same month the account of Anthony Linton and Henry Suddath includes the following:

By building a house at Marlborough when finished
by agreement £10.0.0
By covering my house & building a Chimney 3.0.0

Clearly, the Mercers had outgrown the temporary shelter which the little Ballard house had given them. Now a new house was under construction, with the steps plainly indicated. To obtain timber of sufficient size to frame the house it was necessary to go where the trees grew. The nearest thickly forested area was north of Potomac Creek and Potomac Run. The appropriate timbers apparently grew on property owned by Mercer but occupied by the widow of James Jervis (or "Jervers"). Not only did the trees grow there, but we may be sure that there they were also felled, hewn, and cut, and the finished members fitted together on the ground to form the frame of the new house. It was a time-honored English building practice to prepare the timbers where they were felled, shaping them, drilling holes for "trunnels" (wooden pegs or "tree nails"), inscribing coded numbers with lumber markers, and then knocking the prefabricated members apart and transporting them to the building site.[58]

Oystershells and bricks for the chimney were brought from Cedar Point and Boyd's Hole, south of Marlborough, by Chambers and Collins. Shells were probably burned at the house site to make lime for mortar. Chambers was paid 12 pence a day for 32-1/2 days' work spread over a period from October 1730 to February 1731. Hugh French had been paid for 1000 bricks on August 24, 1730, while James Jones, on October 3, 1730, was recompensed three shillings for "9 days of work your Man plaistering my House & making 2 brick backs."

The new house was thus brought to completion early in 1731. That it was a plain and simple house is apparent from the small amount of labor and the relatively few quantities of material. It appears to have had two fireplaces only and one chimney. Although the house was wooden, there is no evidence that it had any paint whatsoever, inside or out.

FOOTNOTES:

[57] John Mercer's Land Book, loc. cit. (footnote 12).

[58] CHARLES F. INNOCENT, _The Development of English
Building Construction_ (Cambridge, England: Cambridge
University Press, 1916), pp. 23-61.

FURNISHING THE HOUSE

Other than a child's chair and a bedstead costing 10 shillings, purchased from Enoch Innes in 1729, little furniture was acquired before 1730. Listed in "Domestick Expenses" for 1729-1730 are minor accessories for the new house, such as HL hinges, closet locks, a "scimmer," a pair of brass candlesticks, milk pans, pestle and mortar, "1/2 doz plates," a "Cullender," a candlebox, earthenware, and a pepperbox, together with several handtools.

MERCER'S VARIED ACTIVITIES AND INTERESTS

The agricultural aspects of a plantation were increasingly in evidence. In 1729 Rawleigh Chinn was paid for "helping to kill the Hogs," "pasturage of my cattle," and "making a gate." Edward Floyd was credited with £4 6s. 7-1/2d. for "Wintering Cattle, taking care of my horse & Sheep to Aug. 1729." John Chinn seems to have been Mercer's jockey, for as early as 1729 he was entering the races which abounded in Virginia, and "went on y^e race w^{th} Colt 1729."

In this early period we find considerable evidence of a typical young Virginian's fondness for gaming and sport. One finds scattered through Mercer's account with Robert Spotswood such items as "To won at the Race ... 8.9" and "To won at Liew at Col^o Mason's ... 7.3." (Loo was an elegant 18th-century game played with Chinese-carved mother-of-pearl counters.) Mercer participated in several sporting events at Stafford courthouse, for court sessions continued, as in the previous century, to be social as well as legal and political occasions. This is illustrated in a credit to Joseph Waugh: "By won at a horse race at Stafford Court and Attorney's fee ... £1."; on the debit side of Enoch Innes's account: "To won at Quoits & running with you ... 1/3"; and in Thomas Hudson's account, where four shillings were marked up "To won pitching at Stafford Court."

Mercer's diversions were few enough, nevertheless, and it is apparent that he devoted more time to reading than to gaming. In 1726 he borrowed from John Graham (or Graeme) a library of 56 volumes belonging to the "Hon^{ble} Col^o Spotswood"[59] (Appendix E). Ranging from the Greek classics to English history, and including Milton, Congreve, Dryden, Cole's Dictionary, "Williams' Mathematical Works," and "Present State of Russia," they were the basis for a solid education. That they included no lawbooks at a time when Mercer was preparing for the law is an indication of his broad taste for literature and learning.

Marlborough, we can see, was occupied by a young man of talent, energy, and creativity. He alone, of the many men who had envisioned a center of enterprise on Potomac Neck, was possessed of the drive and the simple directness to make it succeed. For George Mason and the Waughs, Mercer was the ideal solution for their Marlborough difficulties.

FOOTNOTES:

[59] Col. Alexander Spotswood, Governor of Virginia and a
resident of Spotsylvania County, was at this time living in
London. He authorized John Graham (or Graeme) of St. James,
Clerkenwell, Middlesex, to "take possession of his iron works
in Virginia, with plantations, negroes, stocks, and manage
the same." By 1732 Spotswood regretted that he had "committed
his affairs to the care of a mathematician, whose thoughts
were always among the stars." In 1737 Graham became professor
of natural philosophy and mathematics in the College of
William and Mary. See "Historical & Genealogical Notes," WMQ
[1] (Richmond, 1909), vol. 17, p. 301 (quoting Basset,
_Writings of William Byrd_, p. 378).

III

_Mercer's Consolidation of Marlborough, 1730-1740_

MERCER THE YOUNG LAWYER

The 1730's opened a golden age in the Virginia colony. There was an interval of peace in which trade might flourish; there were new laws which favored the tobacco planter and led to the building of resplendent mansions along Virginia's shores. John Mercer wasted no time in grasping the opportunities that lay about him. With shrewd foresight he made law his major objective, thus raising himself above most of his contemporaries. At the same time he began an extensive purchasing of property, so that within a decade he was to become one of the major landed proprietors in the colony. Planting and legal practice each augmented the other in Mercer's prosperity, which was assured by a classic combination of energy, ability, and outgoing personality. As with many successful men, Mercer had an eye for meticulous detail; the documents he left behind were a treasury of methodically kept records.

His Ledger B reveals that as early as 1730 his legal career was becoming firmly established. It records fee accounts, charges for drawing deeds, writing bonds, and representing clients in various courts. In that year he "subscribed to Laws of Virginia" through William Parks, the Williamsburg printer and stationer, and began to build up a substantial law library, which was augmented by the purchase of 40 lawbooks from Robert Beverley.

DIFFICULTIES IN ACQUIRING MARLBOROUGH

On October 13, 1730, Mercer obtained title from David Waugh to the Ballard house and lots on the basis of the "Statute for transforming uses into possessions." At the same time he acquired the three lots originally granted to John Waugh, while nine months later he was given the release of the three lots inherited by George Mason from his father.[60] Mercer's foothold in Marlborough was now secure.

Following these developments, he "employed the County Surveyor to lay off the several Lots he had purchased," which led to the discovery of the previously mentioned disparities and conflicts between the Buckner survey of 1691 and the missing Gregg survey of 1707. For some reason the town now lacked feoffees, so Mercer "applied to the County Court of Stafford on the tenth day of June one thousand seven hundred and thirty-one and the said Court then appointed Henry Fitzhugh Esquire and James Markham Gent. Feofees of the said Town." Mercer stated that he "proposed making great Improvements ... and wanted to take up several other Lots to build on." The court thereupon ordered John Savage, the county surveyor, to make a new survey, "having regard to the Buildings and Improvements then standing"--a significant instruction, intended no doubt to permit the reconciling of conflicting titles with respect to what actually was built.[61]

The new survey was laid out July 23, 1731, "in the presence of the said Feoffees," and drawn with the same plan and numbering as Buckner's, except that an additional row of lots was applied along the western border of the town, compressing slightly the former lots as planned by Buckner and pushing them eastward (fig. 2). This extra row, we have reason to believe, was added with "regard to the Buildings and Improvements then standing."

At the time of the survey, the feoffees told Mercer "that he might proceed in his Buildings and Improvements on any the said Lots not before granted," promising that they would at any time make him "any Title they could lawfully pass." A proposal by Fitzhugh to give title to any lots already purchased or any which Mercer might take up under terms of the Port Act of 1705 was discouraged by Mercer's lawyer, Mr. Hopkins, who took the view that, since the three surveys conflicted, the deeds would not be good. Accordingly, Fitzhugh and Mercer applied for an "amicable Bill," or suit in chancery, in the General Court, in order "to have Savage's or any particular Survey established." The request was shelved, however, and still was unanswered in 1748.

The extra row of lots and the court's instructions to Savage to make his survey with "Regard to the Buildings and Improvements then Standing" seem to be correlated. Savage made a significant notation on his survey plat: "The lots marked 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, & 21 joining to the Creek are in possession of Mr. John Mercer who claims them under Robinson, Berryman, Pope & Parry, & under Ballard & under John Waugh dec^{ed}, all w^{ch} he says have been built on and saved." On the Buckner plat the lots bearing these numbers comprise a block of six in the southwest corner of the town, extending up from the creek in two 3-tiered rows (fig. 2). The plat included the lots near the head of the "gutt" where the courthouse appears to have stood, as well as the land on which Structure B (the foundation of Mercer's mansion) was excavated. The lots appear in the same relationship on Savage's survey, except that the new row bounds them on the west.

We know that the Robinson-Berryman-Pope-Parry lot was the same lot originally granted to Robert Alexander in 1691, numbered 19 on Buckner's plat. It was granted to its later owners according to the Gregg survey in 1707, and was then described as "being the first Lott known in the Survey Platt by number 1." From Mercer we have learned already that Gregg made "his number 1 in the corner at Buckner's 19." The other five lots were claimed under Ballard and John Waugh. Waugh was granted one lot in 1691--Buckner's number 20--and acquired two more in 1707. All three appear to have been in the corner block of six lots. In any case, these six lots equal the number of lots known to have been granted the above-listed lot holders. Both of Ballard's lots were granted in 1707. His lot number 19 (Gregg survey), where Mercer first lived, is described as "bounding Easterly with a lott surveyed for Mr. John Waugh Westerly with a Narrow street Northerly with a lott not yet surveyed, Southerly with the first main Street which is parallel with Potomac Creek." We do not know which of Waugh's lots is meant, nor do we know Gregg's street plan, except that it was at odds with Buckner's. But it is probable that Ballard's lot (Gregg's number 19) was the same as Buckner's number 21, that the crosstown street on Gregg's plat lay to the south of the lot rather than to the north of it, as on Buckner's plat, and that one of Waugh's lots lay to the east of it.[62]

Assuming that the two acres for the courthouse were located near the head of the "gutt" and that Ballard's lot 19 was approximately the same as Buckner's 21, it is apparent that Ballard's lot must have overlapped the courthouse lots in the confusion between the two surveys. Since Mercer was living on Ballard's lot, he probably infringed on the courthouse property. Even though the courthouse had been burned and abandoned, the two acres assigned to it were required to revert to the original owner, as provided in the Act of 1667, concerning church and courthouse lands. In this case, the courthouse land, having been "deserted," had reverted to the heir of Giles Brent.

Mercer's embarrassment at this state of affairs must have been great. However, the addition by Savage of a whole new row of lots along the westerly border of the town created new acreage, sufficient both to reconcile the conflict and to provide compensatory land to satisfy the Brents. Unfortunately, the Savage survey, as we have noted, was not made official, and Mercer was forced to continue his questionable occupancy of properties whose titles were in doubt.

What is most significant to us in all this is the inference that the courthouse, the Ballard house which Mercer occupied, and the Structure B foundation were all in close proximity.

FOOTNOTES:

[60] John Mercer's Land Book, loc. cit. (footnote 12).

[61] Petition of John Mercer, loc. cit. (footnote 17).

[62] Stafford County Will Book, Liber Z, pp. 407, 431, 497.

LARGE PROPERTY ACQUISITIONS

Mercer's next purchase of Marlborough property was on July 28, 1737, when he bought the three lots granted in 1691 to George Andrews from Andrews' grandson, John Cave. Meanwhile, he began large-scale acquisitions of lands elsewhere. By 1733 he had acquired an aggregate of 8096 acres in Prince William County. In addition, he obtained a "Lease for three Lives" on three large tracts belonging to William Brent, adjoining Marlborough, so that he controlled virtually all of Potomac Neck.[63]

Thus, after 1730 we find Mercer's fortune already well established and increasing. No longer a youthful trader plying the Potomac in his sloop, he was now a gentleman planter and influential lawyer. He lived in a new house, owned some parts of Marlborough, and was building "improvements" on others. Almost overnight he had become a landed proprietor.

FOOTNOTES:

[63] John Mercer's Land Book, loc. cit. (footnote 12).

SUCCESS AT LAW AND CONFLICTS WITH LAWYERS

The source of Mercer's newly made wealth is easily discovered. His ledger shows an income from legal fees in 1730 amounting to £291 10s. 10-1/2d. In 1731 the figure climbed to £643 18s. 2d., then leveled off to £639 11s. 2-1/2d. the following year. For a young man still in his twenties and self-trained in the law, this was a remarkable achievement. His success perhaps is attributable to a single event that stemmed from youthful brashness and vigorous outspokenness. Early in 1730, in a daring gesture on behalf of property owners and taxpayers, he protested against privileges granted in an act passed by the Assembly the previous year "for encouraging Adventurers in Iron Works." Presented in the form of a proposition, the protest was read before the Stafford court by Peter Hedgman. The reaction to it in Williamsburg, once it had reached the ears of the Assembly, was immediate and angry. The House of Burgesses

_Resolv'd_ That the Proposition from _Stafford_ County in relation
to the Act past in the last Session of this Assembly for
encouraging Adventurers in Iron Works is a scandalous and Seditious
Libel Containing false and scandalous Reflections upon the
Legislature and the Justices of the General Court and other Courts
of this Colony.

_Resolv'd_ That _John Mercer_ the Author and Writer of that paper
and _Peter Hedgman_ one of the Subscribers who presented the same
to the Court of Stafford County to be certified to the General
Assembly are guilty of a high Misdemeanour.

_Order'd_ That the said _John Mercer_ and _Peter Hedgman_ be sent
for in Custody of the Serjeant at Arms attending this House to
answer their said Offence at the Bar of this House.[64]

Mercer and Hedgman made their apologies to the House, received their reprimands, and paid their fines. But this protest, so offensive to the dignity of the lawmakers, had its effect in forcing amendments to the act, particularly in removing the requirement for building public roads leading from the ironworks to the ore supplies and shipping points. To those living in Stafford, particularly in the neighborhood of the proposed Accokeek Ironworks, near Marlborough, this concession must have elevated Mercer to the level of a hero.[65]

Mercer's frank disposition led him into other difficulties during the first years of his practice. His insistence on the prompt payment of debts and his opposition to stays of execution following suits had won him enemies at Prince William court. Charges of improper legal activities were brought against him; these were investigated at Williamsburg, with the result that on June 13, 1734, he was suspended from practicing law in Virginia for a period of six months.[66]

FOOTNOTES:

[64] _JHB, 1727-1734; 1736-1740_ (Richmond, 1910), p. 66.

[65] Ibid., p. xxi.

[66] _Executive Journals of the Council of Colonial Virginia_
(Richmond, Virginia: D. Bottom, superintendent of public
printing, 1925), vol. 4, p. 328.

TEMPORARY RETIREMENT, THE ABRIDGMENT, AND GUARDIANSHIP OF GEORGE MASON

Deprived temporarily of his principal livelihood, Mercer set out to write an _Abridgment of the Laws of Virginia_. The task completed, he petitioned the General Court on April 23, 1735, for "leave to Print an Abridgment compil'd by him of all the Laws of this Colony & to have the benefit of the Sale thereof." On the same day he petitioned for a renewal of his license, which was granted with the exception of the right to practice in Prince William, where he was to remain _persona non grata_ generally thereafter.[67]

Soon after these events his brother-in-law and old acquaintance, George Mason, drowned. Mercer was designated co-guardian of 10-year-old George Mason IV, who came to live at Marlborough. Young George later grew up to be the master of Gunston Hall and, as the author of the Virginia Bill of Rights, to stand among the intellectuals whose ideas influenced the Revolution and the framing of the Constitution. In these formative years, young George Mason surely must have been affected by the strong legal mind and cultivated tastes of his uncle.[68]

On October 14, 1737, the _Virginia Gazette_ carried the following advertisement:

_This Day is Published_

An Exact Abridgment of the Laws of VIRGINIA, in Force and Use, to
this present time. By

John Mercer.

At long last, after innumerable delays, the _Abridgment_ was in print. From a financial point of view it was a conspicuous failure. Too few Virginians, apparently, were sufficiently interested to buy it.

FOOTNOTES:

[67] Ibid., p. 348.

[68] KATE MASON ROWLAND, _The Life of George Mason_ (New York
and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1892), vol. 1, p. 49.

DOMESTIC FURNISHINGS AND SERVANTS

During this eventful decade of the 1730's Mercer acquired the things needed for the proper maintenance of his house and properties. One requisite was Negro servants. From Pat Reyant he bought "a Girl named Margaret" for 43 pounds of tobacco in 1730. In 1731 he bought Deborah, Phillis, Peter, Nan, and Bob. The following year he obtained Lucy, Will, and George, and, in 1733, Nero. His purchases increased as his landholdings increased. In 1736 he bought five slaves, three of whom he aptly named Dublin, Marlborough, and Stafford.

To help feed his slaves during this early period, Mercer apparently depended in part upon Stafford's wealth of natural resources. At least we find a record of wild game entered on the same page and under the same heading as his "Negroes" account in the ledger. There it is noted that he purchased 42 ducks from Natt Hedgman on November 19, 1730, and 20 ducks from Rawleigh Chinn the same day, paying for them in powder and shot. Two swans and a goose, as well as venison, appear on the list. Payment for these was made in powder, shot, and wool.

He continued, meanwhile, to equip his house. From John Foward (or Foard), a London merchant, he bought a "frying pan" and "2 doz. bottles," "1 tomahawk," "2 stock-locks," "1 padlock," "2 best padlocks," "1 drawingknife," "9 p^r hinges," "3 clasp knives," and "1 gall. Maderas." In April 1731, he bought from Captain Foward:

£ s. d.
1 bellmettle skillet 4-1/2^{oz} at 2/ 9
1 copper Sausepan 7
1 Small D^o 5 4
1 hunting whip 5
1 halfcheck bridle 7
1 fine hat 12
1 wig Comb 6

Also in 1731 he bought "6 rush bottom Chairs" for 17 shillings and a spinning wheel for 10 shillings from William Hamitt. The "writing desk" which he had bought in 1725 apparently needed extensive and expensive repairs, for in March 1731 there appears an item under "Domestick Expenses," "To W^m Walker for mending Scoutore £1." (_Scoutore_ was one of many corrupt spellings of _escritoire_, a slant-top desk.) William Walker was a Stafford County cabinetmaker and builder, about whom we shall hear much more.

One of the most active accounts was that of Nathaniel Chapman,[69] who directed the newly established Accokeek Ironworks. In 1731 he sold Mercer several hundred nails of different descriptions, a variety of hoes, ploughs, wedges, door latches, and heaters for smoothing irons. One item is "By putting a leg in an old Iron Pott"; another is "By Col Mason p^d for mending a snuff box. 2.6" (Appendix F).

In 1732 he paid Thomas Staines £1 for "a Cradle," "two Bedsteads," and "a weekes work." From John Blane, during the same year, he purchased 2500 tenpenny nails and the same quantity of eightpenny nails. He also bought from Blane 4 "basons," a porringer, 100 needles, 2 penknives, a gross of "thread buttons," and a pair of large "Scissars." Again, in 1732 he obtained from William Nisbett a quantity of miscellaneous goods, including 10 parcels of earthenware and a pewter dish weighing 4 to 5 ounces. He also settled with Samuel Stevens for "your share in making a Canoe."

FOOTNOTES:

[69] Nathaniel Chapman headed the Accokeek Ironworks,
referred to by Mercer in Ledger G as "Chapman's Works at Head
of Bay." Although Mercer had opposed the act, which gave
privileges to the ironworks, he was a lifelong friend of
Chapman, who testified in his behalf in 1734 and served with
him on the Ohio Company Committee in the 1750's and 1760's.
Chapman was executor for the estates of Lawrence and
Augustine Washington.

TOBACCO WAREHOUSES

The Tobacco Act of 1730 provided for the erection of public tobacco warehouses, and Marlborough was selected as one of the sites.[70] In 1731 Mercer's account with John Waugh included "Timber for 2500 boards @25/.£3.2.6" and "Posts & Ceils for two Warehouses, 12 shillings." In April 1732 he settled accounts with Captain Henry Fitzhugh for "building a Warehouse & Wharf & 6 prizes" at 3000 pounds of tobacco, or £15. The prizes probably were "incentive awards" for the workmen. Included in Fitzhugh's account were "3 days work of Caesar & Will," ten shillings, and "4319 very bad Clapboards at 1/2^d y^e board." On March 25 he paid Anthony Linton for 1820 clapboards, allowing him eight shillings for "sawing of Boards." The warehouses were in operation in 1732, as we learn from Mercer's "Account of Inspectors," but they suffered the fate of all official enterprises at Marlborough, for in 1734 "the same were put down, as being found very inconvenient."[71] The actual date of their termination was November 16, 1735, when a new warehouse was scheduled for completion at the mouth of Aquia Creek.[72] The expression "put down" does not seem to mean that the warehouses were torn down, but that they were officially discontinued. He apparently, however, continued to use them for his own purposes.

FOOTNOTES:

[70] HENING, op. cit. (footnote 1), vol. 4, p. 268.

[71] Petition of John Mercer, loc. cit. (footnote 17).

[72] _JHB, 1727-1734; 1736-1740_, op. cit. (footnote 6), p.
202.

PERSONAL ACTIVITIES

During the 1730's Mercer recorded a minimum of recreational activities. Those that he did list are representative of the society of which he was a part. Making wagers was a favorite amusement. For example, he was owed £7 16s. by "Col^o George Braxton To a Wager you laid me at Cap^t Rob^t Brooke's house before M^r James Reid, Will^m Brooke &c Six Guineas to one that Col^o Spotswood would not during the Reign of K. George that now is, procure a Commission as Chief or Lieu^t Gov^r of Virginia." In 1731 he paid William Brent "By a pistole won of me about Hedgman's wrestling with and throwing Fra^s Dade. £1.1.12." He also paid £2 10s. to James Markham "By [my] part on the Race on Stotham's horse." There are other scattered references to wagers on horseraces.

Mercer had become a vestryman in Overwharton Parish as early as 1730, and appears to have been made responsible for all legal matters pertaining to that church. His account, shown in detail in Appendix G, is of interest in showing that violations of moral law were held accountable to the church and that fines for convictions were paid to the church. Mercer, representing the parish, collected a portion of each fine as his fee.

Most of his energies now seem to have been divided between the law and the substantial responsibilities for managing his plantations. The increasing extent of tobacco cultivation is revealed in the tobacco account with "M^r Jonathan Foward, Merchant in London" (presumably John Foward, mentioned earlier), extending from 1733 to 1743. This account lists shipments of 129 hogsheads of tobacco, totaling £643 1s. 11d. (if we include a few extraneous items, such as "To an over charge in Lemons" and "To a Still charg'd never sent"). Several similar accounts involve proceeds from tobacco. In 1734 and 1738, for example, he shipped 54 hogsheads to William Stevenson, another London merchant, for £207 7d. on the ships _Triton_, _Snake_, _Brooks_, and _Elizabeth_.

Marlborough's full transition to a seat of tobacco-planting empire is now clearly discernible. In so becoming, it was typical of the consolidation of wealth, property, and power in Virginia as the mid-century approached. Land had become both a substitute for tobacco in lean years and the means for paying off debts. The same land in better years yielded crops to its new owners, so that a relatively few dynamic men were able to amass great wealth and form a ruling aristocracy. The varieties of talents in men like Mercer--who, besides being a planter, was an accomplished lawyer and able administrator--placed them in the ascendancy over their less able fellows. The vigor and ability with which such men were endowed fostered the remarkable class of leaders of the succeeding generation, who had so much to do with founding the nation.

IV

_Marlborough at its Ascendancy, 1741-1750_

TRAVEL

On April 12, 1741, Mercer was admitted to practice at the General Court in Williamsburg.[73] His trip there on that occasion was typical of the journeys which took him at least twice yearly to the capital. On the first day of this Williamsburg trip he rode "To Col^o Taliaferro's," a distance of 19 miles. The following day "To Caroline Court" (18 miles), the next "To M^r Hubbard's" (30 miles), then as far as "M^r J^{no} Powers" (24 miles), and finally "To Furneas & Williamsburg" (30 miles). The route was usually to West Point, or Brick House on the opposite shore in New Kent County, and thence either directly to Williamsburg, or by way of New Kent courthouse. Stopovers were made either at ordinaries or at the houses of friends.[74]

Mercer's travels, summarized in the journal that he kept in the back of Ledger B from 1730 until his death in 1768, were prodigious. In 1735, for example, he journeyed a total of 4202 miles and was home only 119 days. This pace had slackened considerably in the period we are now considering, but, nevertheless, he was not at home more than 218 days out of any one year of the decade 1741-1750. This energetic and restless moving about was common among the leading planters, but in Mercer's case it seems to have reached its ultimate. Practicing law, playing politics, acquiring property, and becoming acquainted with people led him all over Virginia.

A representative sample from the journal covers the period of September and October 1745. It will be noted that the days of the week are indicated alphabetically, a through g, as in the calendar of the Book of Common Prayer. The mileage traveled each day is entered at the right.

1 F to Potomack Church & home 10
2 g at home
3 a to Tylers & Spotsylvania Court 14
4 b to M^r Daniels[75] & home 14
5 c to M^r Moncure's,[76] my Survey & home 20
6 d to King George Court & W^m Walkers'[77] 24
7 e to M^{rs}. Spoore's[78] my Survey & home 20
8 F at home
9 g M^r Moncure's my Survey & home 20
10 a to Stafford Court & home 20
11 b at home
12 c to M^{rs} Mason's[79] Survey 18
13 d at D^o 10
14 e at D^o 15
15 F to Potomack Church & M^r Moncure's 18
16 g home 6
17 a at home
18 b D^o
19 c to M^{rs} Spoore & M^{rs} Taliaferro's 17
20 d at M^r Taliaferro's 14
21 e To Fredericksburg & M^{rs} Taliaferro's
22 F To Doctor Potter's[80] & M^{rs} Taliaferro's.
Lost my horses 2
23 g To M^r Moncure's 9
24 a home 10
25 b at home
26 c D^o
27 d D^o
28 e to M^r Moncure's, Vestry & home 16
29 F at home
30 g D^o

October

1 a at home
2 b to M^r Moncure's & Fredericksburg Fair 15
3 c at the Fair
4 d to M^r Moncure's & home 15
5 e at home
6 F to M^{rs} Taliaferro's 17
7 g to Caroline Court h^o & George Hoomes's[81] 20
8 a to Newcastle 50
9 b to M^r Anderson's & M^r Gray's [82] 14
10 c to New Kent Courth^s & M^r Gray's 14
11 d to Furnau's & Williamsburg 17
12 e at Williamsburg

[He remained at Williamsburg until November 6.]

Such itineraries were punctuated by periods of staying at Marlborough, but even then there were day-long journeys to Stafford courthouse, to church, or to a survey. The courthouse, which succeeded that at Marlborough, was situated on the south side of Potomac Creek, about three miles upstream from the old site. Mercer almost invariably took the 10-mile-long land route through the site of the present village of Brook, along the Fredericksburg road past Potomac Church, then along the headwaters of Potomac Run on a now-disused road leading to Belle Plains. Just before reaching the courthouse, which stood on a rise of land some distance back from the creek, he passed "Salvington," the mansion of Joseph Selden.[83] Near the water, and in sight of the courthouse, stood the house of John Cave, whose grandfather in 1707 had bought his land from Sampson Darrell, undertaker of the Marlborough courthouse.[84] Near it, on a foundation still visible, Cave built the warehouse that bore his name, and through him passed much of the tobacco that Mercer raised locally. Occasionally, when he had business to do at Cave's, Mercer would return home by water, as he did on August 14, 1746:

to Stafford Court & M^r Cave's 11
home by water 5

FOOTNOTES:

[73] John Mercer's journal, kept in the back of Ledger B.

[74] Col. John Taliaferro was a justice of Spotsylvania
County court and one of the original trustees of
Fredericksburg. He lived at the "Manor Plantation," Snow
Creek, Spotsylvania County, and died in 1744 ("Virginia
Council Journals, 1726-1753," _VHM_ [Richmond, 1927], vol.
35, p. 415). Benjamin Hubbard lived in Caroline County ("The
Lovelace Family and its Connections," _VHM_ [Richmond, 1921],
vol. 29, p. 367); John Powers was apparently a resident of
King William County (Ida J. Lee, "Abstracts from King William
County Records," WMQ [2] [Williamsburg, 1926], vol. 6, p.
72); "Furnea's" seems to have been an ordinary between
Williamsburg and New Kent.

[75] Peter Daniel was a burgess and leading citizen of
Stafford County, who, as vestryman, signed the advertisement
for bids to build a new Aquia Church in 1751. _Virginia
Gazette_, June 6, 1751.

[76] The Reverend Mr. John Moncure was minister of
Overwharton Parish.

[77] See pp. 25, 35-36, 46-47 and footnote 95 for further
references to William Walker. Mercer's visit on this occasion
probably relates to Walker's tentative appointment to rebuild
Aquia Church.

[78] Mrs. Ann Spoore of Stafford County.

[79] Probably Mercer's sister-in-law, Mrs. Ann Mason, mother
of George Mason of Gunston Hall.

[80] Dr. Henry Potter lived in Spotsylvania County. His
estate was advertised for sale the following April 17 in the
_Virginia Gazette_.

[81] George Hoomes was a justice of Caroline County court. He
was appointed in 1735, the same year in which John Mercer
qualified to practice law at the same court. "Extracts from
the Records of Caroline County," _VHM_ (Richmond, 1912), vol.
20, p. 203.

[82] Probably Thomas Anderson (see p. 35 and footnote 93);
William Gray was justice of New Kent County.

[83] Joseph Selden's estate passed to his son Samuel, who
married Mercer's eldest daughter, Sarah Ann Mason Mercer. See
John Melville Jennings, ed., "Letters of James Mercer to John
Francis Mercer," _VHM_ (Richmond, 1951), vol. 59, pp. 89-91.

[84] Fredericksburg district-court papers, file 571, bundle
F, nos. 36-43 (through George F. S. King, Fredericksburg);
Stafford County Will Book, Liber Z, p. 383 (August 5, 1707).

VEHICLES

During the 1740's Mercer's travels were often by chaise or chariot. We learn from Ledger G that he bought "a fourwheel Chaise" from Charles Carter[85] in September 1744, a significant step in emulating the manners and ways of Virginia's established aristocrats. Three years later he purchased "a Sett of Chaisewheels" from Francis Hogans, a Caroline County wheelwright, and in June 1748 he discounted as an overcharge the cost of "a Chaise worth nothing" in his account with the English mercantile firm of Sydenham & Hodgson.[86] A "chaise" could have been one of several types of vehicles, but it was probably "a carriage for traveling, having a closed body and seated for one to three persons," according to Murray's _A New Oxford Dictionary_.

In 1749 Mercer bought a "chariot" from James Mills of Tappahannock for £80. Doubtless an elegant piece of equipage, this was, we learn from Murray, "a light four-wheeled carriage with only back seats, and differing from the post-chaise in having a coach-box." In November 1750 he paid John Simpson, a Fredericksburg wheelwright, 10 shillings for "wedging & hooping the Chariotwheels" and 9 shillings for "mending 3 fillys & 3 Spokes in D^o."[87]

At the same time he bought a "p^r Cartwheels" for £2 and a "Tumbling Cart" for £1 6s. from Simpson. Murray tells us that a "tumble cart" or a "tumbril cart" was a dung cart, designed to dump the load.

FOOTNOTES:

[85] Ledger G (original at Bucks County Historical Society)
covers the period 1744-1750, with some entries in 1751 and a
few summary accounts covering Mercer's career. Further
footnoted references to this ledger will be omitted. Charles
Carter lived at "Cleve" in King George County, near Port
Royal, fronting on the Rappahannock. See FAIRFAX HARRISON,
"The Will of Charles Carter of Cleve," _VHM_ (Richmond,
1923), vol. 31, pp. 42-43.

[86] Sydenham & Hodgson was a London mercantile firm,
represented in Virginia by Jonathan Sydenham. Mercer
identified the firm in Ledger G as "Merchants King George"
and noted in his journal on January 20, 1745, that he visited
at "Mr. Sydenham's." In 1757 the two men were referred to
elsewhere as "Messrs. Sydenham & Hodgson of London." See
"Proceedings of the Virginia Committee of Correspondence,
1759-67," _VHM_ (Richmond, 1905), vol. 12, pp. 2-4.

[87] Extensive research has been conducted by Colonial
Williamsburg, Inc., on the forms of vehicles used by such
Virginians as Mercer and his contemporaries.

TOBACCO CASK BRANDS

Hogsheads and casks of tobacco were branded with the symbols or initials of the original owners. Many of the brands are recorded explicitly in the ledger. Mercer, at the beginning of his career, used a symbol M. As his plantations multiplied, however, three symbols were adopted, based on his own two initials. Tobacco casks from Bull Run were marked I^[B.]M. Those from Sumner's Quarters bore the brand I^[S.]M, while the "Home Plantation" at Marlborough had casks marked I^[C.]M (fig. 8).

The interpretation of these symbols warrants some digression. In the 17th century, and indeed in the 18th century also, the triangular cipher to indicate the initials of man and wife was commonly used to mark silver, pewter, china, delftware, linens, and other objects needing owners' identifications. The common surname initial was placed at the top, the husband's first-name initial at the lower left, and the wife's at the lower right. This arrangement was used consistently in the 17th century. In the 18th century, however, variations began to appear in the colonies, although not, apparently, in England. Silver made in New York and Philadelphia during the 1700's presents the initials reading from left to right, with the husband's at the lower left, the wife's at top center, and the surname initial at the lower right. The large keystone of the Carlyle house in Alexandria, built in 1751, bears a triangular arrangement of John and Sarah Carlyle's initials: J^[S.]C.[88]