The Cultural History of Marlborough, Virginia Part 12

V

_Mercer and Marlborough, from Zenith to Decline, 1751-1768_

THE OHIO COMPANY

The long last period of Mercer's life and of the plantation he created began at a time of growing concern about the western frontier and the wilderness beyond it. In 1747 this concern had been expressed in the founding of the Ohio Company of Virginia by a group of notable colonial leaders: Thomas Cresap, Augustine Washington, George Fairfax, Lawrence Washington, Francis Thornton, and Nathaniel Chapman. George Mason was an early member, and so, not surprisingly, was John Mercer, whose prestige as a lawyer was the primary reason for his introduction to the company.

We learn from the minutes of the meeting on December 3, 1750.

"[Resolved] That it is absolutely necessary to have proper Articles to bind the Company that Mason ..., Scott & Chapman or any two of them, apply to John Mercer to consider and draw such Articles and desire him attend the next general meeting of the Company at Stafford Courthouse...."[120]

At the meeting in May 1751, Mercer presented the Articles and was "admitted as a Partner on advancing his twentieth part of the whole Expence."[121] From then on he was virtually secretary of the company, as well as its chief driving force. He was made a committee member with Lawrence Washington, Nathaniel Chapman, James Scott, and George Mason, who was treasurer. The "Committee" was the central or executive board.

With the leading members living in Stafford County or nearby, most of the meetings of both the company and the committee were held at Stafford courthouse, and occasionally in private houses of the members. We can imagine with what pride Mercer noted in his journal for February 5-7, 1753, "Ohio Committee met at my house." The important role played by the Ohio Company in the Mercers' lives--and by them in the Company--is fully recounted in the _George Mercer Papers Relating to the Ohio Company of Virginia_.

FOOTNOTES:

[120] _The George Mercer Papers_, op. cit. (footnote 51), p.

5.

[121] Ibid.

GEORGE, JOHN, AND JAMES

Mercer doubtless threw himself into the Ohio Company's affairs with characteristic drive and enthusiasm. We may surmise that there was heady talk at Marlborough about the frontier and of dangerous exploits against the Indians and the French--enough, at least, to have stirred youthful cravings for adventure among the Mercer boys. Certain it is that George and John Fenton, aged 19 and 18, respectively, joined the frontier regiment of their neighbor Colonel Fry as young officers "upon the first incursions of the French."[122]

James, aged 16 and too young for soldiering, exhibited an unusual apt.i.tude for architecture. His talent was noticed by William Bromley, the master joiner on the mansion house, who told Mercer that James "had a most extraordinary turn to mechanicks." On the strength of this, Mercer decided that James should become a master carpenter or joiner, then synonymous with "architect." In America in 1753 professional architects, as we know them, did not exist; gentlemen, some very talented, designed and drafted, while skilled joiners or carpenters followed general directions, executing, engineering, and inventing as they went along.

Mercer's decision was as unconventional as it was prescient, being made at a time when gentlemen were not expected to learn a trade, yet at a moment when the respected place the professional architect was later to have could be envisioned. Indeed, he explained his feeling that those who possessed architectural skills "were more beneficial members of society, and more likely to make a fortune, with credit, than the young Gentlemen of those times, who wore laced jackets attended for improvement at ordinaries, horse races, c.o.c.k matches, and gaming tables." Motivated by this honest sense of values, forged in the experience of a self-made man, Mercer proceeded to bind James "apprentice to Mr. Waite, a master carpenter and undertaker (of Alexandria), who covenanted to instruct him in all the different branches of that business. At the same time I bound four young Negro fellows (which I had given him) to Mr. Waite, who covenanted to instruct each of them in a particular branch. These, I expected, when they were out of their time, would place him in such a situation as might enable him to provide for himself, if I should not be able to do any more for him. It is notorious that I received the compliments of the Governour, several of the Council, and many of the best Gentlemen in the country, for having set such an example, which, they said, they hoped would banish that false pride that too many of their countrymen were actuated by."

On June 25, 1753, Mercer noted in his journal, "At home. Bound son James & Peter & Ess.e.x to W^m Waite for 5 y^{rs}." However commendable this effort to banish "false pride" may have been, it was probably not a realistic solution for James' career. James, as we shall see, was to make his own choice later and was to follow with great distinction in his father's footsteps as a lawyer.

FOOTNOTES:

[122] All the foregoing quotations in this section are from Purdie & Dixon's _Virginia Gazette_, September 26, 1766.

GROWING BURDENS, RESPONSIBILITIES, AND DEBTS

Meanwhile, Mercer had announced his intention to publish a new edition of the _Abridgment_. In doing so, he adopted a hostile, testy approach that was unusual even in 18th-century advertising. Implying that he was doing a favor to an ungrateful populace, he stated in the Virginia _Gazette_ on August 16, 1751, "I have been prevail'd upon to print it, if I have a prospect of saving myself, though the Treatment I met from the Subscribers to the last had determined me never to be again concerned in an Undertaking of this Kind." On the following February 20, he announced in the _Gazette_ that if there were 600 subscribers by the last of the next General Court he would send the copy to press. If not, he would return the money to those who had subscribed, "which I should not have troubled myself with, if I could have thought of any other Expedient to secure myself against the base Usage I met with from the Subscribers to my former _Abridgment_, who left above 1200 of them on my Hands." This kind of advertising had its predictable response: publication of the new _Abridgment_ was postponed indefinitely.

The first suggestion that all was not well in Mercer's financial affairs was given in an advertis.e.m.e.nt in the _Gazette_ on April 10, 1752. In this he noted that he had agreed to pay the debts of one Francis Wroughton, a London merchant, out of Wroughton's effects. However, although Wroughton's effects had not materialized, he promised to make payment anyway, "notwithstanding a large Ballance due to myself." He concluded, "Besides Mr. _Wroughton's_ Debts, I have some of my own (and not inconsiderable) to pay, therefore I hope that such Gentlemen as are indebted to me will, without putting me to the Blush which a Dunn will occasion, discharge their Debts...."

Perhaps to alleviate these difficulties, he had advertised in the Gazette on the previous March 15 that he would lease "3,000 Acres of extraordinary good fresh Land, in Fairfax and Prince William," but there is no evidence that he was successful.

Signs of irritability became increasingly noticeable. In 1753 he outraged his fellow justices at Stafford court--so much so that they brought charges against him before the Executive Council "for misbehavior as a Justice."[123] It was decided that, although "his Conduct had been in some Respects blameable, particularly by his Intemperance, opprobrious Language on the Bench, and indecent Treatment of the other Justices, ... that in Consideration of his having been a princ.i.p.al Instrument in a due Administration of Justice, and expediting the Business of the County, it has been thought proper to continue him Judge of the Court."[124]

A growing burden of debt, in contrast to the prosperity of the preceding decade, clearly affected Mercer's att.i.tude, as we can see in a Gazette advertis.e.m.e.nt on November 7, 1754: "I will not undertake any new, or finish any old Cause, 'til I receive my Fee, or Security for it to my liking: And I hope such Gentlemen as for above these seven years past have put me off with Promises every succeeding General Court will think it reasonable now to discharge their accounts." Concurrent with indebtedness was an almost annual increase in the size of his family. In 1752 Grace Fenton Mercer was born, the next year Mungo Roy, and in 1754 Elinor.

At the same time, he still pursued the restless activity that characterized his earlier years. On July 24, 1753, Mercer went "to Balthrop's, Smith's Ordin^{ry} & Vaulx's,"[125] a distance of 27 miles, during which he "Overset." On the 25th he went on eight miles farther "to Col^o Phil Lee's"[126] for a three-day meeting of the Ohio Company, then went the whole 35 miles home on the 28th. On September 6 he was called eight miles away "to Boyd's hole on Inquest as Coroner & home by 4 in the morn^g," while the next day he was "at home. Son Mungo Roy born ab^t 2 in the morning." On the 19th Mungo Roy was christened. Four days later he went 15 miles to Fredericksburg for the christening of William d.i.c.k's son Alexander, returning home the next day. The following day Mercer journeyed 14 miles and back to "Holdbrook's Survey" by way of Mountjoy's, and repeated the trip the next day, stopping at Major Hedgman's[127] coming and going. On October 5 he made a three-day trip to Williamsburg, covering the distance in stretches of 16, 52, and 42 miles per day, respectively. He went by way of Port Royal, where he "Met M^r Wroughton," presumably the London merchant whose creditors he had agreed to pay. The second day took him by way of King William courthouse. On the return on November 4-6, he came via Chiswell's Ordinary[128] and New Kent courthouse (which he noted had "Burnt"), covering a total of 110 miles.

On June 3, 1754, his clerk reported to duty, according to a journal entry: "Rogers came here at 50 p^r annum." Rogers remained in Mercer's employ until 1768.

Mercer seems to have been driving himself to the limit, not to achieve success as in the prior decades, but rather to hold secure what he already had. The specter of debt now hung over him, as it did over nearly every planter, under the increasing burdens of the French and Indian War. The 17th-century wisdom of William Fitzhugh and Robert Beverley in seeking to lead the colony away from complete dependence upon tobacco was apparent to those who would remember. Marlborough, although still technically a town, was now in reality a tobacco plantation, and Mercer, despite his status as a lawyer, was as irretrievably committed to the success or failure of tobacco as was Fitzhugh 70 years earlier. The hard years were now upon all, and, like his equally hard-pressed debtors, Mercer was suffering from them.

FOOTNOTES:

[123] _Executive Journals of the Council_, op. cit. (footnote 66), vol. 5, p. 410.

[124] Ibid., p. 434.

[125] The Balthrop family lived in King George County; Smith's ordinary has not been identified; "Vaulx's" probably refers to the home of Robert Vaulx of Pope's Creek, Westmoreland County. Vaulx was father-in-law of Lawrence Washington and died in 1755.

[126] Philip Ludwell Lee, proprietor of "Stratford,"

Westmoreland County, 1751-1775, grandfather of General Robert E. Lee. "Old Stratford and the Lees who Lived There,"

_Magazine of the Society of Lees of Virginia_ (Richmond, May 1925), vol. 3, no. 1, p. 15.

[127] Peter Hedgman was another Stafford County leader. He was burgess from 1742 to 1755. "Members of the House of Burgesses," _VHM_ (Richmond, 1901), vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 249.

[128] George Fisher visited Chiswell's ordinary: "On Monday May the 12th 1755, at Day Break, about half an hour after Four in the morning, I left Williamsburg to proceed to Philadelphia.... About Eight o'clock, by a slow Pace, I arrived at Chiswell's Ordinary. Two Planters in the Room, I went into, were at Cards (all Fours) but on my arrival, returned into an inner Room." "Narrative of George Fisher,"

_WMQ_ [1] (Richmond, 1909), vol. 17, pp. 164-165.

LIFE AT MARLBOROUGH DURING THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS

On March 11, 1755, after nearly 30 years of uncertainty about his t.i.tles to Marlborough, Mercer at last was granted the entire 52-acre town in a release from the feoffees, Peter Daniel and Gerard Fowke. This was made with the provision that he should be "Eased from making improvements on the other twenty-six Lots (those not built upon), to prevent their forfeiture and the County will be wholly reimbursed, which it is not probable it ever will be otherwise as only one Lot has been taken up in forty-seven years last past and there is not one House in the said town which has not been built by the said Mercer."[129]

While the day-to-day events of Marlborough went on much as ever, the conflict between the British and the French spread from Canada southward along the western ridge of the Appalachians. This expansion, inevitably, was reflected in the Mercers' activities in many ways, both great and small. As the struggle approached its climax, Braddock's troops came to Virginia in March 1755, and were quartered in Alexandria. Among them was John Mercer's brother, Captain James Mercer, who was a professional soldier. On March 25 John left Marlborough for Alexandria, probably to greet James and to have him billeted at William Waite's house where young son James already was living as Waite's apprentice. This bringing together of two far-flung members of the Mercer family had unantic.i.p.ated results. Captain James was a British gentlemen-officer, untouched by the leveling influences of colonial life and therefore untempted to banish "false pride" by any such radical means as John had employed with young James. Indeed, the sight of his nephew learning a mechanical trade must have been a rude shock, for we learn from John Mercer that Captain James "found means to make his nephew uneasy under his choice; and I was from that time incessantly teazed, by those who well knew their interest over me, until I was brought to consent very reluctantly that he should quit the plumb and square" and become a lawyer.[130]

Mercer returned to Marlborough by way of George Mason's, near the place where a few months later William Buckland was to begin work on "Gunston Hall." He remained there all day on April 1--"at M^r Mason's wind bound," he wrote in his journal. The next day he went "home through a very great gust."

The problems of managing a plantation went on through peace and through war. Besides a mult.i.tude of Negroes, there were also indentured white servants at Marlborough. One of these ran away and was advertised in the _Virginia Gazette_ on May 2, 1755:

... a Servant Man named _John Clark_, he pretends sometimes to be a Ship-Carpenter by Trade, at other Times a Sawyer or a Founder ...

he is about 5 feet 7 inches high, round Shoulders, a dark Complexion, grey eyes, a large Nose and thick Lips, an _Englishman_ by birth; had on when he went away, a blue Duffil Frock with flat white Metal b.u.t.tons and round Cuffs, red corded Plush Breeches, old grey Worsted Stockings, old Shoes, and broad Pewter Buckles, brown Linen wide Trousers, some check'd Shirts, and a Muslin Neckcloth; had also an old Beaver Hat bound round with Linen.

On October 24, the _Gazette_ carried another advertis.e.m.e.nt related to Mercer's problems of personnel:

A Miller that understands the Management of a Wind-mill, and can procure a proper Recommendation, may have good Wages, on applying to the Subscriber during the General Court, at _Williamsburg_, or afterwards, at his House in _Stafford_ County, before the last Day of November, or if any such Person will enclose his Recommendation, and let me know his Terms by the Post from _Williamsburg_, he may depend on meeting an Answer at the Post-Office there, without Charge, the first Post after his Letter comes to my Hands. _John Mercer_

In the meanwhile, the war had broken out in full scale, and the disaster at Fort Duquesne had taken place. Mercer apparently learned the bad news at a Stafford court session, for he noted in his journal on July 9, after observing his attendance at court, "General Braddock defeated." We can imagine his concern, for both George and John Fenton were partic.i.p.ants in the campaign.

On April 18, 1756, John Fenton was killed in action while fighting under Washington.[131] Curiously, his death was not mentioned in the journal.

Instead, we learn of the death of John Mercer's horse on the way to Williamsburg in April and of the fact that, on his return in May, Mercer lost his way and traveled 46 miles in a day. He tells us that he went "to M^r Moncure's by water" on May 26, a distance of 15 miles, and that he made a round trip from Mr. Moncure's to Aquia Church for a total of 12 miles. On July 14, he noted that he went "to Maj^r Hedgman's & returning thrown out of the chaise & very much bruised."

The demands of the war are revealed in journal entries made in June 1757. On the 20th he wrote, "to Court to p.r.i.c.k Soldiers & home," and on the 27th, "to Court to draft Soldiers & home." As at other times in the journal, birth and death, in their tragic immediacy and repet.i.tiveness, were juxtaposed in September: on the 24th, "Son John born"; on the 27th, "Brother James died at Albany"; on the 28th, "Son John died."