The Cultural History of Marlborough, Virginia Part 4

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 gla.s.ses," 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 furnis.h.i.+ngs:

Ster. s. d.

By a writing desk D^o 5 By a gla.s.s & 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 bra.s.s 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 G.o.dson 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 furnis.h.i.+ngs, 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 s.h.i.+llings. Dogge also was credited with "bringing over 10 sheep from Sumners" (a plantation at Pa.s.sapatanzy, 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 ill.u.s.tration 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. mola.s.ses 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 Ch.e.l.loes 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] Pet.i.tion of John Mercer, loc. cit. (footnote 17).

ACQUIRING LAND AND BUILDING A NEW HOUSE

Mercer's first actual owners.h.i.+p 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 pa.s.s before he paid his first and only rent--a total of 12 s.h.i.+llings--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/."

a.s.sociated 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 Sh.e.l.ls."

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]

Oystersh.e.l.ls and bricks for the chimney were brought from Cedar Point and Boyd's Hole, south of Marlborough, by Chambers and Collins. Sh.e.l.ls 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 s.h.i.+llings for "9 days of work your Man plaistering my House & making 2 brick backs."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 4.--THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF JOHN MERCER. Detail from J. Dalrymple's revision (1755) of the map of Virginia by Joseph Fry and Peter Jefferson. Marlborough is incorrectly designated "New Marleboro."

(_Courtesy of the Library of Congress._)]

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 quant.i.ties 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.

FURNIs.h.i.+NG THE HOUSE

Other than a child's chair and a bedstead costing 10 s.h.i.+llings, 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 bra.s.s 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 partic.i.p.ated 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 ill.u.s.trated 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 s.h.i.+llings 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 cla.s.sics 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, Middles.e.x, 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 Ba.s.set, _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 sh.o.r.es. 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 a.s.sured by a cla.s.sic combination of energy, ability, and outgoing personality. As with many successful men, Mercer had an eye for meticulous detail; the doc.u.ments he left behind were a treasury of methodically kept records.