warehouse at the falls of the Rappahannock."- i Ic 

 certainly had encountered George Mason before 

 then, and probably Mason's uncles, John, David, and 

 James Wausth, the sons of Parson John Waugh, all 

 of whom owned idle Marlborough properties. 



Mercer's friendship with the Masons was .sufKciently 

 well established by 1725 that on June 10 of that year 

 he married George's sister C'atherinc. This mai- 

 riage, most advantageous to an aspiring young man, 

 was celebrated at Mrs. Ann Fitzhugh's in King George 

 County with the Reverend Alexander Scott of 

 Ovcrwharton Parish in Stafford County ofliciating.'*'' 

 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. 



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 "'/. doz. Shoe- 

 maker's knives" and an "Ivory Comb." In return 

 he received two hogsheads of tobacco, "a Gallon of 

 syder Laceground," and raw and dressed deerskins. 



"John Mercer's Ledger B is the principal source of informa- 

 tion for this chapter. It was begun in 1725 and ended in 1732. 

 The original copy is in the library of the Bucks County His- 

 torical Society, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, a photostatic copy 

 being in the Virginia State Library. Further footnoted refer- 

 ences to the ledger are omitted, since the source in each case 

 is recognizable. 



"James Mercer Garnet, "James Mercer," IVMCl t'l 

 (Richmond, 1009), vol. 17, pp. 8.i-'JH. Mm. Ann Fitzhugh 

 w.ts the widosv of William Fitzhugh IIL who died in 1713/14. 

 She was the daughter of Richard I,ee and lived at "Eagle's 

 N' ■'." in King George County Csee "The Fitzhugh Family," 

 V KM T'tirhmond, 190t)l. vol. 7, pp. ',17-318). 



Figure 3. — FoRXRArr or John Mercer, artist un- 

 known. ,\bout 1 75 ). {Courtesy of Mrs. Thomas 

 B. Payne.) 



He maintained a similar long account with Mosley 

 Battaley (Battaille) (Appendi.x C). From William 

 Rogers of Yorktown''^ he bought £12 3s. 6d. worth 

 of earthenware, presumably for resale. The tobacco 

 which he had accumulated at the falls of the Rappa- 

 hannock he sold for cash to the Gloucester firm of 

 Whiting & Montague, paying Peter Kemp two 

 pounds "for the extiaordinary trouble of y'' 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 oyster- 

 shells 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 Februarv 18, 1720, he sold a mulatto 



''* William Rogers, who died in 1739. made earthenware and 

 stoneware at Yorktown after 1711. See C. Malcolm Watkins 

 and Ivor NoicL Hume, "The 'Poor Potter' of Yorktown" 

 (paper 54 in Contributions from the .Museum of History and Tech- 

 nology, U.S. National Museum Bulletin 249, by various authors; 

 Washington: Smithsonian Institution), 1967. 



