Mercer's coiniuciits, added three years later to this 

 record, signify the complexities of credit accounting 

 in the plantation economy: "In July 1729 I settled 

 Accounts w"' NP MTarlane & paid him off & at 

 the same time having Ed Barry's note on him for 

 1412' Tob" (his goods being extravagantly dear) I 

 paid him 1450' Tob" to M.' Thos Smith to ball"" 

 accts." 



Another of Mercer's accounts was with Edward 

 Simm. From Simm, Mercer acquired the following 

 in 1726: 



f s. d. 



1 horsewhip 4 



I fine hat 1 2 



9 y J" bed tick J^ 1 1(1 



1 p'' Spurs 8 



1 Curry Comb & brush 2 9 



2 p ' mea' Shooes 5/ 1 



1 p' Chelloes 1 1(1 



2 p' wom' gloves 2/ 4 

 2 pf D" thread hose 9 

 2 p' mens worsted d" 8 



2 p' ch'*' yarn 3 4 



1 Sifter 2 



1 frying pan 4 6 



7 quire of paper 1 }{ 9 8 



6 silk Laces 4'J 2 



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.'' 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 



"Domcstick 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"° 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 



By covering my house & building a 



Chimney 



£10.0.0 



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.'"^* 



Oystershells and bricks for the chimney were brought 

 bom Cedar Point and Boyd's Hole, south of Marl- 

 borough, 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)2 

 days' work spread over a period from October 1 730 to 

 February 1731. Hugh French had been paid for 1000 

 Ijricks 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." 



" f.r!.'> Mcrrer's Land Book. loc. cit. (footnote 12). 



'* Charles F. Innocent, The Development of English Building 

 Construction (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University 

 Press, 1916), pp. 2:V61. 



