in Septeniher 1744, a significant step in cinulatinsr 

 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/'' A "chaise"" could have 

 been one of several types of vehicles, but it was 

 probably ""a carriage for traveling, haxing a closed 

 body and seated for one to three persons,"" according 

 to Murra\'"s A J^'eiv 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 No\ember 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"."" '*■ 



At the same time he bought a "p'' C'artwheels" 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. 



TOB-\CCO 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"m. 

 Those from Sumner's Quarters bore the brand r'^M, 

 while the "Home Plantation" at Marlborough had 

 casks marked i*?'m (fig. 8). 



The interpretation of these symbols warrants some 



*» Sydenham & Hodgson was a London mercantile firm, 

 represented in Virginia by Jonathan Sydenham. Mercer 

 identified the firm in Ledger G as "Mercliants King George" 

 and noted in his journal on January 20, 1745, that he visited at 

 "Mr. Sydenham's." In 17.57 the two men were referred to 

 elsewhere as "Messrs. Sydenham & Hodgson of London." 

 Sec "Proceedings of the Virginia Coinmittcc of Correspondence, 

 17.59-07," VHM (Richmond, I'JOj), vol. 12, pp. 2-4. 



»' Extensive research has been conducted by Colonial Wil- 

 liamsburg, Inc., on the fonns of vehicles used by such Virginians 

 ::■; Mr-rccr and his contemporaries. 



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 con- 

 sistently in the 17th century. In the 18th century, 

 however, \ariations began to appear in the colonies, 

 although not, apparently, in England. .Siher made 

 in New York and Philadelphia during the 1 700'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?c.** 



Like Carlyle, Mercer used initials in this fashion, 

 but also, as we have seen, in two other combinations 

 in which "J. M." remains constant, the upper center 

 initial having a subordinate significance. "S" signi- 

 fies .Sumner"s Quarters, and ""B,"' Bull Run Quarters. 

 "C" on seals and brands having to do with Marl- 

 borough apparently refers to Catherine, honoring her 

 as Mercer's wife and mistress of the home plantation. 

 The possibility that "C" stands for Cave's warehouse 

 may be dismissed as being inconsistent with the other 

 two marks, the tobacco from Sumner's Quarters 

 haxing also been shipped through Cave's, and that 

 from Bull Run Quarters having been stored at the 

 Qccaquan warehouse.*-' 



John Withers also u.sed the left-to-right arrange- 

 ment, i?w, although Henry Tyler, a planter whose 

 account is mentioned in Mercer's Ledger, used the 

 conventional three-letter cipher, hTm. These marks 

 occurred on casks transmitted to Mercer as payments, 

 and are recorded in Ledger G (fig. 7). 



TOBACCO EXCHANGE 



Tobacco, before being transferred to another owner, 

 was examined by official inspectors. Mercer kept a 

 special "Inspector's Notes" account where he kept 

 track of fees due the in.spectors. Direct payments of 

 tobacco were made in transactions with William 



*' Gay Montaguk Moore, Seaport in Virginia (Richmond, 

 1949), p. 62. 



*" C. Malcolm VVatkins, "The Three-initial Cipher: 

 Exceptions to the Rule," Antiques (June 1958), vol. 73, no. 

 6, pp. 564-565. 



