in his patronizing Williamsburg tailors, beginning 

 in 1745 when he settled with George Charleston for 

 a tailor's bill of £6 10s. In 1748 he paid Charleston 

 four shillings for "'Collar lining a Velvet Waistcoat." 

 In 1749 he purchased a "full trimni'd velvet Suit" 

 fiom Charles Jones, the work and materials totaling 

 £7 7s. 4j:d., while in 1750 he spent £11 2s. \%d. 

 on unitemized purchases from the same tailor. 

 In that year he bought also from Robert Crichton, a 

 Williamsburg merchant, "a flower'd \'elvet Waist- 

 coat, £5." As the decade advanced, Mercer played 

 with increasing consciousness the role of wealthy 

 gentleman, as his choice of tailors shows. 



MATERIALS 



Textile materials, as seen under "General Ex- 

 penses" and in the accounts of Hunter and Dick, 

 ran the gamut of the usual imported fabrics, as well 

 as rare, expensive elegancies. An alphabetical list 

 of the materials mentioned in these accounts, with 

 definitions, is given in Appendix I. 



From this list we gain an impression of great 

 diversity and refinement in the materials used for 

 clothing and interior decoration, as well as of a 

 tremendous amount of sewing, embroidering, and 

 making of clothes at home, probably typical of most 

 of the great plantations in the middle of the century. 



WEAVING 



In addition to fine imported materials, there were 

 needed blankets, work clothes for slaves, and fabrics 

 for other practical purposes. To these ends Mercer 

 employed several weavers in various parts of Virginia. 

 In 1747 William Threlkeld wove 109 yards of woolen 

 cloth at fourpence a yard. During that year and the 

 next, John Booth of King George County wove an 

 indeterminate amount for a total of £2 4d. In 1748 

 John Fitzpatrick wove 480 yards of cotton at four- 

 pence a yard, and William Mills wove 30 yards of 

 "cloath." Much of the work appears to have been 

 done in payment for legal services. 



Weaving and spinning cvidendy were done at 

 Marlborough, as they were at most plantations. In 

 1744 Mercer recorded under "General Charges" that 

 he had sold a loom to Joseph Foxhall. In 1746 he 

 bought a spinning wheel from Captain Wilson of 

 Whitehaven, England, purchasing three more from 

 him in 1 748. Wool cards also appear in the accounts. 

 In January 1748 Mercer charged William Mills with 

 "3 months Hire of Thuanus the Weaver, £3," which 



suggests that Thuanus was an indentured white 

 servant (his name does not occur on the list of slaves) 

 employed at Marlborough and hiied out to Mills, a 

 Stafford County weaver. 



PERSONAL ACCESSORIES 



In contrast to the elegancies of dress materials and 

 clothing, Mercer left little evidence of jewelry, toilet 

 articles, or other personal objects. In Ledger G we 

 find "2 horn combs" bought for fivepence, an ivory 

 comb for tenpence, two razors, two strops, snufif- 

 boxes, bottles of snuff, "a smelling bottle," and "buck- 

 handled" and silver-handled penknives. From John 

 Hyndman, a Williamsburg merchant, Mercer acquired 

 a set of silver buckles for £1 10s., and from William 

 Woodford he bought "a gold watch. Chain & Swivel" 

 for the not-trifling sum of £64 6s. 3d. 



Like most successful men, Mercer had his portrait 

 painted. During the General Court sessions held 

 in the spring and fall of 1748 in Williamsburg, he 

 lodged with W'illiam Dering, the dancing master and 

 portrait painter. Dering lived in the house still 

 standing on the capitol green, now known as the 

 Brush-Everard house. In Dering's account we find: 

 "by drawing my picture, £9.2.9." "" 



FOOD AND DRINK 



Good food and drink played an important part in 

 Mercer's life, as it did in the lives of most Virginia 

 planters, hi the ledger accounts are found both 

 double-refined and single-refined sugar, bohea tea, 

 coffee, nutmegs, cinnamon, mace, and chocolate. 

 Most meats were provided by the plantation and 

 thus are not mentioned, while fish were caught from 

 the plantation sloop or by fixed nets. However, 

 Thomas Tyler of the Eastern Shore sold Mercer a 

 barrel of drumfish and four and one-half bushels of 

 oysters, while Thomas Jones, also of the Eastern Shore, 

 provided a barrel of pork for 47s. 6d. in 1 749. Earlier 

 there appeared a ledger item under "General 

 Charges" for 1775 pounds of pork. 



Molasses was an important staple, and Mercer 

 bought a 31 -gallon barrel of it from one "Captain 

 Fitz of the Eastern Shore of Maryland" in 1746 and 

 30 gallons the next year, charging both purchases to 



'"Sec J. Hall Pleasant.s, '"William Dering. a mid-cight- 

 eenth-century Williamsburg Portrait Painter," VH.M (Rich- 

 mond, 19.'J2), vol. 60, pp. 53-63. 



