LANVS, conlainini; so many Prctrdrnts for Mai{isir:itrs 

 ih.il they arc esteemed v.'!' wmli in.- sliillings, the 

 Price asked for them. 



JAMI s MFIU F R 

 Williamsburg, October 24. 



N.B. The Plate is lodijed with Mr. Craig, and may be 

 seen hv any inclinable to purchase. 



lames did not attempt to .sell the plantation it.self 

 or the .sla\cs. hut evidently soutjht to reestablish 

 M.ulhoroiinli on an cHicient and prolitahle basis. 

 1 hit he failed to do so is l)roui;ht out in a letter that 

 Georm* Mason wrote to CJeornc Washington on 

 necember '21, 1773. In it is expres.sed the whole 

 tragic sequence of debt compounding debt in the 

 plantation economy and the in.suruiountabic burden 

 of inherited obligations: 



The embarrass'd .Situation of my Friend .Mr. Jas. Mercer's 

 .■\flairs i;ivcs Me much more Concern than Surprize. I 

 always feared that his .Xvcrsion to sellini; the Lands & 

 Slaves, in Expectation of paying the Debts with the 

 Crops & Profits of the Estate, whilst a heavy Interest 

 was still accumulatini;. wou'd be attended with bad 

 Consecjuences. independent of his Brother's Difficulties 

 in England; having never, in a single Instance, st-en 

 these sort of Delays answer the Hopes of the Debtor. 

 When Colo. [George] Mercer was first married, & 

 thought in affluent circumstances by his Friends here, 

 considerable purchases of Slaves were made for Him, at 

 high prices (& I believe mostly u|X)n Credit) which 

 must now be sold at much less than the ccst: He was 

 oriijinally burthened with a proportionable part of his 

 Father's Debts: most of w hich, as well as the old Gentle- 

 man's other Debts, are not only still unpaid, but must 

 be greatly increased by Interest; so that even if Cblo. 

 Mercer had not incurr'd a large Debt in England. He 

 wou'd have found his .Mfairs here in a disagreeable 

 Situation. I have Bye me Mr. James Mercer's litle- 

 Papers for his Lands on Pohick Run & on I our-mile 

 Run, in this County; which I have hitherto endeavoured 

 to sell for Him in \ain: for as he Left the Price entirely 

 to Me, I cou'd not take less for thein than if they had 

 Ix-en my own."' 



M.XRLBOROUOH DURING 



AND AFTER THE REVOLL'TION 



Despite the seeming unwisdom of dt)ing scj. fames 

 Meiccr held on to Marlboiough until his death, 

 lie was an active patriot in the Revolution. scr\inR 



'•' iMIns to Waihinglon, .\nd A(fimfi.w\in( Paft'i. nlil S. Nt. 

 ll.unillon (Boston and .New Y.irk: llouitliton, .Slimm. I*»>l), 

 Vdl ■», p. Jill.. 



as a iiiriiiber of the V'irRinia Coiiiini' 



MarIlK>rough, too, seems (o have been .i j 



in the war, when Ixird Dunniore, on a last • 



foray, sailed his ships up the Potomac and attacked 



several plantations. ThatM.K" ' ■ ■ 



wc learn from the widow of M 



of the X'irginia militia, who "was at the ' 



of Marllxjrough, the seat of Judi"- M 



I'otomac . . . ." "* In Purdie's 



.August 2, 1 776, wc read : 



William Brent, esq., at the mouth of A' 

 .Stafford county, as also two other houM-> l•n^., 

 the Polowmack River, Iioth the property of widow !.■ 



Marlborough was no longer the property of a "widow 

 lady," but accurate reporting even today is 

 universal, and Marllx>rough may have Ijeen in- 

 In any ca.se, the mansion was not destroyed. aithoui;h 

 wc do not know whether any other buildintj- 

 Marlborough were damaged or not. 



John Francis Mercer. James' half brother, appears 

 to have lived at M.u" . ' ' 



the Revolution. He - 



aide-de-camp to the eccentric and ditficul' 

 Charles Lee in 1778. When Lee w 

 after the Battle of Monmouth, Job. i 

 but reentered the war in 1780.'** He .ippan i 

 settled at Marll)orjugh after the surrender at ^ork- 

 town, at which he was pr,.-sent. In I "K? he was 

 elected to Ijoth the \'irii;inia House of I - and 



the Continental C'ongress. General l.<< oi'ii t!-.r 

 same year, stipulating in his will: 



Id mv friend John [Franci*! Mereer, Esq., of Marl- 



gxiineas to buy a ring, i wnild give hr 



heh.i- ■ ' - ' •' 



if hr • 



It is not proluble that John Francis' "genius" 



w.,- ■ ■ "■ • • ^t ■• 



H. 

 Ciovenior."' 



"• CJronor Bmiws G«>oo», I 

 p. 21 1 

 '" Ibid 



U'. •.--1-;-. <■ V\-.i V . ' ;...■. llii..V>/i 



//; 



p. \<>. 



I" Ibid. 



