The Cultural History of Marlborough, Virginia Part 14

In spite of these desperate thras.h.i.+ngs about in a struggle to survive, Mercer's empire was collapsing. When Monroe arrived as overseer, he

found [according to Mercer] but 8 barrels of corn upon my plantation, not enough at any of my quarters to maintain my people, a great part of my Stock dead (among them some of my English colts & horses in the 2 last years to the am^t of 375. 10. --) & the rest of them dying, which would have infallibly have been their fate if it had not been for the straw of 1000 bushels of barley & the grains from the brewhouse.... Convinced of his [Monroe's]

integrity, I have been forced to submit the entire management of all the plantation to him.

The following pa.s.sage from the letter summarizes Mercer's financial predicament:

"I reced in 1764 1548 ... 4 ... 3-1/2 & in 1765 961 ... 5 ...

4-1/2 but since I quitted my practice I reced in 1766 no more than 108 ... 16 ... 1 of which I borrowed 24.10.--& 7 ... 1 ... 6 was re'ced for the Governor's fees. 20 ... 8 ... 4 I got for Opinions &c and from the brewery 28 ... 3 ... the remaining 28 ... 16 is all I received out of several thousands due for all my old & new debts. In 1767 I reced 159 ... 9 ... 3 of which borrowed 5 ... 15 ...--the governor's fees 10 ... 7 ... 6 reced for opinions &c 49 ... 6 ...--from the brewhouse 66 ... 14 ... of which 94 ... 14 ... 3 was from the brewery & 9 in 1766 I gave a collector 20 besides his board ferrage & expences & finding him horses & his whole collection during the year turned out to be 27 ... 2 ... 10.

In the two years my taxes levied and quitrents amounted to 199 ...

8 ... 1 which would have left a ballance of 1 . 13 . 3 in my favour in that time from the brewery & my practice (if it could be so called) & all my debts, in great part of which you and your brother are jointly & equally interested. What then remained to support me & a family consisting of about 26 white people & 122 negroes? Nothing but my crops, after that I had expended above 100, for corn only to support them, besides rice & pork to near that value & the impending charge of 125 for rent, of 140 to overseers yearly, remained, & 94 ... 14 ... 3 out of those crops, as I have already mentioned, proceeding from the brewery, was swallowed up in taxes (tho the people in England say we pay none, but I can fatally prove that my estate from which I did not receive sixpence has, since the commencement of the war, paid near a thousand pounds in taxes only)."

On December 25, 1766, Mercer made public his situation in Rind's _Virginia Gazette_:

The great Number of Debts due to me for the last seven Years of my Practice, and the Backwardness of my Clients (in attending whose Business, I unhappily neglected my own) to make me Satisfaction, would of itself, if I had had no other Reason, have obliged me to quit my Practice. And when I found that by such partial Payments as I chanced to receive I was able to keep up my Credit, I can appeal to the Public, whether any Person, who had so many outstanding Debts, was less importunate, or troublesome, to his Debtors, But when I found, upon my quitting the Bar, all Payments cease, and that I would not personally wait upon my Clients, I could not approve of the Method of Demand, by the Sheriff, too commonly in Practice, without Necessity. I therefore employed a Receiver, who, ever since the first day of _January_ last, has been riding through the _Northern Neck_, and even as far as _Williamsburg_, and who to this Time has not been able, out of near ten thousand Pounds, to collect as much as will pay his own Wages, and discharge my public taxes (for Proof of which I will produce my Books to any Gentleman concerned or desirous to see them). This too, at a Time when my own Debts contracted by the large Expences I have been at for some Years past for establis.h.i.+ng a Brewery, has disabled me by any other Means from discharging them, (except when they would take lands, a.s.signments of Debts, or any thing I can spare, without Detriment to my Plantations or Brewery). Selling Lands avail nothing, I have bonds for some sold four or five Years ago but I can't get the Money for them. I therefore cannot be thought too unreasonable to give this public Notice (which the Circ.u.mstances of the Country make most disagreeable to me) that I shall be against my inclination obliged to bring Suits, immediately after next _April_ General Court, against all persons indebted to me who do not before that Time, discharge their Debts to me or my Son _James Mercer_, who will have my Books during the said Court to settle with every Person applying to him. And as some Persons have since my quitting the Practice, sent to me for Opinions and to settle Accounts without sending my Fees, to prevent any more Applications of that Sort, I give this Public Notice, that tho' I shall always be ready to do any Thing of that Kind (which can be done at my own House) upon receiving an adequate Satisfaction for it, it will be in vain to expect it be any Messenger they may send without they send the Money. There are some Gentlemen who must know that nothing in this Advertis.e.m.e.nt can relate to them but that any of their Commands will at any Time, be readily complied with by their

and the Public's humble Servant JOHN MERCER Dec. 8, 1766

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 16.--ADVERTIs.e.m.e.nT of the services of Mercer's stallion Ranter. Andrew Monroe, grandfather of the President, was Mercer's overseer. (Purdie's _Virginia Gazette_, April 18, 1766.)]

Andrew Monroe, as manager of the plantation, advertised over his own name in Purdie & Dixon's _Virginia Gazette_, of April 18, 1766, the services of "The well known Horse RANTER," an English stallion imported by Mercer in 1762 (fig. 16). One senses that without Monroe, Marlborough would have collapsed completely. In spite of his ministrations, however, there were difficulties with the staff. Purdie & Dixon's _Gazette_ carried the following on June 6, 1766:

MARLBOROUGH, STAFFORD county, May 26, 1766.

Run away from the subscriber, some time last _February_, a Negro man named TEMPLE, about 35 years old, well set, about 5 feet 6 inches high, has a high forehead, and thick bush beard; he took a gun with him, and wore a blue double breasted jacket with horn b.u.t.tons. I suspect he is harboured about _Bull Run_, in _Fauquier_ county, where he formerly lived. I bought him, with his mother and sister, from Mr. _Barradall's_ executors in _Williamsburg_ above 20 years ago, and expected he would have returned home; but as he has been so long gone, I am doubtful he may endeavour to get out of the country by water, of which he may understand something, as he was two years on board the _Wolf_ sloop of war in the _West Indies_, and carries the marks of the discipline he underwent on board.

Likewise run away last Whitsun holydays two indented servants, imported from LONDON last September, viz. JOSEPH WAIN of Bucknell, in the county of Oxford, aged 22 years, about 5 feet 4 inches high, round shouldered, stoops pretty much in his walk, has a down look, and understands ploughing. WILLIAM CANTRELL of Warwicks.h.i.+re, aged 19, about the same height, and stoops a little, but not so much as WAIN, has a scar under one of his eyes, but which is uncertain, has some marks of the smallpox, his hair is of a dark brown and short, but Wain's is cut off, he pretends to understand ploughing and country business, and has drove a waggon since he has been in my service; they both have fresh look. The clothes they left home in were jackets of red plaids, brown linen s.h.i.+rts, _Russia_ drill breeches with white metal b.u.t.tons, and thread stockings; _Cantrell_ with an old hat and new shoes, and _Wain_ with a new hat and old shoes; But as it is supposed that they were persuaded to elope with four _Scotch_ servants belonging to the widow _Strother_, on _Potowmack_ run in this county, whom they went to see, and who went off at the same time, it is probable that they may exchange their clothes, or have provided some other. It is supposed that they will make for _Carolina_, where it is said an uncle of one of Mr.

_Strother's_ servants lives; and as several horses are missing about the same time in these parts, it is very probable they did not choose to make such a journey on foot. Whoever secures my servants and Negro, or any of them shall, besides the reward allowed by law, be paid any reasonable satisfaction, in proportion to the distance and extraordinary trouble they may be put to.

JOHN MERCER

Mercer seems to have been concerned princ.i.p.ally with his brewers and with the wasteful scheme they furthered with their incompetencies. Even they seem to have been beyond his strength, for he became ill in January 1766, and suffered recurrently the rest of the year. From his journal we can detect a once-strong man's struggle against the first warnings of approaching death:

August 26 Rode 6 m. & home had a fever 12 27 sick 28 Rode 5 m. & home 10 29 2 m. & D^o had an Ague 4 30 D^o 31 D^o Sept 1 Had an Ague 2 Rode 5 m. & home 10

Sept 22 to M^r Selden's & ret'^d abo^t a mile but went back 12 23 home by 12 and went to bed 10 24 Confined to my bed (remained so rest of month) Oct 1 Confined to my bed and very ill 5 D^o Sat up a little 6 D^o Better 7 D^o D^o 8 Drove out 3 m & home 6

He informed George that after his return from Mr. Selden's on September 23 he was for "several days under strong delerium and had the rattles."

By the beginning of 1768, however, he was able to boast that "I think I may safely aver that I have not been in a better [state of health] any time these twenty years past, & tho' I am not so young, my youngest daughter ... was born the 20th day of last January."

On April 22, 1766, he noted in the journal that the "Kitchen roof catched fire" and on May 15 that he "Took Possion [sic] of my summer house." The latter was probably located in the garden, where, during his convalescence in the spring, he was able to make a meticulous record of the blooming of each plant, flower, tree, and shrub, const.i.tuting a most interesting catalog of the wild and cultivated flora of 18th-century Marlborough. The catalog is indicative of Mercer's ranging interests and his knowledge of botanical terms (see Appendix L). That the garden was perhaps as interesting as the house is borne out by the fact that in 1750, as the house was reaching completion, Mercer had brought from England a gardener named William Blacke, paying Captain Timothy Nicholson for his pa.s.sage.

Mercer's close attention to the natural phenomena around him began with his illness in 1766. On January 4, only a few days after he had become ill, he installed a thermometer in his room, and eight days later moved it to his office. Regularly, from then until the close of his journal, except when he was absent from Marlborough, he recorded the minimum and maximum readings. One has only to look at the figures for the winter months to realize that "heated" rooms, as we understand them, were little known in the 18th century. Only on Christmas Eve in 1767 did the temperature range from a low of 41 to as high as 63, because, as Mercer noted, "A good fire raised the Thermometer so high."

Although Mercer apparently found surcease from his cares in the peaceful surroundings at Marlborough, his responsibilities went on nevertheless.

The cost of keeping slaves remained an enormous and wasteful one: "Every negroes cloaths, bedding, corn, tools, levies & taxes will stand yearly at least in 5," he wrote to George. In his letter he placed an order through George for clothing, which included 25 welted jackets "for my tradesmen & white servants," indicating the large number of white workmen on his staff. It also included 20 common jackets, 45 pair of woolen breeches, 1 dozen greatcoats, 5 dozen stockings, 1-1/2 dozen for boys and girls, 4 dozen "strong felt hats & 600 Ells of ozenbrigs. We shall make Virg^a cloth enough to cloath the women and children, but shall want 50 warm blankets & 2 doz of the Russia drab breeches."

Against the advice of his merchant friend Jordan, he declined to order a superior grade of jacket for his Negroes that would last two years, since "most negroes are so careless of their cloathes & rely so much on a yearly support that I think such jackets as I had are cheapest & last the year very well."

He ordered George to buy new sheeting for family use, including "84 yds of such as is fit for comp^a," inasmuch as "my wife is ashamed of her old sheets when any strangers come to the house." He also placed an order for windmill sails, which, he observed, were costly in the colony, and could be made only at Norfolk.

My millwrights directions were The Drivers 3 foot 6 inches broad } } 23 feet long.

The leaders 3 3 }

A Suit I had made at Norfolk by those dimensions proved too long, something, they should be of Duck N^o. 2.

In addition, he ordered nails, 50 yards of haircloth, a yard wide, for the malt kiln, a "drill plow with bra.s.s seed boxes for wheat, turnips, lucarn pease &c," and a considerable number of books, particularly for his children. "Bob. Newbery at the Bible & Sun in S^t. Paul's churchyard can best furnish you at the cheapest rate with books best adapted to the real instruction as well as amus.e.m.e.nt of children from two to six feet high."

The long letter was finally finished on January 28, 1768, its great length partly dictated by the fact that the river had frozen, immobilizing the posts. He noted in his journal that on February 16 he was in Fredericksburg and "dined at my Sons being my birthday and 63 y^{rs} old." On the 24th he attended a meeting of the Ohio Company at Stafford courthouse and on March 14 returned there for a court session.

The next day he went home to Marlborough, perhaps never to leave again.

The journal ended at the close of the month. The next that we hear of him appeared in Rind's _Virginia Gazette_ on October 27:

On Friday, the 14th instant, died at his house in Stafford County, John Mercer, Esq., who had practiced the law with great success in this colony upwards of forty years. He was a Gentleman of great natural abilities inspired by an extensive knowledge, not only in his profession, but in several other branches of polite literature.

He was of a humane, generous and chearful disposition, a facetious companion, a warm friend, an affectionate husband, a tender parent, and an indulgent master.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 17.--PLATE FROM MARIA SIBYLLA MERIAN'S _Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium efte Veranderung Surinaamsche Insecten_ (Antwerp, 1705), an elegant work in Mercer's Library.]

FOOTNOTES:

[139] All quotations and sources not otherwise identified in this section are from John Mercer's letter to George, December 22, 1767-January 28, 1768. _The George Mercer Papers_, op. cit. (footnote 51), pp. 186-220.

[140] Grandfather of President James Monroe.

"Tyler-Monroe-Grayson-Botts," _Tyler's Quarterly Historical Genealogical Magazine_ (Richmond, 1924), vol. 5, p. 252.

VI

_Dissolution of Marlborough_

JAMES MERCER'S ADMINISTRATION OF THE ESTATE

James Mercer was now "manager" of John Mercer's estate. George, heavily in debt, remained in England never returning to Virginia. The staggering task of rescuing the estate from bankruptcy was left to James. The immediate necessity was to reduce wasteful overhead at Marlborough and to liquidate non-essential capital investment. On December 15, 1768, James advertised in Rind's _Virginia Gazette_:

A large and well chosen collection of BOOKS, being all the library of the late _John Mercer_, Esq., deceased, except such as are reserved for the use of his children. Those to be sold consist of more than 1200 volumes now at home, with which it is hoped may be reckoned upwards of 400 volumes which appear to be missing by the said _Mercer's_ catalogue.... The borrowers are hereby requested to return them before the 19th of _December_ next, the day appointed for the appraising of the estate....

Also to be sold, about 20 mares and colts, and 40 pair of cows and calves. The colts are the breed of the beautiful _horse Ranter_, who is for sale; his pedigree has been formerly published in this Gazette, by which it will appear he is as well related as any horse on the continent. He cost 330 l. currency at his last sale, about 4 years ago, and is nothing worse except in age, and that can be but little in a horse kept for the sole use of covering....

Except for attempting to dispose of the library and the horses and livestock, no significant changes were undertaken until after September 7, 1770, when John Mercer's widow, Ann Roy Mercer, died. Reduction of the plantation to simpler terms then began in earnest. Purdie & Dixon's _Virginia Gazette_ published the following advertis.e.m.e.nt on October 25, 1770:

_To be SOLD on MONDAY the 19th of NOVEMBER, if fair, otherwise next fair day, at MARLBOROUGH, the seat of the late JOHN MERCER Esq: deceased._

The greatest part of his personal estate (except slaves) consisting of a variety of household furniture too tedious to mention; a number of well chosen books, in good condition; a very large and choice flock of horses, brood mares, and colts, all blooded, and mostly from that very beautiful and high bred horse _Ranter_ a great number of black cattle, esteemed the best in the colony, equal in size to any beyond the Ridge, but superiour to them, because they will thrive in shorter pastures; also 700 ounces of fas.h.i.+onable plate, and a genteel family coach, not more than seven years old, seldom used, with harness for six horses. Those articles were appraised, in December 1768, to 1738 l. The horses and black cattle are since increased, and now are in very good order; so that any person inclinable to purchase may depend on having enough to choose out of.

Also will then be sold several articles belonging to a BREWERY, _viz._ a copper that boils 500 gallons, several iron bound buts that contain a whole brewing each, coolers, &c. &c. and a quant.i.ty of new iron hoops and rivets for casks of different forms, lately imported.