Part 7 (1/2)

[77] See pp. 25, 35-36, 46-47 and footnote 95 for further references to William Walker. Mercer's visit on this occasion probably relates to Walker's tentative appointment to rebuild Aquia Church.

[78] Mrs. Ann Spoore of Stafford County.

[79] Probably Mercer's sister-in-law, Mrs. Ann Mason, mother of George Mason of Gunston Hall.

[80] Dr. Henry Potter lived in Spotsylvania County. His estate was advertised for sale the following April 17 in the _Virginia Gazette_.

[81] George Hoomes was a justice of Caroline County court. He was appointed in 1735, the same year in which John Mercer qualified to practice law at the same court. ”Extracts from the Records of Caroline County,” _VHM_ (Richmond, 1912), vol.

20, p. 203.

[82] Probably Thomas Anderson (see p. 35 and footnote 93); William Gray was justice of New Kent County.

[83] Joseph Selden's estate pa.s.sed to his son Samuel, who married Mercer's eldest daughter, Sarah Ann Mason Mercer. See John Melville Jennings, ed., ”Letters of James Mercer to John Francis Mercer,” _VHM_ (Richmond, 1951), vol. 59, pp. 89-91.

[84] Fredericksburg district-court papers, file 571, bundle F, nos. 36-43 (through George F. S. King, Fredericksburg); Stafford County Will Book, Liber Z, p. 383 (August 5, 1707).

VEHICLES

During the 1740's Mercer's travels were often by chaise or chariot. We learn from Ledger G that he bought ”a fourwheel Chaise” from Charles Carter[85] in September 1744, a significant step in emulating 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.[86] A ”chaise” could have been one of several types of vehicles, but it was probably ”a carriage for traveling, having a closed body and seated for one to three persons,” according to Murray's _A New Oxford Dictionary_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 7.--JOHN MERCER'S TOBACCO-CASK SYMBOLS, drawn in his Ledger G. The ”home plantation” (Marlborough) is symbolized by the initial C, probably in honor of his wife Catherine. Sumner's quarters at Pa.s.sapatanzy is indicated by S, and Bull Run quarters by B. (_Courtesy of Bucks County Historical Society._)]

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 November 1750 he paid John Simpson, a Fredericksburg wheelwright, 10 s.h.i.+llings for ”wedging & hooping the Chariotwheels” and 9 s.h.i.+llings for ”mending 3 fillys & 3 Spokes in D^o.”[87]

At the same time he bought a ”p^r Cartwheels” 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.

FOOTNOTES:

[85] Ledger G (original at Bucks County Historical Society) covers the period 1744-1750, with some entries in 1751 and a few summary accounts covering Mercer's career. Further footnoted references to this ledger will be omitted. Charles Carter lived at ”Cleve” in King George County, near Port Royal, fronting on the Rappahannock. See FAIRFAX HARRISON, ”The Will of Charles Carter of Cleve,” _VHM_ (Richmond, 1923), vol. 31, pp. 42-43.

[86] Sydenham & Hodgson was a London mercantile firm, represented in Virginia by Jonathan Sydenham. Mercer identified the firm in Ledger G as ”Merchants King George”

and noted in his journal on January 20, 1745, that he visited at ”Mr. Sydenham's.” In 1757 the two men were referred to elsewhere as ”Messrs. Sydenham & Hodgson of London.” See ”Proceedings of the Virginia Committee of Correspondence, 1759-67,” _VHM_ (Richmond, 1905), vol. 12, pp. 2-4.

[87] Extensive research has been conducted by Colonial Williamsburg, Inc., on the forms of vehicles used by such Virginians as Mercer and his contemporaries.

TOBACCO 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^[B.]M. Those from Sumner's Quarters bore the brand I^[S.]M, while the ”Home Plantation” at Marlborough had casks marked I^[C.]M (fig. 8).

The interpretation of these symbols warrants some 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 consistently in the 17th century. In the 18th century, however, variations began to appear in the colonies, although not, apparently, in England. Silver made in New York and Philadelphia during the 1700'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^[S.]C.[88]

Like Carlyle, Mercer used initials in this fas.h.i.+on, 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” signifies Sumner's Quarters, and ”B,” Bull Run Quarters. ”C” on seals and brands having to do with Marlborough 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 having also been s.h.i.+pped through Cave's, and that from Bull Run Quarters having been stored at the Occaquan warehouse.[89]

John Withers also used the left-to-right arrangement, I^[H.]W, although Henry Tyler, a planter whose account is mentioned in Mercer's Ledger, used the conventional three-letter cipher, H^[T.]M. These marks occurred on casks transmitted to Mercer as payments, and are recorded in Ledger G (fig. 7).

FOOTNOTES: