Part 7 (2/2)

[88] GAY MONTAGUE MOORE, _Seaport in Virginia_ (Richmond, 1949), p. 62.

[89] C. MALCOLM WATKINS, ”The Three-initial Cipher: Exceptions to the Rule,” _Antiques_ (June 1958), vol. 73, no.

6, pp. 564-565.

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 inspectors. Direct payments of tobacco were made in transactions with William Hunter and Charles d.i.c.k, the Fredericksburg merchants from whom Mercer bought most of his goods and supplies. To others, however, payments were made in a complexity of tobacco notes, legal-fee payments, and plain barter. Tobacco s.h.i.+pped overseas was usually handled by Sydenham & Hodgson. Also involved with tobacco transactions in England were two Virginia merchants, Major John Champe, a distinguished resident of King George County who lived at Lamb's Creek plantation, and William Jordan, of Richmond County, both of whom arranged for purchases of books, furniture, and other English imports for Mercer.

The following are excerpts from Sydenham & Hodgson's account in Ledger G:

1745 s. d.

June To 8 hhds. tob^o consigned 63 5 5 you by the Pri[n]ce of Denmark November To 6 hhds by the 29 15 9 Harrington 1746 May To 5 hhds by Cap^n Lee LOST Feb To 10 hhds by Cap^t 51 14 8 Perry 1747 Septemb^r To 10 hhds by Cap^t 35 9 8 Perryman 1748 June To 10 hhds by Cap^n Donaldson LOST 1749 Septemb^r To 24 hhds tob^o sold 162 17 14 Mr. Jordan

Revealed in this account are the hazards of s.h.i.+pping goods overseas in the 18th century. A partners.h.i.+p apparently figured in the second loss at sea, however, as the following entry in Ledger G shows:

June 1747 By Profit & Loss for the half 75.15.3-3/4 of 20 hhds by Donaldson in the c.u.mberland & Lost By William Jordan for the other half.

Between 1747 and 1750 Mercer lost a total of 107 hogsheads of tobacco.

Over and above this, however, he s.h.i.+pped overseas tobacco to the amount of 385 11s. 7d., during the same period.

CLIENTS

Mercer's success was gained despite the failures of a great many persons to pay the fees they owed him. In 1745 he listed 303 ”Insolvents, bad & doubtful debts.” That matters were no worse may be attributed to a high average of responsible clients. Among them were such well-known Virginians as Daniel Dulaney, William and Henry Fitzhugh, William Randolph, Augustine, John, and Lawrence Was.h.i.+ngton, Gerard Fowke, Richard Taliaferro, John and Daniel Parke Custis, Andrew and Thomas Monroe, George Tayloe, George Lee, George Wythe, and William Ramsay.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 8.--WINE-BOTTLE SEAL on bottle excavated at Marlborough, with same arrangement of initials used in the Marlborough tobacco seal.]

CLOTHING

By the early 1740's Mercer was in a position to surround himself with symbols of wealth and prestige. Clothes, a traditional measure of affluence, were now a growing concern for himself and his family.

Between 1741 and 1744, the ledger reveals, he purchased from William Hunter a greatcoat, women's stockings, women's calf shoes, morocco pumps, a ”fine hat,” three felt hats, two dozen ”plaid hose,” two pairs of men's shoes, one pair of ”Women's Spanish Shoes,” and ”2 p^r Calf D^o.” In 1744 and 1745 he bought from Charles d.i.c.k two pairs of ”women's coll'^d lamb gloves,” two pairs of silk stockings, ”1 velvet laced hood,” a ”laced hat,” a ”Castor” (i.e., beaver) hat, ”fine thread stockings,” silk handkerchiefs, a ”flower'd pettycoat,” worsted stockings, and buckskin gloves. From Hugh MacLane, a Stafford tailor, he obtained a suit in 1745.

The rise in Mercer's wealth and prestige is reflected 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 s.h.i.+llings for ”Collar lining a Velvet Waistcoat.” In 1749 he purchased a ”full trimm'd velvet Suit” from Charles Jones, the work and materials totaling 7 7s. 4-1/4d., while in 1750 he spent 11 2s. 1-1/2d. on unitemized purchases from the same tailor. In that year he bought also from Robert Crichton, a Williamsburg merchant, ”a flower'd Velvet Waistcoat, 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 Expenses” and in the accounts of Hunter and d.i.c.k, 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 fourpence a yard, and William Mills wove 30 yards of ”cloath.” Much of the work appears to have been done in payment for legal services.

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