Part 8 (1/2)

Weaving and spinning evidently 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 1748. Wool cards also appear in the accounts. In January 1748 Mercer charged William Mills with ”3 months Hire of Thua.n.u.s the Weaver, 3,” which suggests that Thua.n.u.s was an indentured white servant (his name does not occur on the list of slaves) employed at Marlborough and hired 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, snuff-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 William 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.”[90]

FOOTNOTES:

[90] See J. HALL PLEASANTS, ”William Dering, a mid-eighteenth-century Williamsburg Portrait Painter,” _VHM_ (Richmond, 1952), vol. 60, pp. 53-63.

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. In 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 Sh.o.r.e sold Mercer a barrel of drumfish and four and one-half bushels of oysters, while Thomas Jones, also of the Eastern Sh.o.r.e, provided a barrel of pork for 47s. 6d. in 1749. Earlier there appeared a ledger item under ”General Charges” for 1775 pounds of pork.

Mola.s.ses was an important staple, and Mercer bought a 31-gallon barrel of it from one ”Captain Fitz of the Eastern Sh.o.r.e of Maryland” in 1746 and 30 gallons the next year, charging both purchases to his wife. In 1750 he received 88 gallons of mola.s.ses and 255 pounds of ”muscovy sugar” from Robert Todd. Muscovy sugar was the same as ”muscavado”

sugar, the unrefined brown sugar of the West Indies, known in Spanish as _mascabado_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 9.--FRENCH HORN dated 1729. Mercer purchased a ”french horn” like this from Charles d.i.c.k in 1743. (USNM 95.269.)]

Beverages and the fruits to go with them were bought in astonis.h.i.+ng quant.i.ties between 1744 and 1750. Major Robert Tucker, a Norfolk merchant, exchanged a ”Pipe of Wine” worth 26 and a 107-1/2-gallon hogshead of rum valued at 22 in return for Mercer's legal services.

Again as a legal fee, Mercer received 55 gallons of ”Syder” from Janet Holbrook of Stafford and bought 11 limes from John Mitchelson of York for 12 s.h.i.+llings. From William Black he purchased ”11 dozen and 11 bottles of Ale” at 13 s.h.i.+llings, and from John Harvey ”5-1/12 dozen of Claret” for 11 6d. ”Mark Talbott of the Kingdom of Ireland E^{sq}” sold Mercer a pipe of wine for 3 3s.

LIFE OF THE CHILDREN

During the 1740's Mercer's first four surviving children, George, John Fenton, James, and Sarah Ann Mason Mercer,[91] were growing up, and the accounts are scattered through with items pertaining to their care and upbringing. There are delightful little hints of Mercer's role as the affectionate father. On May 17, 1743, ”By Sundry Toys” appears in Hunter's account; an item of ”1 horses 1^d” in d.i.c.k's account for 1745 was undoubtedly a toy. Most charming of all the entries in the latter account is ”1 Coach in a box 6^d. 4 Toys. 8^d, 2 Singing birds.” The birds may have occupied a birdcage and stand bought from George Rock, the account for which was settled a year later.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 10.--MERCER LISTED A HORNBOOK in his General Account in 1743. It probably resembled this typical hornbook in the collection of Mrs. Arthur M. Greenwood.]

”1 french horn” and ”3 trumpets” are listed in the d.i.c.k account. The horn was probably used in hunting; the three trumpets were bought perhaps for the three boys. Mercer's library contained one book of music ent.i.tled _The Musical Miscellany_, which may have furnished the scores for a boyish trio of trumpets. Music and dancing were a part of the life at Marlborough, and in 1745 an entry under ”General Charges” reads ”To DeKeyser for a years dancing four children 16,” while in the following year ninepence was paid William Allan ”for his Fidler.” In 1747 ”Fiddle strings” were bought from Fielding Lewis in Fredericksburg for 2s.

4-1/2d.

From the ledger we also learn much about the children's clothing: child's mittens and child's shoes, boy's pumps, boy's shoes, girl's shoes, boy's collared lamb gloves, two pairs of ”girl's clock'd Stocking,” ”2 p^r large boys Shoes 6^l 2 p^r smaller 5/ ... 1 p^r girls 22^d, 1 p^r smaller 20^d,” boy's gloves, and ”Making a vest and breeches for George” in October 1745. In 1748 Captain Wilson brought from England ”a Wig for George,” worth 12 s.h.i.+llings. George then had reached the age of 15 and young manhood. Hugh MacLane, the Stafford tailor, was employed to make clothes for the three boys--a suit for George, and a suit, vest, coat, and breeches each for James and John.

That the children were educated according to time-honored methods is revealed in the ”General Expenses” account for May 1743, where ”1 hornbook 3^d” is entered. The hornbook was an ancient instructional device consisting of a paddle-shaped piece of wood with the alphabet and the Lord's Prayer printed or otherwise lettered on paper that was glued to the wood and covered for protection with thin sheets of transparent horn. Elaborate examples sometimes were covered with tooled leather, or were made of ivory, silver, or pewter. The mention of hornbooks in colonial records is a great rarity, although they were commonplace in England until about 1800.

The Mercer children were taught by private tutors. One, evidently engaged in England, was the Reverend John Phipps, who was paid a salary of 100 annually and, presumably, his board and lodging. Mercer noted in his journal on November 18, 1746, that ”Mr Phipps came to Virginia.”

That Mr. Phipps left something to be desired was revealed years later in the letter written in 1768 by John to George Mercer, who was then in England, asking him to find a tutor for his younger children: ”... the person you engage may not pretend, as M^r Phipps did that tho' he undertook to instruct my children he intended boys only, & I or my wife might teach the girls. As I have mentioned M^r Phipps, it must remind you that a tutor's good nature & agreeable temper are absolutely necessary both for his own ease & that of the whole family.”[92]

In 1750 George entered the College of William and Mary. He had a room at William Dering's house, and the account of ”Son's Maintenance at Williamsburg” provides an interesting picture of a well-to-do college-boy's expenses, chargeable to his father. Such items as ”To Cash p^d for Lottery Tickets” (7 10s. 6d.), ”To Covington the Dancing Master ... 2.3,” ”To W^m Thomson for Taylor's work” (1 9s. 6d.), ”To p^d for Was.h.i.+ng” (1 1s.), and ”To Books for sundrys” (22 4s. 7-1/2d.) show a variety of obligations comparable to those sometimes encountered on a modern campus. The entire account appears in Appendix J.

FOOTNOTES:

[91] Born 1733, 1735, 1736, and 1738, respectively.

[92] _George Mercer Papers_, op. cit. (footnote 51), p. 202.

BUILDING THE MANOR HOUSE

As early as 1742 the ledger shows that Mercer was building steadily, although the nature of what he built is rarely indicated. Hunter's account for 1742 lists 2500 tenpenny nails and 1000 twenty-penny nails, while in the following year the same account shows a total of 4200 eightpenny nails, 5000 tenpenny, 2000 fourpenny, and 1000 threepenny nails. The following tools were bought from Hunter in 1744: paring chisel, 1-1/2-inch auger, 3/4-inch auger, socket gouge, broad axe, adze, drawing knife, mortice chisel, a ”square Rabbit plane,” and ”plough Iron & plains.” In Charles d.i.c.k's account we find purchases in 1745 of 16,000 flooring brads, 4000 twenty-penny nails, 2000 each of fourpenny, sixpenny, eightpenny, and tenpenny brads, and 60,000 fourpenny nails.