Part 15 (1/2)
Purchasers above 6 l. will have credit until the _Fredericksburg September_ fair, on giving bond with security, with interest from the day of sale; but if the money is paid when due, the interest will be abated.
Proper vessels will attend at _Pasbytansy_, for the conveyance of such as come from that side of _Potomack_ Creek.
It is clear that Ranter and his colts, as well as the cattle, had not been disposed of at the former sale. Further, it is obvious that there was an end to brewing at Marlborough, a result which James must have been all too glad to bring about.
This sale, however, was also unsuccessful. In the May 9, 1771, issue of Purdie & Dixon's _Virginia Gazette_ we learn that ”The wet Weather last _November_ having stopped the Sale of the personal Estate of the late _John Merser_, Esquire, the Remainder ... will be sold at _Marlborough_, on Monday, the 27th of this Month, if fair....” We learn that the family beds, apparently alone of the furniture, had been sold, and that the chariot had been added to the sales list. Apparently the library still remained largely intact, as ”a great Collection of well chosen Books”
was included. Ranter was still for sale, now at a five percent discount ”allowed for ready money.”
But again--so an advertis.e.m.e.nt of June 13 reads in the same paper--the sale was ”prevented by bad Weather.” June 20 was appointed the day for the postponed sale. This time an additional item consisted of 200 copies of Mercer's ”old Abridgment” (doubtless the 1737 edition), to be sold at five s.h.i.+llings each.
In the meanwhile, James had employed one Thomas Oliver, apparently of King George County, as overseer for the four plantations which were in his custody--Aquia, Acc.o.keek, Belvedere, and Marlborough. On May 31, 1771, Oliver made a detailed report to Mercer on ”the true state & Condition of the whole Estate and its Contents as they appear'd when this return was fill'd up”.[141] Included in it was an inventory of every tool, outbuilding, vehicle, and servant. The Marlborough portion of this is given in Appendix M. Oliver added an N.B. summarizing the condition of the animals and the physical properties. The following of his remarks are applicable to Marlborough:
... The work of the Mill going on as well as Can be Expected till M^r. Drains is better, the Schoo and Boat unfit for any Sarvice whatsoever till repair'd. if Capable of it. the foundation of the Malt house wants repairing. the Manor house wants lead lights in some of the windows. the East Green House wants repairing. the west d^o wants b.u.t.tments as a security to the wall on the south side.
The barn, tobacco houses at Marlbrough & Acquia must be repaired as soon as possible.... five stables at Marlbrough plantation must be repair'd before winter. we have sustai'd no damage from Tempest or Floods. it will Expedient to hyer a Carpinder for the woork wanted can not be accomplish'd in time, seeing the Carpenders must be taken of for harvest which is Like to be heavy. I will advertise the sale at Stafford Court and the two parish Churches to begin on the 20th of June 1771.... P.S. The Syder presses at Each plantation & Syder Mill at Marlborough totally expended.... Negro Sampson Marlbro Company Sick of the Gravel.... Negro Jas Pemberton at Marlb^h Sick Worme Fever.
The sale as advertised and, presumably, as posted by Oliver was again a failure. Apparently no one attended. The situation must have been regarded then as desperate, for James advertised on August 29, 1771, in Purdie & Dixon's _Virginia Gazette_ substantially the same material as before. This time, however, it was ”To be SOLD, at the Townhouse in _Fredericksburg_, on the 24th day of _September_ next (being the second Day of the Fair).” Added to the former list were ”About two Hundred Weight of HOPS of last Crop,” ”About four hundred Weight of extraordinary good WOOL with a variety of Woollen and Linen Wheels, Reels, &c.,” as well as ”A Number of GARDEN FLOWER POTS of different forms. Some ORANGE, LEMON and other EVERGREENS, in Boxes and Pots.” The valuable but unwanted Ranter was again put up.
But once more bad luck and an apathetic (and probably impecunious) populace brought failure to the sale. On October 24, 1771, Purdie & Dixon's _Virginia Gazette_ printed the following advertis.e.m.e.nt and James Mercer's final public effort to convert some of his father's estate into cash:
_To be SOLD to the highest Bidders, some Time Next Week, before the RALEIGH Tavern in Williamsburg,_
The beautiful Horse RANTER, a genteel FAMILY COACH, with Harness for six Horses, also several Pieces of FAs.h.i.+ONABLE PLATE, yet remaining of the Estate of the late John Mercer, Esquire, deceased.
Credit will be allowed until the 25th of April next, the Purchasers giving Bond and Security, with Interest from the Sale; but if the Money is paid when due, the Interest will be abated.
Any Person inclinable to purchase RUSHWORTH'S COLLECTION may see them at the Printing Office, and know the Terms. At the same Place are lodged several Copies of the old Abridgment of the VIRGINIA LAWS, containing so many Precedents for Magistrates that they are esteemed well worth five s.h.i.+llings, the Price asked for them.
JAMES MERCER
_Williamsburg, October 24._
N.B. The Plate is lodged with Mr. Craig, and may be seen by any inclinable to purchase.
James did not attempt to sell the plantation itself or the slaves, but evidently sought to reestablish Marlborough on an efficient and profitable basis. That he failed to do so is brought out in a letter that George Mason wrote to George Was.h.i.+ngton on December 21, 1773. In it is expressed the whole tragic sequence of debt compounding debt in the plantation economy and the insurmountable burden of inherited obligations:
The embarra.s.s'd Situation of my Friend Mr. Jas. Mercer's Affairs gives Me much more Concern than Surprize. I always feared that his Aversion to selling the Lands & Slaves, in Expectation of paying the Debts with the Crops & Profits of the Estate, whilst a heavy Interest was still acc.u.mulating, wou'd be attended with bad Consequences, independent of his Brother's Difficulties in England; having never, in a single Instance, seen these sort of Delays answer the Hopes of the Debtor. When Colo. [George] Mercer was first married, & thought in affluent circ.u.mstances by his Friends here, considerable purchases of Slaves were made for Him, at high prices (& I believe mostly upon Credit) which must now be sold at much less than the cost: He was originally burthened with a proportionable part of his Father's Debts: most of which, as well as the old Gentleman's other Debts, are not only still unpaid, but must be greatly increased by Interest; so that even if Colo. Mercer had not incurr'd a large Debt in England, He wou'd have found his Affairs here in a disagreeable Situation. I have Bye me Mr. James Mercer's t.i.tle-Papers for his Lands on Pohick Run & on Four-mile Run, in this County; which I have hitherto endeavoured to sell for Him in Vain: for as he Left the Price entirely to Me, I cou'd not take less for them than if they had been my own.[142]
FOOTNOTES:
[141] _A Doc.u.mentary History of American Industrial Society_, edit. John P. Commons (New York: Russell & Russell, 1958), vol. 1, facsimile opp. p. 236.
[142] _Letters to Was.h.i.+ngton_, and _Accompanying Papers_, edit. S. M. Hamilton (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1901), vol. 4, p. 286.
MARLBOROUGH DURING AND AFTER THE REVOLUTION
Despite the seeming unwisdom of doing so, James Mercer held on to Marlborough until his death. He was an active patriot in the Revolution, serving as a member of the Virginia Committee of Safety. Marlborough, too, seems to have been a partic.i.p.ant in the war, when Lord Dunmore, on a last desperate foray, sailed his s.h.i.+ps up the Potomac and attacked several plantations. That Marlborough was a target we learn from the widow of Major George Thornton of the Virginia militia, who ”was at the bombardment of Marlborough, the seat of Judge Mercer, on the Potomac....”[143] In Purdie's _Virginia Gazette_ of August 2, 1776, we read:
Lord Dunmore, with his motley band of pirates and renegradoes, have burnt the elegant brick house of William Brent, esq., at the mouth of Acquia Creek, in Stafford county, as also two other houses lower down the Potowmack River, both the property of widow ladies.