The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 39, July 1935 - April, 1936 Page: 277
346 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Mercer Colony in Texas, 181-1883
former Miss Roy, who were among Fredericksburg's most promi-
nent citizens and whose home is still standing there. James
Mercer (1731-1793), his father, who was educated at William and
Mary College, was commissioned as a captain in the French and
Indian War and placed in command of Fort Loudoun, Winches-
ter, Virginia. He served as a member of the Virginia House of
Burgesses from Hampshire County, 1762-1776; Virginia conven-
tions, 1774-1775-1776; Committee of Public Safety, 1775-1776;
Continental Congress, 1779; as a judge of the General Court,
1779-89; and as a member of the first Court of Appeals of Vir-
ginia, 1789-1793. In the capacity of her attorney, he drew the
will of Mary, the mother of George Washington, and was a wit-
ness to her signature. The grandfather of Charles Fenton Mercer
was John Mercer (1704-1768) of Marlborough, Stafford County,
Virginia, the author of the Abridgment of Laws of Virginia,
published in 1737,3 and publisher of the First Code of Virginia
Laws, 1759.4 He was Secretary of the Ohio Company and a large
landed proprietor. His wife, Catherine Mason, was the aunt of
George Mason of "Gunston," the author of the Virginia Bill of
Rights, and an eminent statesman of the Revolutionary period.5
Charles Fenton Mercer was left an orphan at the age of fif-
teen. Of his children and youth he wrote from London, England,
June 6, 1856, to his niece, Mrs. James Mercer Garnett, Jr.:
My mother died before I could Inow a mother's love. My father
was the mother of all his children, but mine especially.
Often did he join me in my boyish amusements-to sail a boat,
or float a balloon constructed by myself. His first present to me
was a box of tools of which he taught me the use.
Speaking further of his father's devoted patriotism, he stated
that his father's death removed him from Fredericksburg and
that his time was spent between London and Essex until 1795,
when he chose James Mercer Garnett of Elmwood, Essex County,
his sister's husband, as his guardian. In residence at Elmwood
he was engaged in "laborious but delightful study" under the
tutelage of his beloved sister. Of that experience he further
states:
'Chisholm, "Notes on Charles Fenton Mercer"; William and Mary Col-
lege Quarterly, XVI1, 210.
'Vi rginia Magazine of History and Biography, TX, 316.
"Chisholm, "Notes on Charles Fenton Mercer."277
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 39, July 1935 - April, 1936, periodical, 1936; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101095/m1/303/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.