Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/49

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

burg" was well known. Dr. McClurg was killed at Richmond, by his horses running away. July 9. 1825. and was buried on Church Hill, in St. John's churchyard. He mar- ried Elizabeth Selden, but left no issue.

Mercer, James, born at "Marlborough," February 26. 1736. son of John and Catharine (Mason> Mercer. He graduated from the college of William and Mary about 1755. ^^ was a captain in the French and Indiai. war. and in command at Fort Loudon (Winches- ter), 1756. He was a burgess in 1765, and in the house dissolved by Governor Dunmore in 1774; a member of the assembly, 1774, of the conventions of 1775. and the Virginia constitutional convention of May, 1776. and the committee of safety. 1775-76, which gov- erned Virginia until the inauguration of Governor Patrick Henry : also a delegate to the Continental Congress. 1779-80. He was ji:dge of the general court. 1780, and of the court of appeals from 1789 until his death. He was president of the board of trustees of Fredericksburg Academy. He drew the will of Mary Washington, mother of George Washington, and witnessed her signature. He married Eleanor, daughter of Major Alexander Dick. Their children were : John Fenton; Mary Eleanor Dick, who married her first cousin, James Mercer Garnett ; and Charles Fenton. He died in Richmond, Oc- tober 31, 1793, while attending the court of appeals.

Mercer* John Francis, son of John Mercer, of "Marlborough," was born May 17, 1759, educated at William and Mary College and served in the revolution as lieutenant Third Virginia Regiment; wounded at Brandy- wine; promoted captain. 1777; major and aide to General Lee, June 8, 1778 ; resigned

October, 1779; lieutenant-colonel, Virginia state cavalry, in service at the battle of (luildford and elsewhere: member of Con- gress. 1782-1785; removed to Mar>land and v.as delegate to the Federal convention: representative in the state assembly for sev- eral sessions ; elected a representative to the second Congress to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of William Pinckney; re- elected to the third Congress and served from February 6. 1792, until his resignation, .-\pril 13. 1794: member of the Maryland house of delegates: governor of Maryland, 1801-1803: again a member of the state leg- islature ; died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. August 30, 1821.

Monroe, James» son of Spence and Eliza (Jones) Monroe, and a descendant of Andrew Monroe, a ship captain, who first settled in Maryland and afterwards came to West- moreland county. Virginia, was born in that county, April 20, 1758. At the outbreak of the revolutionary war he was one of the twenty-five students who left William and Mary College to enter the army, he enlisting at Washington's headquarters in New York City. He was appointed lieutenant in the Third Virginia Regiment, under General Hugh Mercer, took part in the battle of Harlem, where he was severely wounded in the shoulder while leading the advance; he was also present at the battles of White Plains and Trenton ; served as a volunteer aide with the rank of major, on the staff of ihe Earl of Stirling, and took part in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth. He was diverted from further field service by appointment by Governor Jefferson as lieutenant-colonel and military commissioner to inspect the condition of the

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