Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/364

 MERCER

MERCER

N.J., below Philadelphia, were named in his honor. He was married to Ann Gordon, of Vir- ginia. On June 28, 1902, congress appropriated $25.01)0 for the erection of a monument to his memory, to be placed in Fredericksburg. Va. Gen. Hugh Mercer died near Princeton, N.J., Jan. 12, 1777.

MERCERt Hugh Weedon, soldier, was born in Fredericksburg, Va.. in 1808 ; eldest son of Hugii and Louisa (Griffin) Mercer, grandson of Gen. Hugh (q.v.) and Ann (Gordon) Mercer and of Cyrus Griffin (q.v.). He was gi*aduated at the U.S. Military academy, 1828, third in his class, and was as.signed to the 2d U.S. artillery and com- missioned 2d lieutenant. He was at Fort Mon- roe, 1828-29; Savannah, Ga., 1829 ; Augusta arsen- al, Ga., 1829 ; Fort Mitchell, Ala., 1829-30 ; Savan- nah, 1830-32 ; aide-de-camp to Gen. Winfield Scott in Charleston. S.C, 1832-33, was promoted 1st lieutenant. Oct. 10, 1834 ; was at Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., 1833-34 ; and at Savannah, 1834-35. He re- signed from the U.S. army, April 30, 1835, and engaged in the banking business in Savannah, 1841-61. He joined the Con federate army in 1861 and in the campaign in defence of Atlanta he commanded a brigade in Gen. W. H. T. Walker's division, Hardee's corps. When General Walker was killed, July 22, 1864, he succeeded to the command of the division, and on July 24, when the division was disbanded Mercer's brigade went to Cleburne's division. At the battle of Nasliville, Dec. 15-16, 1864, his brigade was in Lowrey's division, Cheatham's corps. He died in Baden Baden, Germany, June 9, 1877.

MERCER, James, delegate and jurist, was born at Marlborough, Va., Feb. 26, 1736 ; son of John (q.v.) and Catherine (Mason) Mercer. He was graduated at the College of William and Mary about 1755. He was a captain in the

French and Indian war and was in command of Fort Loudoun at Winchester, Va., in 1756. He was a rep- ''-~ resentative in

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house of burgesses in 1765, and in the house dis- solved by Govern«)r Dunmore in 1774 ; a member of the assembly that convened in August, 1774 ; of the conventions of 1775, and also of the Virginia constitutional convention of May, 1776. He was also a member of the commit- tee of safety of 1775-76, which governed Vir- ginia until tl>e inaugumtion of Patrick Henry, and a delegate from Viry;iiiia to the Continen- tal congress, 1779-80. He was appointed judge

of the General Court in 1780, and judge of the Virginia court of appeals of five judges in 1789, and filled this office until his death. He was married, June 4, 1772, to Eleanor, daugh- ter of Maj. Alexander Dick, of Fredericks- burg, Va. His children were : John Fenton, Mary Eleanor Dick, who married her first cousin, James Mercer Garnett (q.v.), and Charles Fenton. Neither of his sons married. He was president of the board of trustees of Fredericksburg acad- emy, and a letter from him to Richard Henry Lee, notifying Lee to attend a meeting of the board, is among the Lee papers in the library of the University of Virginia. He drew the will of Mary Washington, mother of George Washington, and was a witness to her signature. He died, while in attendance upon the court of appeals, in Richmond, Va., Oct. 31, 1793.

MERCER, Jesse, clergyman, was born in Hali- fax county, N.C, Dec. 16, 1769; son of the Rev. Silas Mercer born 1745. His parents removed to Georgia in 1775, and settled in Wilkes county, but returned to North Carolina at the outbreak of the Revolution, where he remained until 1783, when he once more settled in Georgia. He was almost wholly self-educated, and was received in the Baptist church

in 1787. married,

1788, to Chivers, ordained,

1789, by

He was

Jan. 31,

Sabrina

and was

Nov. 7, the Rev.

Silas Mercer and the Rev. Sanders Walk- er. He was pastor of churches in Greene, Oglethorpe, Wilkes, Hancock and Put- nam counties, 1789- 1840, during which time he travelled extensively through- out the state. He

M\ei«<IA UNIVCRIITY.

was also the leader of a political party in Wilkes county, and was sent by them as a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1798. He was president of the general Baptist missionary convention, 1816, and represented the board in the general conventions of 1820 and 1826. He was for a time corresponding secretary of the board of trustees of the co-operating Baptist as- sociations for instructing and evangelizing the Creek Indians. He organized the general com- mittee of the Georgia Baptists, which resulted in the Georgia Baptist convention, and was presi- dent of the convention for eighteen consecutive years, and presiding officer of the Georgia associa- tion up to the time of his death. He was influ-