Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/365

 MEKCER

MEKCER

eiitiul in establishing Mount Enon academy in Richmond county in 1807, and was one of the foundere of Mercer InHtitute, Penfield, Greene county, in 1833, named in his honor, which be* came Mercer university in 183J7, and wa« removed to Macon in 1870. He gave the sum of ^,000 to the university during his life and by will, and ser vews[)ai)er published in Georgia, which he purchased of Dr. W. T. Biantly, of Philadelphia, in 18^^], and established at his home in Washington, (ia., and in 1840 he gave it to the Georgia Baptist Convention. He collected a volume of hymns entitled Mercer's Cluster, and is the author of : History of the Georgia Baptist Association (1836). He died in Washington. Ga., Sept. 6, 1841.

MERCERt John, author of " Laws of Virginia." was l>orn in ("liurch street, Dublin, Ireland, Feb. 6. 1704 ; son of Jolui and Grace (Fenton) Mercer ; grandson of R')bertand Elinor (Reynolds) Mercer, and great-grandson of !^oel and Ann (Smith) Mercer, of Chester, England. He settled in Staf- ford county, Va., where lie was a lawyer by pro- fession and secretary of the Ohio company. He w.is a vestryman of Acquia church, Stafford county. Va. He was first married. June 10. 1725, to Catherine, only daughter of Col. George Mason of Stafford county, and aunt of George Mason ((|.v.). and secondly, on Nov. 10, 1750, to Ann, daughter of Col. Mungo Roy, of Essex county, Va. Ho had ten children by his first, and nine by his second, wife. He was a large landed pro- prietor, reside 1 at Marlborough, SUifford county, Va., and was the founder of one branch of the Mercer family of Virginia. He was designated as ''John Mercer of MarUxjrough." He was the author of : An Abridgment of the Laws of Vir- ginia (\787), its title page reading: An Exact Abridgment of all the Public Acts of Assembly of Virginia in Force and Use, Together with Sundry Precedents Adapted thereto and Projyer Tables, by John Mercer, Gent. Williaynsburg : Printed by Williatn Parks, MDCCXXXVII. Another edition pul>lished in Glasgow, Scotland, 1759. brought it <lown to Jan. 1, 1758. He was also the author of the first tract published in Virginia in op|)osition to the Stamp Act. He died at Marlborough, Va., Oct. 14, 1768.

MERCER, John Francis, governor of Mary- land, was liorn at Marll)orough, Stafford county, Va., May 17, 1759; son of John (q.v.) and Ann (Roy) Mercer. He was graduated at the College of William and Mary in 1775, entered the Revolu- tionary army as lieutenant in the 3d Virginia

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regiment, Feb. 26, 1776, and was wounded at the battle of the Brandy wine, Sept. 11, 1777. He was promoted captain in the 8<1 Virginia regiment in September, 1777, to rank from June 27, 1777, and was aide-de-camp to Gen. Charles Lee, 1778- 79. After the battle of Mon- mouth he re- signed from the army througli his sympathy for General I^ee. He returned to Virginia, where he recruited and equipped at, his own expense' a troop of cav- alry of which he was commis- sioned lieutenant-colonel in October, 1780. He joined Gen. Robert Lawson's brigade and served at Guilford, N.C. When Lawson's brigade dis- banded, he attached his command to Lafayette's army and served until after the surrender at Yorktown. He studied law directed by Thomas Jefferson, resided on his estate ** Marlboro'" on the Potomac, and was a delegate from Virginia to the Continental congress, 1782-85. He removed to his wife's estate " Cedar Park," West River, Arundel county, Md., in 1785, and was a delegate from Maryland to the convention that framed the Federal constitution in 1787, but with George Ma.son of Virginia. Luther Martin of Maryland, and others, he refused to sign the instrument as framed on account of its consolidation tendencies. He was a representative in the Maryland legisla- ture for several sessions ; a representative in the 2d congress to fill the unexpired term of William Pinkney, resignetl, and to the 3d congress, his service in congress extending from Feb. 6, 1792, to April 13, 1794, when he resigned. He was elected governor of Maryland, Nov. 9, 1801, by the Democratic party and served one year, after which he was again a representative in the state legislature. He was marrieii, Feb. 8, 1785, to Sophia, daughter of Richard and Margaret (Caile) Sprigg, of West River, Mtl. Their daughter, Margaret (1791-1846), kno%vn as the "Hannah More of America," freed the slaves she inherited, became a teacher, and converted ** Cedar Park " into a school for girls which she conducted for over ten years, then removed to Franklin, near Baltimore, and afterward to Belmont, near Leesburg. Va., where she died. His grandson, William Roy Mercer, son of John, was living in Doylestown, Pa., in 1902. Governor Mercer died in Philadelphia, Pa., while under medical treat- ment, Aug. 30, 1821.