The Cultural History of Marlborough, Virginia. C. Malcolm Watkins
for the proper maintenance of his house and properties. One requisite was Negro servants. From Pat Reyant he bought “a Girl named Margaret” for 43 pounds of tobacco in 1730. In 1731 he bought Deborah, Phillis, Peter, Nan, and Bob. The following year he obtained Lucy, Will, and George, and, in 1733, Nero. His purchases increased as his landholdings increased. In 1736 he bought five slaves, three of whom he aptly named Dublin, Marlborough, and Stafford.
To help feed his slaves during this early period, Mercer apparently depended in part upon Stafford’s wealth of natural resources. At least we find a record of wild game entered on the same page and under the same heading as his “Negroes” account in the ledger. There it is noted that he purchased 42 ducks from Natt Hedgman on November 19, 1730, and 20 ducks from Rawleigh Chinn the same day, paying for them in powder and shot. Two swans and a goose, as well as venison, appear on the list. Payment for these was made in powder, shot, and wool.
He continued, meanwhile, to equip his house. From John Foward (or Foard), a London merchant, he bought a “frying pan” and “2 doz. bottles,” “1 tomahawk,” “2 stock-locks,” “1 padlock,” “2 best padlocks,” “1 drawingknife,” “9 pr hinges,” “3 clasp knives,” and “1 gall. Maderas.” In April 1731, he bought from Captain Foward:
| £ | s. | d. | |
| 1 bellmettle skillet 4½oz at 2/ | 9 | ||
| 1 copper Sausepan | 7 | ||
| 1 Small Do | 5 | 4 | |
| 1 hunting whip | 5 | ||
| 1 halfcheck bridle | 7 | ||
| 1 fine hat | 12 | ||
| 1 wig Comb | 6 |
Also in 1731 he bought “6 rush bottom Chairs” for 17 shillings and a spinning wheel for 10 shillings from William Hamitt. The “writing desk” which he had bought in 1725 apparently needed extensive and expensive repairs, for in March 1731 there appears an item under “Domestick Expenses,” “To Wm Walker for mending Scoutore £1.” (Scoutore was one of many corrupt spellings of escritoire, a slant-top desk.) William Walker was a Stafford County cabinetmaker and builder, about whom we shall hear much more.
One of the most active accounts was that of Nathaniel Chapman,[69] who directed the newly established Accokeek Ironworks. In 1731 he sold Mercer several hundred nails of different descriptions, a variety of hoes, ploughs, wedges, door latches, and heaters for smoothing irons. One item is “By putting a leg in an old Iron Pott”; another is “By Col Mason pd for mending a snuff box. 2.6” (Appendix F).
In 1732 he paid Thomas Staines £1 for “a Cradle,” “two Bedsteads,” and “a weekes work.” From John Blane, during the same year, he purchased 2500 tenpenny nails and the same quantity of eightpenny nails. He also bought from Blane 4 “basons,” a porringer, 100 needles, 2 penknives, a gross of “thread buttons,” and a pair of large “Scissars.” Again, in 1732 he obtained from William Nisbett a quantity of miscellaneous goods, including 10 parcels of earthenware and a pewter dish weighing 4 to 5 ounces. He also settled with Samuel Stevens for “your share in making a Canoe.”
TOBACCO WAREHOUSES
The Tobacco Act of 1730 provided for the erection of public tobacco warehouses, and Marlborough was selected as one of the sites.[70] In 1731 Mercer’s account with John Waugh included “Timber for 2500 boards @25/.£3.2.6” and “Posts & Ceils for two Warehouses, 12 shillings.” In April 1732 he settled accounts with Captain Henry Fitzhugh for “building a Warehouse & Wharf & 6 prizes” at 3000 pounds of tobacco, or £15. The prizes probably were “incentive awards” for the workmen. Included in Fitzhugh’s account were “3 days work of Caesar & Will,” ten shillings, and “4319 very bad Clapboards at ½d ye board.” On March 25 he paid Anthony Linton for 1820 clapboards, allowing him eight shillings for “sawing of Boards.” The warehouses were in operation in 1732, as we learn from Mercer’s “Account of Inspectors,” but they suffered the fate of all official enterprises at Marlborough, for in 1734 “the same were put down, as being found very inconvenient.”[71] The actual date of their termination was November 16, 1735, when a new warehouse was scheduled for completion at the mouth of Aquia Creek.[72] The expression “put down” does not seem to mean that the warehouses were torn down, but that they were officially discontinued. He apparently, however, continued to use them for his own purposes.
PERSONAL ACTIVITIES
During the 1730’s Mercer recorded a minimum of recreational activities. Those that he did list are representative of the society of which he was a part. Making wagers was a favorite amusement. For example, he was owed £7 16s. by “Colo George Braxton To a Wager you laid me at Capt Robt Brooke’s house before Mr James Reid, Willm Brooke &c. Six Guineas to one that Colo Spotswood would not during the Reign of K. George that now is, procure a Commission as Chief or Lieut Govr of Virginia.” In 1731 he paid William Brent “By a pistole won of me about Hedgman’s wrestling with and throwing Fras Dade. £1.1.12.” He also paid £2 10s. to James Markham “By [my] part on the Race on Stotham’s horse.” There are other scattered references to wagers on horseraces.
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