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in Anne Arundel County. PERSONAL PROPERTY:
TEV, at least 120,051 pounds of tobacco (includ-
ing 7 servants, plate valued at 4,416 pounds of
tobacco, and merchandise). LAND: over 1,000
acres.
MERCER, JOHN FRANCIS (1759-1821). BORN:
on May 17, 1759, at "Marlborough Point," Staf-
ford County, Virginia; tenth son of father. IM-
MIGRATED: in 1785 from Virginia. RESIDED: in
Virginia; "West River Farm," Anne Arundel
County, after 1785 until death. FAMILY BACK-
GROUND. FATHER: John Mercer (1704-1768), who
was born in Dublin, Ireland, and immigrated to
Virginia in 1720, was a lawyer, member and sec-
retary of the Ohio Land Company, a large land-
owner, land speculator, and author of Abridge-
ment of the Laws of Virginia, who married first,
in 1725, Catherine (1707-1750), daughter of Col.
George Mason (1690-1735) of Virginia. MOTHER:
Ann (?-1770), daughter of Dr. Mungo Roy of
Essex County, Virginia. BROTHERS: Mungo Roy
(1753-1771); John (1757-died young); and Rob-
ert (1764-?), who married Mildred Ann Byrd
Carter. HALF BROTHERS. Mason (1726-died in
infancy); John (1727-1732); George (1733-1784),
a Virginia burgess in 1761, lt. governor of North
Carolina in 1767, who moved to England before
the Revolution and did not return to America;
John Fenton (1735-1750); James (1736-1793), a
Virginia burgess, 1762-1776, Virginia delegate to
the Continental Congress, 1779-1780, judge of
the General Court of Virginia, 1780-1789, and
judge of the Virginia Court of Appeals, 1783-
1793; Thomson Mason (1742-died in infancy);
and Catesby Mason (1743-1750). SISTERS. Grace
Fenton (1751-?), who married Muscoe Garnett;
Elinor (1754-?); Anna (1760-?), who married
Benjamin Harrison, Jr.; Maria (1761-?), who
married Robert Brooke of "Montapike," Vir-
ginia; and Mary Elinor Beatrix (1767-1768). HALF
SISTERS: Elizabeth Mason (1730-1732);
Sarah Ann Mason (1738-1759); and Mary (1740-
1764), who married in 1764 Daniel McCarty.
MARRIED on February 3, 1785, Sophia (1766-1812),
daughter of Richard Sprigg (1739-1798) of
"Strawberry Hill" near Annapolis, Anne Arun-
del County, and wife Margaret Caile (?-1796).
Sophia was the granddaughter of Thomas Sprigg
(1715-1781). Her sisters were Rebeckah (1767-
?), who married in 1786 Dr. James Steuart, son
of George Steuart (1700 - ca. 1784); Elizabeth (1770-
?), who married in 1795 Hugh Thompson; Mar-
garet (1772-died in infancy); Sarah (1775-by
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1798); Margaret Caile (1779-?); and possibly
Henrietta. CHILDREN. SONS: John (1788-1848), who
married in 1818 Mary Swann of Alexandria, Vir-
ginia, and died in Virginia; Richard (by 1789-by
1821). DAUGHTERS: Margaret (1791-1846). PRI-
VATE CAREER. EDUCATION. College of William and
Mary, graduated 1775; studied law with Thomas
Jefferson, 1779, and at the College of William
and Mary, 1782-1783. RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION:
Anglican, St. Anne's Parish Church, Annapolis,
1797; All Hallow's Parish, Anne Arundel County,
by 1815. SOCIAL STATUS AND ACTIVITIES: Hon.,
by 1785, Esq., by 1809. OCCUPATIONAL PROFILE:
lawyer, admitted to practice in Virginia, 1781;
planter. PUBLIC CAREER. LEGISLATIVE SERVICE:
Lower House, Anne Arundel County, 1788 (Laws
to Expire), 1791-1792, 1800, 1801 (did not at-
tend, resigned), 1803, 1804, 1805. OTHER STATE
OFFICES: Constitution Ratification Convention,
Anne Arundel County, 1788; Maryland Senate
elector, Anne Arundel County, 1801; governor,
1801-1803. LOCAL OFFICES: common council-
man, Annapolis, qualified 1792; All Hallow's
Parish Vestry, Anne Arundel County, elected
1815. MILITARY SERVICE: 1st lieutenant, Third
Virginia Regiment, commissioned February 26,
1776; captain, commissioned September 1777 "to
rank from June 27, 1777," wounded at Brandy-
wine, September 11, 1777; major, aide de camp
to General Lee, commissioned June 8, 1778, re-
signed July 2, 1779; lt. colonel, Virginia Militia,
October 1780-November 1781. OUT OF STATE
SERVICE: delegate, Continental Congress, Vir-
ginia, 1782-1785; delegate. Federal Constitu-
tional Convention, 1787; representative, U.S.
Congress, 1792-1793 (elected to fill vacancy;
seated February 6, 1792), 1793-1794 (resigned
April 13, 1794). WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. PER-
SONAL PROPERTY: wife inherited 5 slaves from her
grandfather, 1782, and 19 slaves from her grand-
mother, 1789; Mercer brought 24 slaves into
Maryland from Virginia, 1798-1799 (at least 5 of
whom belonged to Sophia Mercer), and 11 slaves
from Virginia, 1799-1801 (at least 3 of whom
were inherited from Mercer's mother). Mercer
sold his slaves and plantation equipment to his
son John in 1810. LAND AT FIRST ELECTION: none
in Maryland. SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN LAND BE-
TWEEN FIRST ELECTION AND DEATH: Under the
terms of her grandparents' wills, Sophia received
the title to "West River Farm" in Anne Arundel
County, which she repatented as 1,478 acres in
1804. Mercer purchased a 718 acre tract in Anne
Arundel County in 1810, but mortgaged it three
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