[116] _Virginia Gazette_, October 20, 1752; RALPH BARTON CUTTEN, _The Silversmiths of Virginia_ (Richmond, 1953), pp. 39-40.
[118] WHIFFEN, op. cit. (footnote 94), p. 142.
CATHERINE MERCER'S DEATH AND ANN ROY'S ARRIVAL
On April 1, 1750, Mercer went to Williamsburg for the spring session and stopped en route to visit his friend Dr. Mungo Roy at Port Royal in Caroline County. He remained at Williamsburg until the seventh, except for going on the previous day to "Greenspring" to be entertained by Philip Ludwell in the Jacobean mansion built a century earlier by Governor Berkeley. Again stopping off at Port Royal, he returned home on May 10. He remained there until June 15, when he made the laconic entry in his journal: "My wife died between 3 & 4 at noon." What time this denotes is unclear.
Following this loss--Catherine Mercer was only 43--Mercer remained at home for five days, then visited his sister-in-law Mrs. Ann Mason. The next night he stayed with the pastor of Aquia Church, Mr. Moncure, then returned to Marlborough and remained there for nearly a month. Meanwhile, he purchased from Fielding Lewis, at a cost of £3 18s. 7-1/2d., "sundrys for mourning." William Thomson, the Stafford tailor, made his mourning clothes. The preparations for the funeral must have been elaborate; it was not held until July 13.
[Illustration: Figure 15.--PORTRAIT OF ANN ROY MERCER, John Mercer's second wife and the daughter of Dr. Mungo Roy of Port Royal, painted in 1750 or shortly thereafter. (_Courtesy of Mrs. Thomas B. Payne._)]
At the end of July Mercer went to Williamsburg, thence to Yorktown, and from there to Hampton and Norfolk by water on an "Antigua Ship," returning to Hampton on August 5 on a "Negro Ship," evidently having caught passage on oceangoing traders. The younger children remained in Williamsburg with George and a nurse. On September 8 he went to Port Royal and stayed "at Dr. Roy's." He returned home on the 10th, then went back to Port Royal on the 14th, staying at Dr. Roy's until the 20th, attending Sunday church services during his visit. He returned home again on the 23rd, only to visit Dr. Roy once more on the 28th. The October court session drew him to Williamsburg, where he remained until November 7. While there, he purchased the following from James Craig,[119] a jeweler:
