William Newton Mercer papers, 1789-1936 (bulk 1827-1874).

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William Newton Mercer papers, 1789-1936 (bulk 1827-1874).

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122467789

Diaries, correspondence, and business and personal papers of Dr. William Newton Mercer, pertaining to the management of his plantation and other real estate holdings and investments; philanthropic work; and personal and family matters. The business records include record books, 1851-1873, and 47 diaries, 1848-1874, giving a daily account of Mercer's financial transactions, interspersed with entries or mention of a few personal activities in connection with business matters. Legal materials consist of documents substantiating Anna Farar Mercer's claims to land in Mississippi, slave bills of sale, and loan papers. Correspondence includes a series of letters from Wilmer Shields, manager of Mercer's four plantations in Adams County, Mississippi. Additional correspondents are Henry Clay, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Butler, and Mercer's cousin, Eliza Young, who was a plantation partner. Deeds, land patents, receipts, tax records, and other items relate to Mercer's extensive land holdings in Mississippi, New Orleans, and Illinois. Two volumes chronicle the fatal illness of Mercer's daughter, Anna, who died of tuberculosis in 1851. Architectural drawings (1858) and related papers pertaining to construction of St. Anna's Chapel (Episcopal) in New Orleans are included, as is Mercer's diary (typescript) of a trip from Baltimore to New Orleans in 1816, via the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, which has been published. William Newton Mercer's papers on file at Tulane University, consisting of correspondence, bills and receipts, factors' statements, and related items are available on microfilm. Some of these papers record Mercer's travels in the eastern United States and in England, France, and Italy from 1836-1837. None of the material in this manuscript group relates to Mercer's military service or his medical practice.

2 linear ft.64 v.2 microfilm reels.

eng,

fre,

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Louisiana State University, LSU Libraries

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SNAC Resource ID: 6725089

Louisiana State University, LSU Libraries

Related Entities

There are 10 Entities related to this resource.

Clay, Henry, 1777-1852

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6gc2thc (person)

Henry Clay Sr. (April 12, 1777 – June 29, 1852) was an American attorney and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the Senate and House. He was the seventh House speaker and the ninth secretary of state. He received electoral votes for president in the 1824, 1832, and 1844 presidential elections. He also helped found both the National Republican Party and the Whig Party. For his role in defusing sectional crises, he earned the appellation of the "Great Compromiser" and was part of the "Grea...

St. Anna's Chapel.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6w43hk7 (corporateBody)

Shields, Wilmer.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64f3t7r (person)

Mercer, Anna Farar, 1796-1839.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63j5fmm (person)

Bank of Louisiana

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61g5449 (corporateBody)

Butler, Benjamin Franklin, 1818-1893

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pz5cdh (person)

Benjamin Franklin Butler was born in Deerfield, New Hampshire, the sixth and youngest child of John Butler and Charlotte Ellison Butler. His father served under General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812 and later became a privateer, dying of yellow fever in the West Indies not long after Benjamin was born. He was named after Founding Father Benjamin Franklin. His elder brother, Andrew Jackson Butler (1815–1864), would serve as a colonel in the Union Army during t...

Young, Elizabeth, 1934-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6wm1x2j (person)

Mercer, William Newton, 1792-1874

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dr46kr (person)

William Newton Mercer, born in Cecil County, Maryland, studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and during the War of 1812 as an assistant surgeon in the U.S. Army. He later was stationed in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Natchez, Mississippi, as Army Post-Surgeon and established a private practice in Natchez after retiring from military service in 1821. He and his wife, Anna Eliza Farar of Adams County, Mississippi, had two daughters and lived at Laurel Hill Plantation in Adams County, w...

University of Louisiana

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tx77nn (corporateBody)

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tz44c1 (person)

Abraham Lincoln (born February 12, 1809, Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky-died April 15, 1865, Washington, D.C.) was the sixteenth President of the United States from 1861 until his death by assassination. He was the son of a Kentucky frontiersman, Thomas Lincoln, and Nancy Hanks. In 1816, Lincoln moved to Pigeon Creek, Indiana, where he worked on his family's farm. Following his mother's death two years later, he continued working on farms until moving with his father to New Sa...