The long last period of Mercer's life and of the plantation he created
began at a time of growing concern about the western frontier and the
wilderness beyond it. In 1747 this concern had been expressed in the
founding of the Ohio Company of Virginia by a group of notable colonial
leaders: Thomas Cresap, Augustine Washington, George Fairfax, Lawrence
Washington, Francis Thornton, and Nathaniel Chapman. George Mason was an
early member, and so, not surprisingly, was John Mercer, whose prestige
as a lawyer was the primary reason for his introduction to the company.
We learn from the minutes of the meeting on December 3, 1750.
"[Resolved] That it is absolutely necessary to have proper Articles
to bind the Company that Mason ..., Scott & Chapman or any two of
them, apply to John Mercer to consider and draw such Articles and
desire him attend the next general meeting of the Company at
Stafford Courthouse...."[120]
At the meeting in May 1751, Mercer presented the Articles and was
"admitted as a Partner on advancing his twentieth part of the whole
Expence."[121] From then on he was virtually secretary of the company,
as well as its chief driving force. He was made a committee member with
Lawrence Washington, Nathaniel Chapman, James Scott, and George Mason,
who was treasurer. The "Committee" was the central or executive board.
With the leading members living in Stafford County or nearby, most of
the meetings of both the company and the committee were held at Stafford
courthouse, and occasionally in private houses of the members. We can
imagine with what pride Mercer noted in his journal for February 5-7,
1753, "Ohio Committee met at my house." The important role played by the
Ohio Company in the Mercers' lives--and by them in the Company--is fully
recounted in the _George Mercer Papers Relating to the Ohio Company of
Virginia_.