1. Rev Jesse Mercer /1769
Born : Dec 16 1769 in Halifax Co , GaMarried : 1786Died : Sept 06, 1841Spouse 1 : Sabrina ChiversFather : Thomas ChiversMother :Born : Died : 1826Children : 2Spouse 2 :Nancy Mills SimmonsMarried : Dec 11, 1827 ( # 2 Marriage to Jessie Mercer 1769 )Birth: 20 OCT 1772 Death: MAY 1834 in ,Wilkes Co., GA Father: John MILLS Mother: Inez Lucy CarterMarriage 1 Abram SimmonsNotes for Nancy :Columbus Times 3 June 1841 Died. In Washington, Wilkes county, on Friday the 21st ult., Mrs. Nancy Mercer, consort of the Rev. Jesse Mercer, aged about 70 years. Her sufferings were long and severe, from palsy, which she bore with Christian meekness and resignation, giving in her latter and, consolatory evidences to her present and many absent friends, that she was dying the death of the righteous. She has been for many years a member of the Baptist church. Weep Christian, for thy sister is gone; mourn, friend, for the hand of humanity is still forever. Additional Comments: Source: Microfilm This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/gafiles/Simmons Nancy Mercer Jesse 11-Dec-1827Notes for Jesse Mercer:
Mercer University is named in honor of Jesse Mercer, Jesse was born in Halifax County, NC, but spent most of his boyhood on his father's plantation in Wilkes County, Georgia. Jesse Mercer became the most influential minister of his day in Georgia. He is considered an early leader among the Baptists in Georgia. For nearly 40 years he served a group of country churches organized by his father, Silas Mercer. At one time he made a tour of three thousand miles through the Alleghany Mountains for the purpose of strengthening church outposts. Jesse helped found the Georgia Baptist Convention.
He had little formal education, but was taught by a Dr. Springer, a Presbyterian who conducted a school at Walnut Hill, four miles from Washington in Wilkes County, Georgia. At the height of his career as a Baptist Preacher and church leader, Brown University conferred upon Jesse Mercer the degree of Doctor of Divinity, although he was seldom addressed as Dr. Mercer.
Jesse Mercer's first wife, Sabrina Chivers Mercer died around 1826, and he later married a widow, Nancy Mills Simmons who had inherited from her husband a large fortune. This allowed Jesse the resources to lift the Baptist Church to higher power. He founded a large church in Washington, Georgia and devoted himself to writing. He acquired the Christian Index newspaper from a Philadelphia publisher and moved it to Washington, Georgia, where it became the first organ of the Baptist denomination in the entire South. In 1840, Jesse donated this newspaper to the Georgia Baptist Convention.
8 graves relocated to New Prospect Baptist Church, Anderson County, SC
At the request of the Georgia Baptist History Commission and the President
Emeritus of Mercer University, the grave of Sabrina Chivers Mercer, who was the
wife of Jesse Mercer, founder of Mercer University, was moved to the Baptist
Church Cemetery at Penfield, Georgia, to be reinterred at the side of her
husband, Jesse Mercer.
MERCER, Sabrina Shivars, 1826, andersonville, e503-c, 067, penfield, ga. baptist church, 2
In 1823, Jesse Mercer also published the first Baptist Hymnal ever used in Georgia, called Mercer's Cluster.
Jesse Mercer also started a school that later became Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. He was the largest financial contributor to the school.
Jesse was said to be tall man, and was very bald in his old age.
Walnut Hill Academy, Washington, Ga. , one of the famous schools of its time, was established in 1788 by the Rev. John Springer, in a building erected close to his house on this plantation. Among the students taught by Mr. Springer at the Academy were John Forsyth, afterward Governor of Georgia, Member of Congress, and U. S. Minister to Spain; Nicholas Ware, Senator from Georgia; Jesse Mercer, founder of Mercer University and one of the State's leading Baptist ministers. The Rev. Hope Hull, noted Methodist minister, was for some time assistant to the Rev. Mr. Springer at Walnut Hill Academy.
Children of Jesse Mercer & Sabrina Chivers
1. Miriam Mercer
Born : Dec 01, 1798 , Virginia Died : Sept 21, 1799 , in King and Queen Co., VA INFO: "The Cluster of Jesse Mercer" by C. Ray Brewster - Renaissance PressMacon, GA 1983 for birth and death date2. Miriam Mercer
Birth: 13 APR 1805 Death: 15 DEC 1914 109 Years old ,in Bethesda, Greene Co., GA Burial: Penfield, Greene Co., GA Note: INFO: This is not an error. 1st Miriam died at only 9 mo and 21 days namedsecond daughter Miriam alsoINFO: "The Cluster of Jesse Mercer" by C. Ray Brewster - Renaissance Press Macon, GA 1983INFO: Don W. Mercer - Houston, TXCredits : Research by Skip Kitchens
Randolph County Georgia Bio of John T. Clark 1834 - 1889
It was largely through active effort of Judge Clark that Mercer University was moved from Penfield to
Macon, Georgia. He was a broad, accurate and profound scholar. He possessed both the passive and active graces of Christianity, and it is said of him that he had the spirit of Paul and the thoughtful, gentle spirit of John blended and united in him. Notwithstanding his extraordinary abilities and superior advantages, he was in his feeling and actions kind and generous. He was one of the great preachers of Georgia and the day before his death, he preached two sermons in the Cuthbert Baptist Church with an unction of spirit seldom realized and with great ability. He was generous in the support of his church and could always be depended upon for any duty for which he was called upon, or any service that he might render.
Brother Clark was killed by a train at Smithville, Georgia on Monday, July 25, 1889.
