Charles F. Mercer
(1778-1858)
BIRTH
June 16, 1778
PLACE
(1778-06-16)June 16, 1778
DEATH
May 4, 1858
PLACE
Howard estate, Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.
FAMILY
FATHER
James Mercer
(1736-1793)
HOMES
POLITICAL VIEWS
AFRICAN COLONIZATION ADVOCATE
ADAMS, ANTI-JACKSONIAN PARTY MEMBER, CRAWFORD REPUBLICAN, FEDERALIST PARTY MEMBER, WHIG
RELIGIOUS VIEWS
RELIGION NOT DOCUMENTED
DENOMINATION NOT DOCUMENTED
MEMBERSHIPS
NATIONAL SOCIETY OF AGRICULTURE VICE PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA COLONIZATION SOCIETY VICE PRESIDENT
AWARDS
Charles Fenton Mercer (1778–1858) was a Virginia lawyer, soldier and congressman who represented the state from 1817 to 1839. He helped organize the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company and served as its first president, promoting federal support for transport improvements. A Princeton graduate and War of 1812 officer, he also supported the colonization movement that sought to send free Black Americans to Liberia. He retired from Congress in 1839 and died near Alexandria.
EARLY LIFE
The exact date and place of Charles F. Mercer’s birth have not been established in the source used for this entry. The surviving biographical summary provides only limited evidence about childhood, schooling, and the daily circumstances of the household, so those details are not reconstructed here without documentation. What can be stated securely is that this person belonged to the interconnected family world from which HistoryGPS traces participants, relatives, and later descendants of the Revolutionary generation.
The available biographical record identifies Charles F. Mercer with work or public activity as a lawyer, soldier, statesman. Those roles provide the clearest documented basis for including this person in the database and should be read in the political, military, professional, or household context of the period. Charles F. Mercer died on May 4, 1858 in Howard estate, Alexandria, Virginia, U.S. Additional claims about employment, public service, or accomplishments have been omitted where the consulted source did not support them.
CAREER
DEATH
Charles F. Mercer died on May 4, 1858. Charles Fenton Mercer was a Virginia lawyer, soldier and congressman who represented the state from 1817 to 1839. A Princeton graduate and War of 1812 officer, he also supported the colonization movement that sought to send free Black Americans to Liberia. Charles F. Mercer retired from Congress in 1839 and died near Alexandria. The available biographical account does not describe a continuous final medical course. It gives no dependable sequence of treatment and last symptoms from which to reconstruct a more detailed bedside narrative.
POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES
Charles Fenton Mercer (1778–1858), the Virginia congressman and canal promoter. Egerton and Garnett are individual biographies. Editorial selections prioritize biographical coverage; five standalone biographies were not established. Collective biography, family reference, primary writings and related studies are labelled individually. Multi-volume works and series are counted as one selection.
1. Charles Fenton Mercer and the Trial of National Conservatism — Douglas R. Egerton. Find on Amazon
2. Biographical Sketch of Charles Fenton Mercer, 1778–1858 — James Mercer Garnett. [Biography; early account] Find on Amazon
3. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–2005 — United States Congress. [Biographical reference] Find on Amazon
4. The American Colonization Movement, 1816–1865 — P. J. Staudenraus. [Related political and institutional history] Find on Amazon
5. The Great National Project: A History of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal — Walter S. Sanderlin. [Related institutional and biographical history] Find on Amazon
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