SILAS MERCER

 The following bio was taken from page 304 of the book entitled “Rusk County History” compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

 Transcribed by Claudia Schuster

 Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

 It took approximately two hundred years and seven generations for the Mercer family to migrate in 1845 from Virginia to Rusk County, Texas, by way of North Carolina, Mississippi and Louisiana.

 Silas’s brother Eli was the first to come, in 1829.  He sailed into Galveston by way of the Mississippi River and was immediately caught up in the Texas Revolution.  He received land grants in Nacogdoches County.  After much persuasion from Eli, Silas and Charity’s eldest son, Jessie Monroe, came to Cherokee County about 1843.  After two years, Jessie returned to Amite County, Mississippi and married.  Silas and Charity sold their estate and the family headed back to the new frontier.

 Silas and Charity arrived in Rusk County, crossing the Sabine River at Brown’s Bluff near Fredonia.  While the family camped on the south side of the river, Silas looked for a place to settle.  The sons hunted wild game, which was plentiful, but black powder and shot were scarce.  Every shot must count for food.

 Silas found land and a spot to build a log house – a settlement called “Cotton Plant” - the post office in 1850 - the area that is now called Pea Town and Danville.

 Silas and Charity’s children were: Fleet, who joined them later, Jessie Monroe, Sarah, Mahilda, William Wilson, Joseph, Mellisa, Thomas Jefferson, Washington, and James, only a year old.

 The 1850 Rusk County Census gives two girls as marrying in the spring of 1850: Sarah to Collin F. Wylie and Mahilda to Wilson Haddox.  Jessie Monroe had returned to Cherokee County, between Rusk and Alto.

 Silas and his sons worked together as farmers of cotton mainly, but also of tobacco, corn, etc.  Cotton was ginned, hauled to Jefferson and Shreveport, and returned home with needed supplies.

 The girls kept the yard, worked the garden and helped their mother with housework, but they were not allowed in the fields.

 The Civil War took a heavy toll of Mercers, with Thomas Jefferson working in the Confederate Powder Mill at Marshall, and William and Joseph and Jessie Monroe enlisting in the army.  The three brothers remained together until Joseph was wounded in Tennessee.  It is said that the hardest thing Jessie and William ever did was to go on without Joseph.  Although Joseph was later discharged to return to Danville, Rusk County, Texas, he never was heard from again.  After the war, Jessie, William, and Thomas returned home.  Two younger sons possibly enlisted toward the end of the war.  All traces of Joseph, Washington, and James were lost.

 During the war years, two young sons and one daughter were at home.  Silas gave heavily to the Southern Cause, contributing horses, oxen, beef, and money.  Between 1860-1870, Melisa, the remaining daughter, died and was buried n the Danville Cemetery.  Only Silas, Charity, and Thomas remained at home after the war.  Very little of anything was left.  The three moved to Forest Home Community and settled there on three hundred and twenty acres belonging to the Spear family.

Silas and Thomas worked the farm until around 1870, when both Silas and Charity passed on, between 1870 and 1871.  Silas, who was born in 1802, and Charity, born in 1804, are buried in the Danville Cemetery.  Danville was a part of Rusk County until around 1873 when Gregg County was formed from Rusk County.

 Submitted by Talmadge Mercer