Mary Speed (Jones) Mercer Papers, 1903 - c.1937; undated

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Title

Mary Speed (Jones) Mercer Papers, 1903 - c.1937; undated

Local Call Number

PC.1948

MARS ID

5294

UoAth Сало StoXn AAckivu Ralzigh, Slo/Uh Сало Lina 1948 Collection: Mary Speed (Jones) MERCER Papers 1903-c .1937 , n.d. Warren County, N.C. Physical Description: 26 items (manuscript and printed writings and music, 1 digital audio recording, photographs, newspaper cuttings) Acquisition: Gift, Dr. Lewis S. Thorpe, Rocky Mount, N.C., 2004 Description: Mary Speed (Jones) Mercer (1863-1937), the daughter of Joseph Speed Jones (1814-1900) and Mary Ann (Fort) Jones (1832-1906), was born, bred, and educated at the family home, "Shocco Hills", in southwestern Warren County, North Carolina. Nearby was the popular antebellum hotel and mineral springs, "White Sulphur Springs", the creation of her grand¬ father, William Duke Jones (1787-1871) . It was here that Anne Carter Lee, daughter of General Robert E. Lee, died on October 20, 1862, while on a visit with her mother and sisters to the springs. It being impossible at the time to remove Miss Lee’s body to the Lee estate, Arlington, her family accepted the offer of a grave site in the Jones family cemetery jtist beyond the flower gardens at "Shocco Hills". In 1866, after the close of the Civil War, leading citizens in Warren County raised a subscription to erect a sepulchral monument at Miss Lee's grave. A ladies' memorial association was concurrently organized to have this work accomplished and the monument dedicated. Mrs. Joseph Speed Jones headed the memorial association. (For contemporary documentation of these events, see the Howard F. Jones Papers in the North Carolina State Archives — PC. 649.) The .Jones family had been, since colonial days, very much involved in the cultural, economic, and political life of the county. Some of the family. loomed larger than others in tales and traditions of the family and of the area. Consequently, Mary Speed Jones, along with her thirteen sib¬ lings and half-siblings, heard many a tale of her ancestors as she grew up at "Shocco Hills" during the post-bellum years. In 1882 she married William Parker Mercer, physician and farmer, and moved with him to Cokey Township, Edgecombe County. Here, at the Mercer residence, "West End", she raised her five children (born between 1882 and 1899), here she was active in community affairs, and here she lived most of her creative life.

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Document Details

Title

Mary Speed (Jones) Mercer Papers, 1903 - c.1937; undated

Rights

The SA of NC considers this item in the public domain by U.S. law but responsibility for permissions rests with researchers.

Description

Mary Speed (Jones) Mercer (1863-1937), the daughter of Joseph Speed Jones (1814-1900) and Mary Ann (Fort) Jones (1832-1906), was born, bred, and educated at the family home, "Shocco Hills", in southwestern Warren County. This collection of papers includes manuscript and printed writings and music photographs, newspaper cuttings and one digital audio recording. Included in the papers are musical and literary composiï¿½tions by Mrs. Mercer, almost none of them dated. Two short stories in the collection were written by Mrs. Mercer during the last ten years of her life under her pseudonym, "Warren Edgecombe". One of the two, written in dialect, is a sentimental tale of a young boy whose life is saved by his faithful hound, "Ol' Trail". The other, "Madame Santa Claus", is autobiographical. An incomplete and unfinished manuscript entitled "The Tapestry of Time" appears to have been worked on from time to time by Mrs. Mercer between 1923 and 1933, then abandoned in favor of a more ambitious piece of writing entitled "Anne Carter Lee, the Fair Maid of Arlington--with Memories of the Shocco Country". The manuscript is characterized throughout by straightforward genealogy. The remaining 28 pages of the manuscript are concerned with the death of Anne Carter Lee in 1862, the erection and dedication of the sepulï¿½chral monument in 1866, and General Lee's visit to the grave in 1870. Nearby the Jones family home, "Shocco Hills," was the popular antebellum hotel and mineral springs, "White Sulphur Springs", the creation of her grandï¿½father, William Duke Jones (1787-1871). It was here that Anne Carter Lee, daughter of General Robert E. Lee, died on October 20, 1862, while on a visit with her mother and sisters to the springs. It being impossible at the time to remove Miss Lee's body to the Lee estate, Arlington, her family accepted the offer of a grave site in the Jones family cemetery just beyond the flower gardens at "Shocco Hills". In 1866, after the close of the Civil War, leading citizens in Warren County raised a subscription to erect a sepulchral monument at Miss Lee's grave. A ladies' memorial association was concurrently organized to have this work accomplished and the monument dedicated. Mrs. Joseph Speed Jones headed the memorial association. (For contemporary documentation of these events, see the Howard F. Jones Papers in the North Carolina State Archives-PC.649.) The Jones family had been, since colonial days, very much involved in the cultural, economic, and political life of the county. Some of the family loomed larger than others in tales and traditions of the family and of the area. Consequently, Mary Speed Jones, along with her thirteen siblings and half-siblings, heard many a tale of her ancestors as she grew up at "Shocco Hills" during the post-bellum years. In 1882 she married William Parker Mercer, physician and farmer, and moved with him to Cokey Township, Edgecombe County. Here, at the Mercer residence, "West End", she raised her five children (born between 1882 and 1899), here she was active in community affairs, and here she lived most of her creative life. This collection of papers is made up of musical and literary composiï¿½tions by Mrs. Mercer, almost none of them dated. As a very young child she had been remarkable for the ease with which she could reproduce on the piano the melodic line of any piece of music which she heard sung or played. It is probable that her earliest compositions date from the opening of the twentieth century and that they were musical rather than literary. Of the songs present in this collection, two of them are without the melodies comï¿½posed for them by Mrs. Mercer: "Love in an Airship" (words by Mrs. Mercer) and "The Flag of Our Country" (words by the Georgia poet, Frank Lebby Stanï¿½ton (1859-1927). "Mother's Hushaby Song", or "Dreaming", on the other hand has both the pen and ink melodic line composed by Mrs. Mercer and the text written by J. W. Cordon. The most ambitious of her musical efforts, "United: a National Hymn", copyrighted by Mrs. Mercer in 1909, is represented not only by her words and melody, but also by orchestration written for it by John Philip Sousa (1854-1932) violins, viola, trombone, clarinet, flute, drums, and bass). Her hope that "United" would be adopted as the national anthem was never realized, "The Star Spangled Banner" being adopted, instead, in 1931. In addition to a copy of the hymn and its orchestration, the collection includes a digital audio recording of a performance of "United at Rocky Mount, N.C., by the Tar River Symphonic Band in 2004. Two poems, not meant to be set to music, complete the metrical material in the collection. One of them, printed by Bell Book & Stationery Co. of Richmond, Va., is entitled "Saint Augustine" and is illustrated in the margins with vignettes of the city and its fortifications. The other, a typescript, is entitled "A Peep at St. Nicholas" and is heavily influenced by Clement Moore's celebrated poem. Two short stories in the collection were written by Mrs. Mercer during the last ten years of her life under her pseudonym, "Warren Edgecombe". One of the two, written in dialect, is a sentimental tale of a young boy whose . life is saved by his faithful hound, "Ol' Trail". The other, "Madame Santa Claus", is autobiographical. It is based on Mrs. Mercer's experience at Christmas, 1902 when raising money for a tree and gifts and while purchasing and bringing home from Richmond, Va., small presents for the 300 children who attended Temperance Hall Methodist Church Sunday School (here called "Pinelands country Sunday School"). The Sunday School at Temperance Hall in southwestern Edgecombe County was headed for many years by Mrs. Mercer and was reputed to have been the largest rural Sunday School in the state. Other more openly autobiographical writings are "Shocco Hills" (reminiscences of Mrs. Mercer's childhood), and "Childhood Memories of Our Chieftan", (her recollections of the visit of General Lee to the grave of his daughter Anne in 1870). An incomplete and unfinished manuscript entitled "The Tapestry of Time" appears to have been worked on from time to time by Mrs. Mercer between 1923 and 1933, then abandoned in favor of a more ambitious piece of writing entitled "Anne Carter Lee, the Fair Maid of Arlington--with Memories of the Shocco Country". Confessedly based on family tales and traditions, the first 44 pages of the manuscript recount the English background of the Jones family, describe the family's arrival in the Shocco Creek area in 1735, and give brief sketches of some family members and connections during the eighteenth century. They are characterized throughout by straightforward genealogy. The remaining 28 pages of the manuscript are concerned with the death of Anne Carter Lee in 1862, the erection and dedication of the sepulï¿½chral monument in 1866, and General Lee's visit to the grave in 1870. It is probable that a three-page manuscript headed, "The Fair Maid Dreams", was meant to be incorporated in the more ambitious piece of writing. Photographs of Dr. and Mrs. Mercer and xerox copies of photographs of their residence, "West End", and four miscellaneous items complete the collection of Mrs. Mercer's papers. There are, however, two pieces of writing in the collection that are not by Mrs. Mercer but by her mother and her brother. About 1899 the North Carolina Division of the United Daughters of the Confedï¿½eracy appointed a committee to look after the grave of Anne Carter Lee. In 1902 one of the committee members visited Mrs. Joseph Speed Jones in order to obtain information relating to the death of Miss Lee, her burial, and the erection of the monument. As a result of this visit Mrs. Jones wrote in 1903 her own account of the facts and entitled it, by an unfortunate slip of the pen, "Oct. 26th, 1862" (meaning "Oct. 20th"). Some years later Howard F. Jones, Mrs. Mercer's brother, composed remarks welcoming the presiï¿½dent of the U.D.C., members of the Lee family, and Confederate veterans to a wreath.laying ceremony at Miss Lee's grave. These undated remarks of welcome might have been intended for a projected dedication in 1923 or 1924 of a new county road encircling the cemetery (now called "The Annie Lee Road--ï¿½Warren County road no. 1137). In 1994 a representative of the Lee family attempted to exhume the body of Anne Carter Lee and move it from North Carolina to the Lee family crypt in Lee Chapel at Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia. Finding that dust had long ago returned to dust, some mould from the grave was taken by the exhumers and interred in the Lee family crypt with the result that the dust of Anne Carter Lee may now be said to lie in two graves. Inventory of Folders: Anne Carter Lee, the Fair Maid of Arlington--with Memories of the Shocco Country, n.d. The Fair Maid Dreams, n.d. Childhood Memories of Our Chieftan, n.d. Photographs (copies) Poems Shocco Hills Short stories Songs Songs--"United: A National Hymn" (Score, 1909) Songs-"United: A National Hymn" (Digital audio recording, 2004) The Tapestry of Time (lacking pages) The Tapestry of Time (revised sheets) October 26th, 1862, by Mrs. Joseph Speed Jones, 1903 Welcome to visitors at grave of Anne Carter Lee, by Howard F. Jones

Local Call Number

PC.1948

MARS ID

5294

Digital Collections

["Legacy Finding Aids Collection"]

Source Collections

["Mary Speed Papers. Private Collections. State Archives of North Carolina"]

Format

["Finding aids"]

Hosted By

["State Archives of North Carolina"]

Notes Public

If you have questions about this collection, please contact the State Archives of North Carolina at archives@ncdcr.gov.

Identifier

Mercer_Mary_Speed_Jones_Papers_PC1948_Final

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