Texas Association (Mercer Colony) 8,000 Square Miles on the Trinity River...: Mercer, c.1858

8,000 Square Miles on the Trinity River!

An elegantly designed certificate providing one share in the ill-fated Mercer Colony Empresario Grant. A fine engraving on thin banknote paper featuring ornate borders, the Lone Star of Texas prominently displayed at the top center, and a captivating scene of a brave spearing a buffalo at the bottom center.

In February of 1841, the Texas Congress sanctioned the allocation of empresario contracts to individuals committed to settling unclaimed public lands within the Republic of Texas. President Sam Houston bestowed upon Charles Fenton Mercer a contract to facilitate the settlement of at least 100 families annually for a span of five years, commencing in January 1844. Mercer established the Texas Association to advocate and stimulate colonization, offering $500 shares to investors in Virginia, Florida, and Texas. The association allotted 160 acres to families and 80 acres to single men, contrasting with 320 acres provided by neighboring Peters Colony promoters. Within the initial year of the contract, over 100 families met the criteria and received land certificates. However, the growth of the Mercer Colony was hindered by political disputes, unscrupulous land speculators and surveyors, and encroaching squatters. Ultimately, Mercer relinquished all ties to the grant in February 1852 by transferring his interest in the Texas Association to George Hancock of Louisville, Kentucky. By 1858, Hancock had restructured the association and issued new stock shares. This certificate originates from that issuance and was printed by Hart, Mapother, & Co. of Louisville, Kentucky.

Background on Creator(s)

Charles Fenton Mercer (1778–1858) was a prominent 19th-century American politician, lawyer, and reformer from Virginia. Born in Fredericksburg, he graduated from Princeton College in 1797 and earned a master’s degree there in 1800 before studying law under Bushrod Washington, a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Mercer began his public career in the Virginia House of Delegates (1810–1817), where he championed internal improvements and public education, notably introducing early legislation for a state-funded system of primary schools and supporting Thomas Jefferson’s plan for the University of Virginia. During the War of 1812, he served in various military roles, rising to brigadier general in the Virginia militia.

Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1816, Mercer served from 1817 until 1839, representing Virginia’s 8th and later 14th districts. He became known for his advocacy of infrastructure projects, such as the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, where he served as the first president from 1828 to 1833. Mercer was also a leading figure in the American Colonization Society, which sought to resettle free African Americans in Africa, and he devoted significant energy and resources to this cause throughout his career. In the later years of his life, Mercer became involved in Texas colonization as an empresario, organizing the Texas Association to bring Anglo-American settlers to the Republic of Texas under a controversial contract granted by President Sam Houston in 1844. Mercer never married, spent his final years traveling in Europe, and died in Virginia in 1858, leaving a legacy as a reform-minded legislator, advocate for public education, and early abolitionist.