PICTORIAL HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE AND ALLEN COUNTY INDIANA
by  B.J. Griswold.

Robert Mercer, though a painter and decorator by trade, has
devoted his energies mainly to the farming industry, in which he
has achieved a very creditable success and is counted among the
foremost men of his community today in point of his
accomplishments in agriculture.  He was born in Hancock
county, Ohio, on May 31, 1854, son of Jacob and Harriett
(Whitcomb) Mercer. The father came from Amsterdam, Holland, as a
small boy, in company with his parents, and with them settled in
Hancock county, Ohio. He devoted himself to farm life and as a
young man bought an eighty-acre farm, which he later sold and
came to Allen county, Indiana, settling in Marion township in
1858. He bought a farm of eighty acres, to which he later was
able to add a purchase of three forties, and for years was
counted among the foremost farming men of his community.  He
was a Democrat in politics and a member of the Methodist
Episcopal church. He had three children--Robert, Eliza Jane and
Rebecca. The first named is the subject of this brief family
sketch. The second married William Van Horn and is now deceased,
while Rebecca is the wife of Michael Flaugh, a Madison township
farmer. Robert Mercer attended the public schools of Marion
township and was also priveleged to attend what was known as a
"select" school at Middletown. He was the leader of a singing
school for some years in young manhood and continued on the home
farm until he was twenty-three years old.  He then bought
eighty acres of farm land in his home community and settled down
to farm life, which industry has claimed the greater part of his
energies up to the present time. He is one of the well-thought-of
men of his township and his standing is excellent wherever he is
known.  A Democrat, he served his party as delegate at two
National Conventions and has always taken an intelligent interest
in local politics.  He and his family are members of the
Methodist Episcopal church and he is a Scottish Rite Mason,
affiliated with Masonic bodies in his home village of Poe and
also in Fort Wayne. He was married on February 28, 1876, to Miss
Nancy McKeeman, daughter of David C. and Marguerite (McConahey)
McKeeman, who came from Ireland and who were well-to-do farmers
of Hoagland, now both deceased...Nancy is the wife of the subject
and Robert B. is a practicing physician in Fort Wayne.  To Mr.
and Mrs. Mercer five children were born. David J. is engaged in
medical practice in Poe, and brief mention is accorded him in
other pages of this work.  Robert F. is located in Fort Wayne.
Marguerite May is deceased.  Verba E. is the wife of Charles
Scherer and Leslie Bud is at home with his parents. Doctor Mercer
has three children--Charles Robert, David John and Harriett
Elizabeth. Robert also has three children. Margaret, deceased
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Mercer, was married and left a son,
Delbert. Verba is the mother of four, named Pearl, May, Alberta
and Ruth.  The Mercer family, it will be seen, is one that has
contributed full measure to the development of the county, and
the individual members are living well up to the standards set
for them in their early homes.

Jane Hunter Hodgson
    Tucson, Arizona
    hodgson@azstarnet.com
    http://208.199.40.215/genealogy/index.html


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