*Gideon Mercer
born 1709
died 1785 (or 1765?)

father:
*John Mercer, b. 1678

mother:
*Elizabeth Bentley, b. d. 1712

siblings:
none?

step-mother
Sarah Ann Moore

siblings(half-brothers and -sisters):
Edward Mercer,
William Mercer
Jonathon Mercer
Robert Mercer, b.1716,
David Mercer
Job Mercer
Blanche Mercer
Elizabeth Mercer
Jane Mercer
Diana Mercer

spouse:
*Mary Ann Harper, b.<1708, d.1738

children:
a. Edward Mercer, b. 1727-1737; died Abt. 1781; married 1747
b.*Job Mercer, born ~1733 in Fayette Co PA; married Margaret Gordon.
c.Jonathan Mercer, b. 1739-1741 in Chester Co. PA; died 1806, m. his niece Miss Babb (executor of Gideon's will)
d.Robert Mercer, b. ~1735, m. Sept. 1, 1766, Chester County, Pa, cousin Elizabeth Brown,b.1747 da. of Elizabeth Mercer Brown
e.Blanche Mercer, born Abt. 1739 (see notes).
f. Jane Mercer, born Abt. 1741.
g. Nancy Mercer, born Abt. 1743.
h. Napoleon Mercer, born Abt. 1745.
i. Diana Mercer, born Abt. 1747.

spouse(2nd):
Sarah Harper

biographical:

notes:
see "Mercer Scam"
GRAFTING FAMILY TREES
by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG
Not even your family histories are safe from those who want to
make a quick buck at your expense. Moreover, you might have been
hoodwinked with a fabricated genealogy and your relatives might
have been victims of estate frauds -- an old con game, and you
might not even realize it.
Early in the 20th century, about 200 fabricated genealogies were
produced by Gustav Anjou (1863-1942), a Staten Island, New York
forger of genealogical records. Anjou developed a profitable
business in mail-order ancestors for wealthy clients willing to
pay about $9,000 for a family history. More than 100 genealogies
compiled by Anjou have been located. They are widely accessible
in most large libraries and have been reprinted many times, and
probably are being used today by genealogists who are not aware
that the pedigrees are false. Anjou, and others like him, simply
grafted noble and royal ancestors onto their client's trees,
sometimes by using invented European parishes and forged wills
and vital records.
Not only did Anjou falsify many genealogies, evidently he
fabricated his own pedigree and credentials, according to Gordon
L. Remington, Fellow of the Utah Genealogical Association and
editor of GENEALOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE UTAH GENEALOGICAL
ASSOCIATION, in an article that appeared in Volume 19, Nos. 1 &
2 (1991) of that periodical. In the same issue also appears an
excellent article on estate frauds by Helen Hinchliff, and one
by Robert Charles Anderson on the Anjou pedigrees.
According to Anderson, a certified genealogist and Fellow of the
American Society of Genealogists, a typical Anjou pedigree
displays four recognizable (at least to the more experienced researcher) features:
-- A dazzling range of connections among dozens of immigrants (mostly to New England).
-- Many wild geographical leaps, outside the normal range of migration patterns.
-- An overwhelming number of citations to documents that
actually exist, and include what Anjou says they include.
-- Here and there an "invented" document, without citation,
which appears to support the many connections.
Among the genealogies compiled by Anjou are those for: BEACH,
BELL, CALDWELL, DENT, FREEMAN, GRANT, HENDERSON, HOUSTON,
MARSHALL, McCORMICK, NOWELL/NOELL, ORMOND, ROCKWELL, SEAMAN,
TER BUSH, WELLING, and WHEELER. For an extensive listing along
with the call numbers of the Anjou genealogies available at the
Family History Library, see FRAUDULENT LINEAGES:
http://www.linkline.com/personal/xymox/fraud/fraud223.htm
http://www.linkline.com/personal/xymox/fraud/fraud224.htm
See also "Watch Out for Fake Family Trees," by James Pylant,
editor of AMERICAN GENEALOGY MAGAZINE:
http://www.genealogymagazine.com/watoutforfak.html
Estate frauds touched hundreds of thousands of American families.
If you uncover references to a fortune or estate that some of
your relatives tried to obtain years ago, be wary. Also, you may
encounter family members who will not admit that they or their
parents were defrauded and who still believe there is a lost
family fortune out there somewhere.
The bulk of estate frauds has been associated with common
surnames. These scams -- many of which occurred about 75 to 100
years ago -- worked like this. Confidence men sought "missing
heirs" by placing advertisements in the personal ads or legal
notices of newspapers. Then they planted stories in newspapers
about huge estates that were soon to be awarded to rightful
heirs. Naturally many people responded. Then these "heirs" --
at the urging of the swindlers -- would form associations as
estate claimants, incorporate under the laws of their state
and write letters to their cousins encouraging them to join the
association, and pay the membership dues and special
assessments for legal fees to fight for their "estates."
Newspaper wire services picked up dozens of such items about
meetings of these various "heirs groups" in small towns.
Eventually these stories began to appear in major newspapers
such as THE NEW YORK TIMES. Naturally, appearance in prestigious
newspapers gave credence to the stories of the estates. Among
the well-known estate frauds are those for these surnames:
BAKER, DRAKE, EDWARDS, EDWARDS-HALL, FISHER, HARPER, HYDE, JANS,
KOHLER, MERCER, SPRINGER, and VAN HORN.
Read more about the "Baker Land Hoax," "Buchanan Estate Scams,"
"Halberts' Clone," "False and Faked Mayflower Genealogy," "Faked
Seminoles in the Confederate Army," and "Hoax of the Century,"
by following the links from the International Black Sheep
Society of Genealogists' Genealogy Hall of Shame:
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~blksheep/shame/index.htm
See also: Baronage's "Caveat Emptor"
http://www.baronage.co.uk/bphtm-01/caveat02.html in re name
histories and family crests; Cyndi's List: Myths, Hoaxes &
Scams: http://www.cyndislist.com/myths.htm ; and Genealogical
Web Site Watchdog, which lists many Web sites that provide
misleading or inaccurate genealogical information:
http://www.ancestordetective.com/watchdog.htm
You might want to take a closer look at your family tree to see
if some illustrious or phony ancestors have been grafted onto
it and, if so, by whom. Before you brag to your grandchildren
about those noble or royal lines, or those famous connections,
be sure you are not perpetuating a myth, passing along a hoax,
or barking up the wrong tree.
==== MERCER Mailing List ====
See the Web Pages of the other Mercer, Messer, Mercier Researchers at:
http://www.bright.net/~wmturner/merclinks.html
Take below with a grain of salt:
Gideon Mercer was the father of Robert Mercer, who settled on the old Mercer homestead near Morgantown, W. Va. in 1766. Gideon Mercer was married twice. First to a Mary Harper, and after her death to her sister Sarah. So far as known there were no children by the second wife, but by the first wife Gideon Mercer had three sons(??): Napoleon and Job, twins; and Robert, born in 1741.(http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/elledorado/item3body.html)

Blanche Mercer, b. June 15, 1748, d. March 17, 1762,m. Babb, Thomas,September 01, 1821
(http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/c/o/o/Robert-H-Cook/COL10-0062.html)

302. Thomas Babb, born June 14, 1740 in Frederick Co. VA; died November 18, 1779 in Frederick Co. VA. He was the son of 604. Phillip Babb and 605. Margaret Mercer. He married 303. Blanche Mercer March 17, 1762.
http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/c/o/o/Robert-H-Cook/GENE8-0012.html
303. Blanche Mercer, born June 15, 1748 in VA; died September 01, 1821 in Greene Co. OH. She was the daughter of 606. Edward Mercer.

Child of Thomas Babb and Blanche Mercer is:
151 i. Tamson Jane Babb, born March 11, 1772 in Frederick Co. VA; married Jonathon Mercer.