The following biography of Jesse Mercer taken from Spright Dowell, President of Mercer University from 1928 to 1953. The full biography can be found in The Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists, Vol. II, p. 848.
Jesse Mercer, founder of Mercer University, was a Baptist clergyman and a principal organizer of the Georgia Baptist Convention.
Born in Halifax County, North Carolina on December 16, 1769, Jesse Mercer became an ordained minister at the age of 20 and the leader of the Georgia Baptist Association and the Georgia Baptist Convention. He was president of the Georgia Baptist Convention for 19 years, from its founding in 1822 until 1841. He also served as first president of the board of trustees of Mercer University.
Throughout his life, Mercer contributed significantly to the Baptist life in Georgia, including a biography of the Georgia Baptist Association and his Cluster of Spiritual Songs, a hymn book which Mercer University's Cluster magazine derives its name.
During the last years of his life, Jesse Mercer founded the First Baptist Church in Washington, Georgia for 14 years before his passing in 1841.
On January 29th, 1997, a life-size bronze statue of Jesse Mercer was unveiled on the main campus of Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. The statue was commissioned for the 165th anniversary of Mercer's Founder's Day Convocation.
