Mercer University is named after Jesse Mercer, an eminent Georgian, a distinguished Baptist clergyman, and a principal organizer of the Georgia Baptist Convention. His leadership and vision played a key role in the founding of Mercer University.

Jesse Mercer was born in Halifax County, North Carolina. At the age of 20, Mercer was ordained as a minister. Following his father’s death, Mercer moved back to the family home in Wilkes County, Georgia, and became principal of Salem Academy, which his father had founded. He was also pastor of four churches (formerly pastored by his father): Sardis (Hutton’s Fork), Phillips’ Mill, Wheatley’s Mill (later Bethesda), and Powelton.

At the age of 19, Mercer married Sabrina Chivers, who was his wife for nearly 40 years. In addition to serving as pastor of several churches, he was an itinerant volunteer missionary. For many years Mercer was the recognized leader of the Georgia Baptist Association and in the Georgia Baptist Convention. He was president of the Georgia Baptist Convention for 19 years (1822-1841).

Mercer was an able advocate and a liberal patron of education, particularly ministerial education. He was a trustee of Columbian College in Washington, DC, and the first president of the board of trustees of Mercer University. For several years Jesse Mercer published the Christian Index, which he gave to Georgia Baptists as a tool for publicity and promotion.

(Source: The Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists, Vol. II, p. 848, 1953. Excerpted from article written by Spright Dowell.)