Seattle's population had more than doubled in the decade since the first families founded the city in 1852, however the population largely consisted of young bachelor men who came to work in the timber and fishing industries. In the early 1860s Asa Shinn Mercer (1839-1917), first president of the Territorial University of Washington (now University of Washington) and its only instructor, decided to go to the east coast to find educated, marriageable women of good moral standing to work as teachers and in other respectable occupations.
The women he brought back, about 45 total between 1864 and 1866, became known as the "Mercer Girls." A reporter who accompanied Mr. Mercer's second trip, Roger Conant, kept a diary during the journey, which was later published as "Mercer's Belles: The Journal of a Reporter," and inspired a 1960s television series, "Here Come the Brides."
The marriage certificate pictured here was issued to Annie M. Peebles, a "Mercer Girl" originally from Maryland, New York, who arrived in Seattle on May 28, 1866. Her groom, Amos Brown (1832-1899), was a lumberman and real estate investor from Bristol, New Hampshire, who moved to the Puget Sound region in 1858. Their ceremony was performed by Daniel Bagley (1818-1905), a Methodist minister from Pennsylvania who was himself a prominent early resident of the city. It is unknown if Ms. Peebles taught school after arriving in Seattle, but she was active in the woman suffrage movement. Amos and Annie Brown had at least five children: Anson Lennon Brown (1868-1942), Brownie (Brown) Kinnear (1871-1957), Ora Lee (Brown) Richardson LaBau (1878-1969), Annie (Brown) Ames (1880-1965), and Helen (Brown) Duff Pratt (1887-1976).
Annie Brown's sister Elizabeth "Libbie" Peebles (1844-1926) had also traveled to Seattle in 1866 with Mr. Mercer. In 1868 she worked as clerk in the House of Representatives for the Legislature, and she later taught school in Lewis County, Chehalis, Seattle, and Olympia. In 1871 Libbie Peebles married Seattle banker Angus Mackintosh (1839-1904); the couple's son, Kenneth Mackintosh (1875-1957) was a member of Washington State Supreme Court Justice from 1918-1928.
Caption information source: "Mrs. Annie M. Brown, Pioneer of '65, Dies," The Seattle Daily Times, September 4, 1927, p. 4. Caption information source: "Mercer Girls," by Peri Muhich, HistoryLink.org Essay 1125.
Physical Description: 1 certificate mounted on paper ; 8.5 x 7.25 in.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
