Editing Asa Mercer (section)

== Early life==
Mercer was born in [[Princeton, Illinois]]. He had twelve older siblings. According to Mercer, he spent time with [[Abraham Lincoln]] in his childhood and claimed that Lincoln encouraged him to travel. Mercer's first trip west was in 1852 at age thirteen. In 1860, he attended [[Franklin College (New Athens, Ohio)|Franklin College]] in [[New Athens, Ohio|New Athens]], Ohio, returning to Washington on his graduation.{{r|enss}}