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Messer Family Page: Pre-emigration generation A << 1 >> 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
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Descendents of William Messer (4 Dec 1799 – 21 Sep 1874)
and Alice (or Alison) Brown (~1795 – 19 Sep 1877)

Data last updated: 2 Dec 2007

Messer genealogy in a single pdf or MS Word file.

Link to maps showing relative concentration of the
Messer surname in the United Kingdom in 1881 and 1998.

First Immigrant Generation
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1. William Messer. Son of Walter Messer and Ann UNKNOWN. Born in Tweedmouth, Northumberland, 4 Dec 1799, Eng. and baptized 19 Jan 1800 by Mr. Blackhall, Minister, Golden Square Presbyterian or Scotch Chruch, Berwick Upon Tweed records (The spelling of the surname in these records is "Meser"). Died 21 Sep 1874 in Harvey. Buried in Harvey Settlement Cemetery. Occupation Farmer. Religion Presbyterian. Based on William's obituary in the Daily Telegraph (below) his date of birth has often been erroneously listed as 1801.

 

Map and satellite imagery showing location of Ford, Northumberland where William Messer married Alison Brown in 1826 as well as places where he was born and (some) places where he was variously employed in the 1820's and 1830's based on christening listngs for his children. He worked as a hind at Downham Farm in 1827 and 1829 and at Paston (Pawston) Farm in 1832. See photographs and information on the history of these farms below. Many of his children were christened at Crookham. Google map compiled: Tim Patterson, 27 Nov 2007. Link to more information on Downham Farm and Paston (Pawston Farm).

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In the marriage record for William Messer, his wife’s name was given as Alison Brown, married 24 Sep 1826 at Ford by Thomas Knight, Rector, and witnesses to the marriage were Walter Messer and William Brown.

 

The marriage record was signed by William Messer and Alison Brown, however it is interesting to note that in Sep 1843 NB Land Petition, when asking for land for his son Walter, William signed with an “X”.

 

    William Messer, his wife Alice Brown, and children Elizabeth, 10 yr., Walter, 5 yr., William, 3 yr., and Thomas 9 mo., came to NB with the first settlers of Harvey in 1837.   They were first granted Lot 6E, 100 acres in Harvey Settlement, which proved unsuitable for farming.   In 1843 they moved to Lot V, fourth tract, north of Frog Lake.

 

Link to scans and transcript of William Messer's application for a new farm. (N.B. Land Petition. V. 26, no. 54, RS-272, PANB - reel #F9047) and 1846 request of a farm for his "17" year old son Walter (RS272 Vol 26, No. 54-bottom half of page). Source: JSH, 2007.

 

 

    In the 1861 Census, William owned or occupied 80 acres improved and 120 acres unimproved land, cash value of farm, 250 pounds; value of implements and machinery, 14 pounds.   Had 2 horses, 5 milch cows, 9 other neat cattle, 14 sheep, 3 swine, and slaughtered 250 lb. pork.   Produced 300 lb. butter, 33 lb. wool, 17 tons hay, 300 bu. oats, 25 bu. buckwheat, 5 bu. timothy, 150 bu. turnips, 100 bu. potatoes, and 4 bu. carrots.

 

The farm that William Messer founded on Frog Lake Road. Source: Tim Patterson, 10 Nov 2007. Medium Sized Pop-up Image 700 X 525 jpeg; 152 k; 72 dpi Full Sized Pop-up Image 3648 X 2736 jpeg; 6771 k; 180 dpi

 

 

    From Daily Telegraph, 26 Sep 1874:

    Died Harvey Settlement, 21st. inst., William Messer, native of Northumberland, England and emigrated to America in 1837, one of the original number that formed the well known colony in which he died.   Having reached the age of 73, he leaves a widow and numerous circle of children and grandchildren.

    "The Descendants of William and Margaret Messer 1837-1985" was compiled by Doris Messer; and further research on the Walter Messer and Isabella Speedy family and various branches of the Messer family was compiled by Allen and Stella Messer in 1995.   Much of the information from these two sources has been included here with additional information on pre-emigration families provided by Prof. Bruce Elliott, Carleton University.

    He married Alice (also known as Alison) Brown, daughter of William Brown, 24 Sep 1826 in Ford, England. Born Approx 1795 in England. Died 19 Sep 1877 in Harvey. Buried in Harvey Settlement Cemetery. Religion Presbyterian.

 

Undated tin type image of Alison Brown as an elderly woman (b. ca 1795, England - d. 19 Sep, 1877 Harvey Settlement). Source: Darryl Messer, Harvey, 26 Jul 2007. Medium Sized Pop-up Image 700 X 1112 jpeg; 274 k; 72 dpi Full Sized Pop-up Image 1692 X 2687 jpeg; 3351 k; 180 dpi

 

 

    It was previously speculated that Alice was the daughter of James Brown and Martha Reed of Morpeth, but as more information has been discovered on the family of James Brown and Martha Reed, this possible link became less plausible. The listing of William Brown as Alice's father in the Crookham Presbyterian baptismal records now completely disproves the hypothesis.

 

    Alice's brother, Thomas Brown was 37 years old, and single when he arrived in NB on the Cornelius of Sunderland, with the early settlers in 1837.   Thomas Brown died 5 Aug 1859, aged 59 years, and is buried in Harvey Settlement Cemetery in the same grave site as Alice and William Brown's infant son James, who died 27 Mar 1845 at age 1 year 6 months (see entry for James for image of grave marker).

 

    They had the following children (see detailed baptismal records for some children below):

  2   i.   Elizabeth Messer
*2a. ix. Ann b. 20 Feb 1829

  3   ii.   Nancy Messer

  4   iii.   Walter Messer

  5   iv.   William Messer

  6   v.   Thomas Messer

  7   vi.   Ann Isabel "Annie" Messer

  8   vii.   Alice Eleanor Messer

  9   viii.   James Messer

*Ann was previously undocumented and must have died young prior to emigration as another Ann was later born in New Brunswick. Ann's entry post dates the creation of the entry for the Messer family at this site. Thus the informal designation of 2a ix. She is also not found in the index. Numbering will be revised in the next update.

 

Gravestone (brown sandstone pillar) in Harvey Settlement Cemetery; Section A, Row 9, Plot 99 (left side) William Messer, Died Sept 21, 1874 Aged 73 years, Native of Northumberland, England, His End Was Peace; and Alice, his wife, Died Sept 19 Aged 82 years (facing woods) Also Thomas, their son, Died July 20, 1860 Aged 23 Years   Medium Sized Pop-up Image 700 X 1050 jpeg; 244 k; 72 dpi Full Sized Pop-up Image 1245 X 1868 jpeg; 1479 k; 180 dpi

 

 

Supplemental Data

 

The scan of the letter below provided new information about the genealogical history of the Messer family has been made available by descendant Walter Messer, who had research done at the Northumberland Record Office in 1990. Source Dallas Davis, March 2007.

 

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Baptisms

The Crookham Presbyterian fiche (C 1811-33, A.207) had some of the Messer family as well as the Robisons:

p. 60   MESSOR   25 June 1827   Elizabeth daughter of William Messor, Hind, Downham, and his wife Alice, daughter of William Brown, was born 17 June 1827

p. 69   MESSER   5 March 1829   Ann daughter of William Messer, Hind, Downham, and his wife Ann [sic], daughter of William Brown, was born 20 February 1829   [Ann must have died young, as another Ann was born in Canada in 1840 - BE]

p. 82   MESSER   9 April 1832   Walter son of William Messer, Hind, Paston, and his wife Alice, daughter of William Brown, was born 3 April 1832

William and Thomas, who were also born in Northumberland were not in the record.   However, the fiche ends in 1833, so these two children might well be in the later register.  

Note that the second entry gives the mother as Ann.   This is probably a transcription error, but the three entries are consistent about the mother being the daughter of a William Brown, not the James Brown and Martha (Reed) of Morpeth as has been previously suggested.

mtDNA Test Results

    Mitochodrial DNA (mtDNA) is only passed from mothers to their children. Thus all maternal descendants of Alice Brown will carry an exact copy of her mtDNA. Hypervariable Regions HVR1 + HVR2 mtDNA marker values have been otained for Roy Patterson, a direct maternal descendant of Alice Brown through the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation. Roy Patterson and his ancestor Alice Brown are part of Haplogroup T2. Haplogroup T arose in the Near East 45,000 years ago and was in Northern Italy by 17,000 years ago just at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum. Following the retreat of the ice sheets Haplogroup T (Clan Tara in Bryan Sykes - The Seven Daughers of Eve) spread through Europe with the rise of agriculture starting around 10,000 years ago. Haplogroup T is particularly common today in the Urals and other parts of Eurasia, and spottily elsewhere in places like Iceland, western Britain and Ireland where up to 10% of the population belong to this Haplogroup.

    mtDNA marker values obtained for Roy Patterson passed down from direct maternal ancestor Alice Brown:

 

HVR1 Mutations 16126C 16294T 16296T 16304C 16519C -

HVR2 Mutations 00073G 00263G 00309.1C 00309.2C 00315.1C 00321C

 

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