John Herbert "Bert" Messervey - A life too short

 As a child, I was not familiar with many of my Grammy Greig (Elizabeth Mary Messevey) family, but we all knew about her Uncle Bert.  An exotic figure who had travelled to the Far East several times, he was known as an importer of Japanese goods and also was renowned in the family stories as an early provider of electric Christmas tree lights. I recall that Grammy Greig proudly retold how friends and neighbours came to see the tree resplendent with its lights – quite different from the ones we see today, these lights were made up of little animals, cartoon figures and such.  

                                              Photo by Ken Benson. Sample of Messervey Lights. 

Of course, more traditional lights also were made. The lights, still unique, were passed to my mother and for some years we were able to put a few on the tree, until all the lights died. Many Messervey descendants of the Nova Scotia branches are familiar with Uncle Bert’s story and have been able to find out many details through the Internet and other sources.  Indeed, my niece Cindy found a set of Messervey Industries lights through E-Bay and purchased them. It is, ultimately, a Nova Scotia story of a young man who was able to move out of small town Canada to opportunities far and wide.

Born April 2, 1887, John Herbert Messervey was the son of Maud Ellen Ryan and Herbert Louis Messervey, who was a self-employed barber in Halifax.  Herbert Louis was the son of John Messervey and Sarah Hoar, both of Sandy Point Newfoundland.  John was a Master Mariner, Sea Captain and a trader who permanently relocated to Halifax, his main trading port. While Messerveys generally followed the Church of England, Anglican or Methodist religions, Bert grew up in a Roman Catholic family, likely due to his Irish Roman Catholic mother, Maud Ryan.  There were six children in this family, one of whom was my grandmother Elizabeth.  The remaining four were Ellen M., Roy J., Emma M. and Edmund C. 

The family story goes that Bert was athletic and a talented baseball player.  It was believed that he played semi-professional baseball in the United States. While I could find no confirmation of his US experience, he was mentioned in a book about the glory era of baseball in Cape Breton, NS, as being one of two Halifax recruits who turned down opportunities in the United States to join a Cape Breton team in Reserve Mines.1 This photo depicts John Herbert in a baseball shirt with some identification on the front – however the oval shape of the photo makes it  a challenge to read the letters.  At this point, we do not know if Bert ever did play semi-professional ball in the US – perhaps the story arose simply because he turned down an offer!

Evidence of Bert’s foreign business travel is well-documented through passenger lists for ships: arriving in Vancouver from Japan in 1920 with occupation as an Importer; 1922 from Yokohama to Vancouver; from Yokohama to Vancouver in 1923.  In 1922, Bert had his photo taken in full costume in Japan.  

Bert benefited from more than a business perspective due to his travel: at some point, time spent in Vancouver, B.C (usual departure and arrival port) led to a meeting with his future wife.  Lillian Mary Oakes was born in Langley, B.C.  the 15^th of August 1892.2  She was the daughter of Irish immigrants, who at the time of her birth, were farmers. John Herbert was 27 at the time of his marriage and Lillian was 21 years of age. They were married in Holy Rosary Church in Vancouver 9 July 1914.3  On the marriage registration, Bert’s occupation was a merchant. There does not appear to be any suggestion that Bert actually lived in Vancouver.  Passenger lists show that on at least two occasions, Lillian accompanied him in travels to Japan and other eastern destinations; in 1916 they journeyed back to Canada on the Monteagle and in 1919, they travelled to Hong Kong and back.

In 1919, on the ship passenger list, Lillian and Bert were listed as living in Toronto. I have not found any documented proof of this (as yet.) The stay in Toronto could not have been lengthy as in 1920 John H. Messervey began to appear in the city directories for Buffalo, New York  with both personal and business listings.  Entries in the city directory have been noted for 1924, 1928, 1929, and 1931.4 Several entries show that Bert’s brother, Edmund C. Messervey was the Vice-President of Messervey Industries, but in 1924 C. DeForrest Commings was the Vice President. In 1930, when Bert applied to the province of Nova Scotia for a delayed registration of birth,5 he also indicated residence as Buffalo, New York.   In the 1931 city directory Lillian appears as the widow of John H. Messervey, the President of Messervey’s Industries. The home address was 472 Woodward Avenue and the business address was 33 S Division. 

It was in 1931, before the city directory was published, that John Herbert Messervey’s life ended tragically.  In addition to his business location in Buffalo, Bert maintained a factory across the border in Bridgeburg, Ontario. It is not clear why he did this, but it may be that having a Canadian location and an American location made it easy for him to operate in both countries, depending on the regulatory environment of the times.  One source stated that he was a Canadian businessman with a Canadian business.

On 21 March 1931, a Friday evening, Bert was at work alone in his factory in Bridgeburg. An explosion attributed to gas caused the factory to burst into flames.  Severely burned, Bert wrapped an overcoat around himself and fuelled by adrenalin, managed to drive his car to the Canadian entrance onto the peace bridge en route to the hospital on the US side that was the closest to him.  The customs staff in Canada, seeing the severity of his condition, phoned to the US immigration staff requesting that Bert be allowed to drive across the border without stopping.

By the time he reached the Millard Filmore Hospital, he collapsed but fought for his life for 3 days, succumbing to his burns on 24 March.  The obituary that appeared in the Plattsburgh Sentinel noted that at the time of his accident, Bert was “…in marvelous physical condition. He stood six feet two inches and weighed about 200 pounds.”  An active member of the community in Buffalo, he was a member of the Buffalo Club, Fourth Degree Assembly, Knights of Columbus, Park Club, Buffalo Athletic Club and Eric Downs Golf and Country Club. Another obituary notes the funeral was to be held Friday, March 28 in St. Josephs Cathedral in Buffalo.  Bert was only forty-three years old.

Bert had a generous life insurance policy that was to pay to Lillian Oakes Messervey $30,000, a considerable sum that according to a conversion calculator would be worth nearly $500,000 in 2016 terms.  However, the insurance company, reluctant even in those days to actually pay out to policyholders, tried to appeal the amount.  Thanks to my niece Cindy for finding this case in an Internet search. 

Here is a challenge for anyone who is interested in breaking down a brickwall.  Despite a relatively comprehensive search in different geographic areas I have two questions I would love to see answered:

1.     Where is John Herbert Messervey buried?

2.     What happened to Lillian Oakes Messervey? While still in Buffalo in 1931 after her husband’s death, I found no future records for her. I searched in British Columbia as well as the US and Ontario, looking for a death, a remarriage, etc. No luck so hoping one of you eager researchers can find the missing information.

To view more pictures of Bert Messervey’s Christmas light offerings as well as examples of his Asian import giftware, you can read about his story as provided by two sons of a niece of Bert’s. URL: https://oldchristmastreelights.com/bills_site/the_john_messervey_story.htm

References:

 1.Northern Sandlots: A Social History of Maritime Baseball. Colin D. Howell. University of Toronto Press. 1995

2. British Columbia Archives. Registration of birth. Accessed 3 January 2017.

http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/026223e5-4443-4253-9265-bf045839848b

3. British Columbia Archives. Registration of Marriage. Accessed 3 January 2017.

http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/f4a47650-4e32-4451-9c93-119ee52c707e

4. Buffalo New York City Directories, various years, Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Accessed 2 January 2017.

5. Nova Scotia Historic Vital Statistics, Public Archives of Nova Scotia, Delayed Registration of Birth. https://www.novascotiagenealogy.com/ItemView.aspx?ImageFile=1904-71100473&Event=birth&ID=169739

6. Plattsburgh Sentinel. Fri., March 27, 1931. Obit.