Messervy Stories

Josué Messervy and his family emigrated from Jersey to Utah in the United States in 1853, undertaking a monumental journey from east coast US to Utah with the  Joseph W. Young Company .  The family first made a journey by sea to the United States, crossing to New Orleans on the  Golconda  and then made their way to Keokuk, Iowa to join the company of 402 individuals and 54 wagons.  The route they followed has been called the  Mormon Trail . The Messervys were a long way from their island home, with its history and culture reaching back to approximately 1100.  Josué was not a young man, but forty-six years of age, with his wife Jeanne Robert, about forty-one years of age.  Joining them on this prairie trek were their children Josué , age 19; Henrietta, age 17; John, age 14; Joseph Robert, age 11; Jane, age 10, James, age 7 and Ann Elizabeth, age 1. [1]  Tragically, their son Jacob, about three years of age, died on...

It’s always fun to find a rogue in the broader ancestral family.   Maximilien Messervy, who was born 25 July 1616 in St. Saviour, Jersey is definitely a scoundrel in the true definition of the word.   He was the son of Jean Messervy and Sara de Carteret, both descendants of prominent, longstanding families of Jersey. As a young man, he was infamous for having eloped to Normandy, France with 17 year old Collette La Cloche, who was a favoured niece of the powerful Sir Philippe de Carteret. Among Collette’s many virtues was her status as an heiress - they married in St. Lo, Normandy and eventually returned to Jersey. In this era, marrying without the permission of the families was a serious offence among the propertied class, or seigneurs.   Maximilien’s father died at the age of 34, meaning that in the inheritance pattern of the day, Maximilien inherited several seigneuries as the eldest son, in 1637 when coming of age.   While this may sound positive, ...

Some time ago, a member of the Messervey Heritage Facebook group provided information on Colonel Nathaniel Meserve, part of the American entourage of Jersey emigrants.  I always meant to do a post on him, and today noted that it was two years ago that Marilyn Griffin Turner provided the post! Nathaniel Meserve was born in Newington, New Hampshire about 1705, the son of Clement Meserve and Elizabeth Jones.   Nathaniel’s grandparents were original New Hampshire settlers from Jersey, Channel Islands.   Following in his father’s footsteps, Nathaniel became a carpenter and joiner and eventually a ship’s carpenter (shipwright).   On 16 December 1725, Nathaniel married his first wife Jane (Sarah) Libby [1]  and they had ten children.   His wife died in 1747 and he married a second time to Mary Jackson a widow and daughter of Judge Jotham Odiorne.   The story goes that Nathaniel enjoyed great success as a shipbuilder and became very wealthy. ...

A recent meetup with a Messervy descendant from New Zealand made me think of the differences and similarities between the experiences of my Philippe Messervy (see blog #2) and the New Zealand Philippe Messervy.   The most obvious difference is that of time:   I descend from Philippe Messervy who was born in St. Saviour, Jersey in 1769, while our New Zealand Philippe was born in 1845, seventy-six years later.   My Philippe was a young  single man when he was already in Newfoundland, part of the history of the cod trade, integral to the history of Jersey.   According to Jersey Heritage [1] ,   “...18th century merchants followed the triangular cod trade route leaving Jersey to trade in the Gaspé and Newfoundland, the West Indies and the Mediterranean. Initially the majority went on a seasonal basis but as the century progressed a number of Jersey firms with resident staff were set up.   Charles Robin established the pattern of trade for J...