Messervy

Messervy family page

Messervy children

Record Search

Direct links to lists of baptisms, marriages and burials for the Messervy family can be found under Family Records opposite. If you want to search for records for a spelling variant of Messervy, or for any other family name, just click below on the first letter of the
family name you are interested in. This will open a new tab in your browser giving you a list of family names beginning with that letter,
for which there are baptism records in our database of half a million church and public registry records.

You can also select marriages or burials. Select the name you want
and when the list of records is displayed you can easily refine the search, choosing a single parish, given name(s) and/or start and end dates.

The records are displayed 30 to a page, but by selecting the yellow Wiki Table option at the top left of the page you can open a full, scrollable list. This list will either be displayed in a new tab or a pop-up window. You may have to edit the settings of your browser to allow pop-up windows for www.jerripediabmd.net. For the small number of family names for which a search generates more than 1,500 records you will have to refine your search (perhaps using start or end dates) to reduce the number of records found.

New records

From August 2020 we have started adding records from non-Anglican churches, and this process will continue as more records, held by Jersey Archive, are digitised and indexed. Our database now includes buttons enabling a search within registers of Roman Catholic, Methodist and other non-conformist churches. These records will automatically appear within the results of any search made from this page.

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If you can help with information about the Messervy family, please contact editorial@jerripedia.org, using Jerripedia as the subject of your email. We are particularly interested in information which will help create further family trees, family histories and photographs

A blue link anywhere in the text will lead you to another page with more information on this family

A Messervy wedding

Origin of Surname

The name may be derived from the old Norman word Messervijr, meaning 'ill-used'. The Rev George Balleine agrees, stating 'Messervy was a pitying name given to one who had been maltreated. In Wace we read of "son frere messervi", his ill-treated brother'. However, the name is not common in Normandy, nor elsewhere in France, today.

Early records

The name appears in the Assize Roll of 1309 and Edouard appears in the Jersey Chantry Certificate of 1550.

Payne's Armorial of Jersey

"This is one of the aboriginal families of Jersey. According to one of its members the name is formed from the obsolete Norman verb Messervijr, and consequently means the " ill-used."

In 1331 John Messervy held land in St Martin, and was also Seigneur of the fief of Poteraux in Grouville. The important fief of Bagot came into the possession of this family by the marriage of Richard Messervy with Mabel, the eldest daughter of Clement Dumaresq, Seigneur of Samares.

A family, named Messerwy, is settled in England, and is very probably derived from the one now noticed, as both name and arms differ very slightly.

Philip Messervy and Thomas William Messervy, are the principal representatives of this ancient and highly respectable insular house."

The Messervys have, for many generations, been one of Jersey`s most notable families. They have given to the Island`s service eleven jurats, one of whom was Lieut.-Governor of Jersey, eight constables and four rectors; others held offices such as Attorney-General and Deputy-Viscount. Clement Messervy, whilst still a young man, was Solicitor-General, 1539-1542, in which latter year he was killed, when presiding over the Noirmont seigneurial court.

Arms

• As borne by Charles Bertram Messervy: Or, three cherries, gules, stalked, vert.

Quartering : Argent, on a chevron between three martlets, sable, as many fleurs-de-lis of the field, for Falle

Or, three cherries, stalked, vert, a martlet for difference, for Messervy.

Crest : A cherry-tree, ppr.

Motto : Au valeureux coeur rien impossible.

• As borne by Thomas-William Messervy: Or, three cherries, gules, stalked,

Variants

• Messervy, 1309
• Mauservy c1340
• Messervi 1331
• Le Messeryn
• Meservie
• Messervye
• Messerwy
• Mesharvy
• Meservey
• Maserve
• Messervey
• Meservee
• Meserve
• Messerve

Family records

Family trees

The trees which follow represent different branches of the same family. There are a number of areas in which the trees differ, mainly on exact sequence of generations and names of wives in the Falle family. The original core tree, researched by Jerripedia editor Mike Bisson, has been restored, and links created between the trees. Researchers are requested to take extreme care with generations in the individual trees which are highlighted in red.

• Descendants of Jean Messervy (1280), additions to core tree from Payne's Armorial of Jersey
• Descendants of Clement Messervy, a branch of the above tree
• Descendants of Abraham Messervy, a branch of the above tree
• Descendants of Abraham Messervy - 2, follows a different line down to the 19th century in St Martin
• Descendants of Philippe Messervy (1485) Emigrants to Newfoundland, Australia and New Zealand
• Descendants of Philippe Messervy Another tree starting with Philippe but following different branches
• Descendants of Clement Messervy and Catherine Sohier
• Descendants of Clement Messervy and Jeanne Baudain Added 2020

The next two trees follow two different lines of descent from a Jersey emigrant to the USA. The third starts with the same person but follows a branch which remained in Jersey

• Messerve family in the USA 1
• Messerve family in the USA 2
• Descendants of Gregoire Messervy - 2

Church records

Tips for using these links

• Messervy baptisms in Jersey
• Messervy marriages in Jersey (groom)
• Messervy marriages in Jersey (bride)
• Messervy burials in Jersey

Family histories

• The Jersey Messervys who became Meserve in the USA
• A Messervy family history
• Daniel Messervy, 18th century diarist
• J A Messervy, 19-20th century historian and genealogist
• Elie Messervy, Rector of St Peter whose appointment proved very controversial
• Charles Messervy, Colonial Office official and architect
• Maximilien Messervy, seigneur hanged for counterfeiting coins
• Nathaniel Messerve, American shipbuilder and hero of Louisbourg
• J E Messervy, artist
• Messervy family members mentioned in a major history of privateering
• Colonel Nathaniel Meserve

Société Jersiaise Library records

• Messervy records in La Société Jersiaise Library Added 2018

Newspaper records

• George Messervy, speaker at meeting concerning reform of the States in 1848
• Miss E E Messervy's school in La Motte Street opened in 1848
  
  
  
  

Great War service

• Messervy family members who served in World War 1

Family wills

• Messervy family wills from 1663 to 1980 held by Jersey Archive

Burial records

• Messervy burial records 1820-1978

Occupation curfew cards

Curfew pass issued to John Messervy during the Occupation as a member of the St Martin Honorary Police ^[1]

Family businesses

• Thomas Messervy had a toy warehouse at 22 Halkett Place i n the 1870s and '80s

Family homes

• Anneville, St Martin
• Bagot Manor Farm, St Saviour
• Beau Desert, St Saviour
• Blanc Pignon, St Martin
• Brabant_Farm, Croiserie, Trinity
• Clos Durell, Trinity
• Hamptonne, Rue du Hocq, St Clement
• La_Chesnaie,_St_Martin, St Martin
• Le Carrefour, Trinity
• Les Alpes, La Croix ès Gaudins, St Martin
• Little Manor, Faldouet, St Martin
• Maison du Costil, St Clement
• d`Auprès du Morin, St Saviour
• Ville à l'Eveque, Trinity
• Ville Bree Farm, St Martin

Family album

John William Messervy (1869-1938) (St Martin - New Zealand) ^[2] with five of his nine children from two marriages at their home, Terra Nova Lodge, 173 Palmers Road, New Brighton, Christchurch, New Zealand

A potato harvesting team take a break at Clos Durell in the early 1950s. Third from left in the back row is George Augustus Messervy, the then owner of the farm, with his son-in-law David John Henley, next to him in the taller hat. The others are believed to be Breton farm workers

Family gravestones

Click on any image to see a larger version. See the Jerripedia gravestone image collection page for more information about our gravestone photographs

Tips

The church record links above will open in a new tab in your browser and generate the most up-to-date list of each set of records from our database. These lists replace earlier Family page baptism lists, which were not regularly updated. They have the added advantage that they produce a chronological listing for the family name in all parishes, so you do not have to search through A-Z indexes, parish by parish.

We have included some important spelling variants on some family pages, but it may be worth searching for records for a different spelling variant. Think of searching for variants with or without a prefix, such as Le or De. To search for further variants, or for any other family name, just click on the appropriate link below for the first letter of the family name, and a new tab will open, giving you the option to choose baptism, marriage or burial records. You will then see a list of available names for that type of record and you can select any name from that list. That will display all records of the chosen type for that family name, and you can narrow the search by adding a given name, selecting a parish or setting start and end dates in the form you will see above. You can also change the family name, or search for a partial name if you are not certain of the spelling

The records are displayed 30 to a page, but by selecting the yellow Wiki Table option at the top left of the page you can open a full, scrollable list. This list will either be displayed in a new tab or a pop-up window. You may have to edit the settings of your browser to allow pop-up windows for www.jerripediabmd.net. For the small number of family names for which a search generates more than 1,500 records you will have to refine your search (perhaps using start or end dates) to reduce the number of records found.

New records

Since August 2020 we have added several thousand new records from the registers of Roman Catholic, Methodist and other non-conformist churches. These will appear in date order within a general search of the records and are also individually searchable within the database search form

Notes and references

1. ↑ These cards are held by Jersey Archive. Visit The Archive online catalogue for more information. A subscription may be needed to view some of the site's content
2. ↑ John William emigrated to New Zealand with his parents, Philippe George John (1846-1914) and Charlotte Eliza, nee Ward (1847-1926) shortly after his birth in St Martin in 1869. His five brothers and three sisters were all born in New Zealand. John William married twice, to Martha Alice Hawker in 1897, and after her death following a miscarriage in 1905, he married her older sister Harriet Helena
3. ↑ John William was one of the most successful trotting racers in New Zealand, participating in the prestigious New Zealand Cup on nine occasions between 1906 and 1924; although he never won the race. His son, also John William, followed in his father's footsteps and was also invited to take part in the race and competed against his father in 1924