On 6 Oct 2023 M Walker wrote on Messer-495:
I Mary Messer was absolutely not the daughter of Capt. Robert Messer and his wife She was likely the sister of Christian Messer (who was not the same man as Christian Sergeant Messer and who was not the son of Capt. Robert Messer). She was not the sister of these other Messers. I have never seen a middle initial of C. Please see below: I’m certainly not an expert on this Messer family, like the late Brenda Messer and a few others who have done such great work. However, there are some clear fundamental errors regarding Christian Messer ( ca. 1750 - 1831) and Christian Sergeant Messer, (1761-1859) that are repeated across literally hundreds of online family trees. This includes almost every tree on ancestry, the official entry on WikiTree, the description on Find a Grave, geni profiles, etc. etc.. It’s understandable that descendants could confuse and conflate two different ancestors who shared a relatively uncommon name, and who lived at roughly the same time in roughly the same area. However, Christian Messer and Christian Sergeant Messer were absolutely and unquestionably two different, unrelated men. The “first” Christian Messer lived in the area of Surrey County, North Carolina that later became Stokes County, in a settlement called Town Fork. He is listed in the tax lists of Surry County beginning in 1771. He appears in nearly every extant tax list for the next 25 years, as well as the 1790 federal census of Stokes. Christian Messer was also mentioned in the 1781 diary of a German preacher who baptized Christian's son at the house of William Wingfield. William Wingfield also lived in Town Fork. The preacher mentions that “Wingfield’s wife (Mary) was born a Messer,” and it is believed Christian Messer and Mary Messer Wingfield were siblings. Christian Messer appears to have moved to Tennessee by the late 1790s. He purchased land in Hawkins County, Tennessee in 1819, and wrote his will in Hawkins in 1828. In the 1786 tax list, Christian Messer is listed with two boys and four girls. In the 1790 census, he is recorded with four boys and four girls. His 1828 will divides his Hawkins land between three sons, John, Isaac, and Jacob, and mentions his “other children.“ These other children probably include Michael Messer, who lived on adjoining property in Hawkins and from whom Isaac Messer bought land, and Catherine Messer, who married John Shelton of Hawkins County, Tennessee in 1805. As the head of a Surry County household in 1771, this Christian Messer would have been born about 1750 and perhaps earlier. He died by 1831 when his will was probated in Hawkins county, Tennessee. This Christian Messer was never referred to in any records as Christian Sergeant Messer. Furthermore, Christian Messer of Surry / Stokes, North Carolina, and Hawkins, Tennessee WAS NOT the son of Capt. Robert Messer, the Regulator leader hung by Governor Tryon in 1771. (By extension Mary Messer Wingfield WAS ALSO NOT Capt. Robert Messer’s daughter.) Among other reasons this Christian COULD NOT have been Captain Robert Messer‘s child was the fact that the Captain’s son was reported to be 11 years old when his father was hung in 1771, and is always described as a “young boy.” Christian Messer of Surry / Stokes was already in his 20s in 1771, living hundreds of miles away. This Christian Messer was mistakenly and incorrectly connected to Capt. Robert Messer when, during the pre-internet days of yore, earlier researchers found references to a Christian Messer in “The Annals of Haywood County.” This book states that Christian Sergeant Messer of Haywood county, North Carolina was the young boy that stood up to Gov. Tryon before his father Capt. Robert Messer’s 1771 hanging. However, Christian Sergeant Messer of Haywood was an entirely different person than Christian Messer of Surry / Stokes. As shown by his tombstone inscription and supported by multiple census records, Christian Sergeant Messer was born about 1760/1761 the right age to be Capt. Robert Messer’s son, and also 10 years or more after the birth of the other Christian Messer. Both men appear separately in the 1790 North Carolina federal census. Christian Messer of Surry / Stokes is listed with four sons and three daughters in Stokes County, while “Serget” Messer of Rowan County is listed hundreds of miles away with one son and two daughters. It should be noted that the first Christian Messer never shows up anywhere other than Surry / Stokes and Hawkins, and the second Christian Sergeant Messer is never recorded in those counties. Furthermore, whereas the first Christian Messer was deceased by 1831 when his will was probated in Hawkins, Tennessee, Christian Sergeant Messer is still alive in 1840 in Haywood county, North Carolina where he is listed in that US federal census. Brenda Messer, the official Messer family, historian, understood this decades ago. I believe she worked out Christian Sergeant Messer’s children. From the census records it seems his sons include Frederick Messer, Thomas Messer, George Messer, and Christian Sergeant Messer Jr., as well as a John Messer and Michael Messer of Haywood who were different men than the Hawkins county sons of the first Christian Messer. The first Christian Messer’s wife was named Sarah and nicknamed Sally. This is shown by the 1781 baptism reference as well as Christian’s 1828 will. I don’t believe Brenda Messer ever found the name of Christian Sergeant Messer’s wife. She was not Jane Barnett Freeman, who married Christian Sergeant Messer, Jr., in 1835, And she was probably not named Sarah, which was the name of the wife of the other Christian. While the first Christian Messer could not have been the son of Captain Robert Messer, it seems likely that the Christian Sergeant Messer was, although I have personally never seen any absolute proof. Capt. Robert Messer is often listed as the son of James Mercer of Pennsylvania. However, I understand their Y DNA is completely different,making this impossible. Capt. Robert Messer is usually given a middle name of Johann, even though middle names were extremely rare at that time, and the German Johann, or Jan was almost always used as a first name. In terms of Capt. Robert Messer‘s wife being an Indian named Mary Ann Basket, I suppose that’s possible but I highly doubt it, especially since she is often listed as being one year old when she started having children. The above is based upon primary source documentation, rather than conjecture or the perhaps understandable human desire to connect to a “glamcestor.” It is certainly not offered to offend anyone, but to hopefully further critical thinking and fact based genealogy. M. W. Walker
