Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

“FIRST PRIZE, JERRY MEISSER” MARQUIS WHEAT

Date Range From

1937

Date Range To

1938

Materials

GLASS, PAPER, WHEAT

No. Pieces

1

Height

20.5

Diameter

9

Description

GLASS PRESERVING JAR, SEALED WITH GLASS LID AND METAL WIRE HINGE. JAR IS FILLED WITH DRIED GRAINS OF WHEAT. MANILA TAG ATTACHED TO JAR’S NECK WITH STRING. LABEL ON TAG READS “FIRST PRIZE” IN RED. BLACK TEXT ON TAG IS MACHINE-PRINTED AND HAND-WRITTEN, READING “ENTRY TAG, CLASS PRIZE LIST…21, EXHIBITOR’S AGE…7, EXHIBITOR’S GRADE…2, ARTICLE…1 QT. THRESHED WHEAT MARQUIS, EXHIBITED BY, NAME… JERRY MEISSER, SCHOOL… WARNER.” VERY GOOD CONDITION OVERALL; PAPER LABEL SLIGHTLY BENT ALONG BOTTOM EDGE.

Subjects

FOOD PROCESSING T&E

Historical Association

AGRICULTURE

DOMESTIC

History

THE COLLECTION OF OBJECTS BELONGING TO THE MEISSER FAMILY WAS DONATED BY JUDY WRIGHT, NIECE OF LOWELL MEISSER, WHO OPERATED A FARM OUTSIDE WARNER WITH HIS BROTHER ROME AS THE ‘MEISSER BROS’ FROM 1929 TO 1946. JUDY’S MOTHER WAS THE SISTER OF LOWELL’S WIFE ELINOR, AND SHE SPENT MUCH OF HER CHILDHOOD LIVING WITH THEM AND ROME MEISSER, DUE TO HER MOTHER BEING UNWELL. IN HER LATER ADULT LIFE, JUDY TOOK CARE OF “UNC” ROME AT HIS WATERTON RESIDENCE, AND BECAUSE ROME AND HIS BROTHER LOWELL DID NOT HAVE ANY LIVING DIRECT DESCENDANTS, JUDY WAS LEFT THE FAMILY BELONGINGS WHEN ROME DIED IN 2004. ACCORDING TO AN ARTICLE IN THE SEPTEMBER 17, 1938 ISSUE OF THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD, "JERRY MEISSER" WAS AWARDED THIRD PRIZE FOR HIS THRESHED MARQUIS WHEAT WHEN “WARNER AND DISTRICT HELD THEIR ANNUAL SCHOOL FAIR IN THE COMMUNITY HALL ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8. SIX SCHOOLS WERE COMPETING – WARNER CONSOLIDATED, POWELL, BUNTON, TYRELL’S LAKE, LILLIEVIEW AND WATT… THERE WERE 565 ENTRIES”. THE FOLLOWING REMEMBRANCES OF JERALD MEISSER WERE EXTRACTED FROM THE NOVEMBER 14, 2013 INTERVIEW, AS WELL AS FROM A DOCUMENT WRITTEN BY WRIGHT AT THE TIME OF THE DONATION. WRIGHT SAID: “[JERALD, LOWELL AND ELINOR’S SON] WENT TO SCHOOL DOWN [IN THE UNITED STATES] WHEN HE WAS A YOUNG BOY… WHEN HE WAS MAYBE 7 OR 8 YEARS OLD… HE REMINDED ME OF MY UNCLE LOWELL, JUST A SOFT, KIND, GENTLE PERSON… HE GOT MARRIED DOWN THERE. THAT DIDN’T WORK OUT AND HE CAME BACK. HE WOULD COME UP LOTS WITH HIS SON TO VISIT THE GRANDPARENTS… HE DID SOME FARMING FOR A WHILE… HIS DAD GIVE HIM SOME LAND… HE WAS AMAZING. THERE WAS NOTHING HE DID THAT HE WOULDN’T DO IT ALL OUT AND PERFECT.” THE FOLLOWING BRIEF FAMILY HISTORY WAS DEVELOPED WITH INFORMATION FROM ROME MEISSER’S MANUSCRIPT ‘THE MEISSER’S AND OTHER RAMBLINGS’ AND DONATIONS OF FAMILY PAPERS MADE BY WRIGHT TO THE GALT ARCHIVES. THE MEISSER FAMILY PATRIARCH, MICHAEL MEISSER, WAS BORN IN SWITZERLAND IN 1830 AND IMMIGRATED TO ALMA, WISCONSIN IN 1846. HIS SON, JOHN LUTZI MEISSER MARRIED MARIE KINDSCHI ON APRIL 30, 1898 AND THEY MOVED TO WARNER, ALBERTA TO FARM IN 1910, LOOKING FOR A DRIER CLIMATE FOR MARIE, WHO SUFFERED FROM TUBERCULOSIS. THE COUPLE HAD FIVE CHILDREN: ORMA, LOWELL, JOHN (WHO DIED AT AGE TWO OF PNEUMONIA), ROME, AND MARIE. IN 1912, MOTHER MARIE DIED IN A TUBERCULOSIS CLINIC IN SALT LAKE CITY, AND FIVE YEARS LATER FATHER JOHN DIED FROM HEAD TRAUMA SUSTAINED IN A GRAIN ELEVATOR ACCIDENT. ONE OF THE CHILDREN’S PATERNAL AUNTS, FRENA, CAME TO WARNER TO HELP THEM WITH SCHOOLING AND RUNNING THE FARM. IN 1920, ORMA MARRIED LEE TENNEY AND IN 1926 LOWELL MARRIED ELINOR TENNEY, AND THE TWO COUPLES LOOKED AFTER THE TWO YOUNGER SIBLINGS UNTIL ORMA AND LEE MOVED TO CALIFORNIA IN 1931. THE YOUNGEST SISTER, MARIE, LATER JOINED THEM WITH HER SON JIM. LOWELL AND ROME FARMED TOGETHER FROM THE SEASON FOLLOWING THEIR FATHER’S DEATH (WHEN THEY WERE 17 AND 13 YEARS OLD, RESPECTIVELY) UNTIL 1945 WHEN THEIR LAND WAS DIVIDED FOR TAX BENEFIT. ROME NEVER MARRIED, AND IN 1928 HAD A SHORT STINT IN PILOT’S TRAINING BEFORE RETURNING TO FARMING PERMANENTLY. LOWELL AND ELINOR’S SON JERALD WAS BORN IN 1929. BY 1957 THE MEISSERS RETIRED FROM FARMING AND LEASED OUT THEIR LAND, AND IN 1958 THE FAMILY BOUGHT A CABIN IN WATERTON PARK, WHERE THEY SPENT ALL FOLLOWING SUMMERS. LOWELL AND ELINOR’S SON JERALD SPLIT HIS TIME BETWEEN FARMING IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA AND VARIOUS PROJECTS IN THE UNITED STATES. HE ENROLLED IN THE CATHOLIC SEMINARY IN SPOKANE, WASHINGTON, BUT PASSED AWAY IN 1990 BEFORE HE COULD BE ORDAINED. LOWELL DIED IN 1988, ELINOR FOLLOWED IN 1992, AND ROME PASSED AWAY IN 2004. THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ABOUT THE MARQUIS WHEAT VARIETY WAS DEVELOPED FROM THE ONLINE CANADIAN ENCYCLOPEDIA PAGE ABOUT CANADIAN WHEAT DEVELOPMENT. THE DEVELOPER OF MARQUIS WHEAT, DR. CHARLES E. SAUNDERS, WAS AN AGRONOMIST AND SON OF DR. WILLIAM SAUNDERS, DIRECTOR OF THE CANADIAN EXPERIMENTAL FARMS SERVICE IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY. CHARLES SAUNDERS BEGAN BREEDING A NEW VARIETY OF WHEAT THAT HE CALLED “MARQUIS” BY CROSSING THE HARD RED CALCUTTA AND RED FIFE VARIETIES. HIS GOAL WAS TO CREATE A LINE THAT MATURED EARLIER AND WAS HEARTIER THAN RED FIFE. IN 1907, DURING TRIALS AT INDIAN HEAD, SASKATCHEWAN, MARQUIS WHEAT MATURED 7-10 DAYS EARLIER THAN RED FIFE BUT RETAINED THE LATTER’S SUPERIOR BAKING QUALITY, AND HAD A HIGH YIELD OF 41.6 BUSHELS PER ACRE. IN 1911, THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY OFFERED A $1,000 PRIZE FOR THE BEST WHEAT VARIETY IN CANADA, AND MARQUIS WHEAT WON. BY 1918 MARQUIS WAS PLANTED ON OVER 20 MILLION ACRES FROM SOUTHERN NEBRASKA TO NORTHERN SASKATCHEWAN, OCCUPYING 80-90% OF THE NORTH AMERICAN WHEAT CROP ACREAGE. THE OUTSTANDING YIELD AND HIGH BAKING QUALITY OF MARQUIS WHEAT ESTABLISHED CANADA AS THE GREATEST WHEAT EXPORTING NATION IN THE WORLD. IT HAS BEEN SHOWN THAT VIRTUALLY EVERY WHEAT VARIETY PRODUCED IN CANADA OVER THE PAST 100 YEARS TRACES BACK TO CROSSES MADE WITH MARQUIS. SEE PERMANENT FILE FOR A FULL TRANSCIPT OF THE INTERVIEW, WRITTEN DOCUMENTATION ON THE MEISSER FAMILY BY JUDY WRIGHT AND ROME MEISSER, OBITUARIES AND PHOTOGRAPHS OF FAMILY MEMBERS, AND FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT EACH ARTIFACT COMPRISING THE DONATION.

Catalogue Number

P20130004010

Acquisition Date

2013-03

Collection

Museum

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