Louisa Merry

(AFN: 1RND-J8Q)

BIRTH: NSW BDM Birth Registration No. 11083/1870 Louisa Most. Parents' names: Henry & Henrietta Most.

Louisa was a first generation Australian, as both her parents were born in Germany. Her father was Henry Most, a German immigrant. The surname 'Moist' or 'Moest' is of German origin. It is a metonymic occupation name for a producer or seller of must (i.e. unfermented grape juice) and is derived from the Latin 'Mustum vinum' which means young wine or fresh wine.

Louisa was born at Myall Creek near Ashford, NSW. As a child, she lived with her family at 'Rose Cottage', situated about one and a half miles along the Bonshaw Road leading from Ashford.

Louisa's father, Henry Most, worked as head shepherd for Mrs Fitzgerald on the old 'Egerton Station' (the property which Fred Voss would eventually buy and give to his son, Harry Voss, and Louisa's daughter, Elsie, when they got married.)

Louisa was illiterate, having rarely, or never, been to school. When Louisa grew up and had children, her daughter, Elsie, used to read and write her letters for her. In 1887, Louisa's father, Henry Most, signed a petition in a bid for a better school. Later, some sort of classes were running on the old 'Egerton Station', for it is known that our ancestor, Harry Frederick Voss born 1888, first started school there.

When Louisa was about 14 years old, she went to work on the old 'Egerton Station' a a paid domestic servant to the mistress, Mrs Fitzgerald ('old Mrs Fitz'). In those days, Aboriginal people, displaced off their tribal lands, kept coming back to 'Egerton Station', stealing sheep and food. In old Mrs Fitz's time, they were shot out of trees, and Ethel Voss (Louisa's granddaughter), knew of a place where a whole lot of Aboriginal people were buried.

MARRIAGE: Louisa married Arthur Merry. Facts point to he and his brother, Bill Merry, also having worked on 'Egerton Station' at the time. Then Arthur built a home, which they named 'Merrydale', on a property situated on the Bonshaw Road, leading from Ashford. The boundary line of 'Merrydale' adjoined with Louisa's parents' property, 'Rose Cottage'.

Between the two homes, across the road, stood a small mountainous formation called 'The Sugarloaf', (about one and a half miles from Ashford along the Bonshaw Road).

Arthur built the house himself. He was said to have modelled it upon the plan of the old home in which he used to live with his parents back in England. He built pathways around the house, of hardened ant-bed, bordered by rose gardens edged with white-painted rocks. He put in rows of berry bushes instead of fences. The berry bushes grew thickly together and looked like the hedgerows in England. For a front door step, Arthur set in a massive log. Arthur also put in a windmill and an automatic sprinkler system to water the market garden, which was the couple's mainstay.

Louisa and Arthur also grew wine grapes and kept fowls, goats and sheep. They used to let the goats and sheep run about all over 'The Sugarloaf' across the road, to feed. Ethel Voss (one of Louisa's granddaughters) used to see Granny Merry's goats still doing this yeras later, and she said that they looked funny, standing all upon the little mountain.

Arthur ran a wine shanty (an early hotel) from the side of the house. This was known as 'Merry's Wine Shop'. Lou and Arthur made the wine themselves.

After Arthur's death, Cox the new owner of 'Merrydale' wanted the widowed Louisa to marry him. But after Arthur died, Louisa swore that she would never marry another man.

Then Louisa and the children kept the market garden and the animals going, in order to earn a living (there being no social security in those days). Arthur's automatic watering system was a godsend, without it they could not have managed. Louisa paid a hired man to plough the paddocks when it was necessary. In those days, this meant plodding along behind the drafthorses as they pulled the plough through the furrows, guiding them with the traces over the man's body as he pushed the plough into the ground.

When Louisa's children grew up and when courting, they held dances on the long verandah at 'Merrydale' as was the custom in those times.

Elsie continued to visit her mother, Louisa, at 'Merrydale' after she herself was married to Henry Voss, and read and wrote Louisa's correspondence for her.

Ethel (Elsie's daughter) spoke of a special occasion which she remembered well - when she went over to 'Merrydale' with her mother, father and sisters. Ethel said that she must have been about four or five years old at the time. The occasion was a predicted total eclipse of the sun. Ethel remembered how everybody had a piece of smoked glass through which to observe the eclipse, being told that it was dangerous to look at the sun with the naked eye.

Ethel said that many people around Ashford were uneducated and therefore they did not believe that a total eclipse would happen. The man whom Louisa had hired to plough the paddock didn't believe - he went right on ploughing, but had to stop when it became dark. Ethel said that Granny Merry's (Louisa's) fowls went to roost when everything darkened, and then got up again when the sun shone. This marvellous event happened at about 3.30pm. It must have been 1920 or 1921.

Ethel said that they loved going over to Granny Merry's and 'Merrydale'. She said that the home had a large kitchen built separately from the house with a big fireplace in it - and how nice it was to be in there on a cold day. Ethel gave a description of her Granny Merry as being "short, wide and stubby". She greatly resembled her daughter, Elsie, in facial features, but not in height. Granny Merry wore glasses.

When Louisa grew old, her son Len built her a house beside Frazer's Creek Bridge on the edge of Ashford. Louisa daughter Elsie, gave the place it's name "Sweet Home". Louisa lived at Sweet Home with her son and daughter, Len and Florrie, and Florrie's son, Cedric. Ethel said that when she and her sisters grew up, they used to stop in at Granny Merry's house near the bridge to press their evening dresses, on the way to dances in Ashford.

Ethel said that her grandmother, Louisa, had been a very strong woman. She said that she had always been particular about her person and dress, even when she worked in the market garden, and that she had always liked to 'look pretty'.

Louisa died aged 75 years, on the verandah of 'Sweet Home'. Ethel remembered that Louisa and those of the family who were with her that day were all sitting around, talking. Louisa died while they were talking, so suddenly and quietly while sitting in her chair, that no-one could believe that she was dead, they thought she was just sleeping. Louisa is buried in Ashford cemetery.

DEATH: NSW BDM Death Registration No. 9613/1944 Louisa Merry. Parents' names: Henry & Henrietta Most.