Meston, John
John Meston is a Victoria resident of more than thirty years' standing, and his personal character and standing in the community are such that his name is always mentioned with respect and the esteem due to industry, well directed energy, integrity and generous interest in the welfare of city and society. These qualities have in fact been the most important elements in his success, for he is what may be called a self-made man and began his life without any capital except keen intelligence and unlimited capacity for labor at a trade which his early years and been spent acquiring. In the business circles of Victoria Mr. Meston is best known as having made the longest and best record as a carriage and wagon maker and blacksmith, and as having built up an establishment of this kind which in extent and excellence of workmanship has no equal in the city or province.
Mr. Meston was born in Scotland in 1849, being of thrifty and worthy Scotch Presbyterian ancestry. The most reliable traditions of the family point to France as the original home seat. The generations in Scotland go back to the learned William Meston, who was born in Midmar, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in 1688. He was a professor of philosophy in Mareschal College of Aberdeen. Having espoused the Stuart cause in the rebellion of 1715, he was appointed governor of Dunnottar Castle, and later in life he became interested in educational institutions. He died in 1745, and in 1776 a book of his poems was published at Edinburg under the title of "Poetical Works of William Meston". He has been described as a fine classical scholar, philosopher and mathematician. It is believed that the grandfather of this versatile man, the Rev. W. Meston, moved from France to Scotland in 1625, thus transferring the name and family seat to Scotland. The most frequently recurring names in the old family records are Archibald, Alexander, Charles, James, Thomas, William and John, and the various generations of the family in Scotland have had numerous members and many of them gained high social, professional and business positions.
Mr. Meston's father was Archibald, a native of Scotland, who married Miss Ann Clark, also a native of that country, and they were well-to-do farmers and esteemed members of the Presbyterian church. The father lived to the ripe old age of eighty years.
Mr. Meston is the only member of the family in British Columbia. He was educated at his home locality in Scotland, where he also learned his trade, and in 1872, when in his twenty-third year, he emigrated to Toronto. He arrived there without means other than the possession of a good trade and the intelligence and industry necessary to make it a success, and the very next day after reaching Toronto he began work as a journeyman. After remaining in Ontario two years he came out to Victoria, then went on to Moodyville, where he did the iron work for the first sawmill. He prospected and mined for a time in Cassiar, and by these enterprises made the money which enabled him to start in business on his account. He bought an interest in a shop in Victoria with Mr. James McKerson as partner and six years later bought his partner's interest. Since then he has been the sole owner of the business, and through his energy and reputation for thorough reliability has built up a very extensive business.
In 1892 he built the large brick block in which he has his works, equipped with all the latest machinery and tools, and fitted out for all work in carriage-making and general blacksmithing. Mr. Meston has built many carriages, wagons and vehicles of all kinds. For the past fourteen years he has had the agency of a large carriage manufactory in Montreal, and also handles the Deering farm machinery. His success has been worthily attained, and none can envy his position in manufacturing and business circles.
In 1886 Mr. Meston married Miss Sarah Baker, a native of Ontario, and during their happy married life of nearly twenty years three children have been born to them in Victoria, namely: John Victor, Sarah Aneta, and Joseph Charles Douglas. They have a nice home in Victoria, and it is the more enjoyable to them because it is almost entirely of their own making. Mr. Meston constructed the iron fence which surrounds the house and grounds, and all the trees and shrubs and flowers were set out by their own hands.
Outside of the large demands which his business makes upon his time and energy, Mr. Meston gives his principal attention to his church. He is an active member in the First Presbyterian church of Victoria, and for many years has been the efficient superintendent of its Sunday school. He is a member of the Woodmen of the World, but of recent years has not found time to keep up active work in that fraternity. For the welfare and progress of his church he is willing to perform all services that may devolve upon him, from ringing the bell for service to superintending the Sunday school, and his worth in the church and in business is appreciated by all who know him.
R. E. Gosnell, A History of British Columbia, (Vancouver, B. C.: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906). pp. 723-725.