MORRISSY, JOHN VERIKER (1854-1924)

MORRISSY, JOHN VERIKER, businessman, MLA, and MP, b. Newcastle, 13 Aug 1854 (bap. 29 Oct 1854, 10 wks.), s/o Patrick Morrissy and Rose Farrell; m. 1879, Joanna Agnes Dunn, d/o Peter Dunn and Bridget Keating of Chatham, both natives of Ireland; d. Chatham, 31 Jul 1924.

John Morrissy's father, a native of Mullinahone, Co. Tipperary, Ireland, was a saddler in Newcastle.

After studying at the Newcastle Grammar School under John Hardie, Morrissy became a livery stable operator. Later he owned a furniture store. In 1895 he had sleighs, buggies, and farm implements for sale, as well as furniture. In 1921 his business, which then had outlets in Newcastle, Caraquet and Dalhousie, was incorporated as the John Morrissy Furniture Co. Ltd.

As a young man, Morrissy was a member of the Newcastle Fire Company, and he was elected captain of the company in 1879. In 1880-81 he acted as deputy sheriff of the county. In 1882 and 1883 he sat on the County Council. Between 1885 and 1897 he was veterinary surgeon of the 12th Field Battery of militia in Newcastle. In 1887 he was successful in the by-election held to fill the seat in the House of Assembly vacated by William A. Park, and he sat as a Liberal member for three years. He was unsuccessful in the elections of 1890, 1892, and 1895.

Morrissy was one of the eight candidates to be elected to the first Newcastle Town Council in 1899, but he was voted out in 1900, along with all the others. He captured a provincial seat again in 1903. He defeated his opponent in two subsequent provincial elections and retained the seat until 1917. In 1908 he was appointed minister and chief commissioner of public works in the administration of Premier John Douglas Hazen. He kept the portfolio under Premiers James K. Flemming and George J. Clarke, until his resignation from Clarke's cabinet in 1916.

As commissioner of public works during the time automobiles were being introduced into the province, Morrissy played an important part in the building of highways and bridges, including the Morrissy Bridge; that is, the steel draw bridge at Newcastle which was named in his honor. The opening of this half-mile, half-million dollar bridge on 12 November 1914 was jubilantly celebrated on the Miramichi, and the public works minister was given full credit for having had it built. A saying of the time was that Morrissy built the Newcastle bridge first and then told the government about it. While this was a joke, the fact is that one of Premier Clarke's pretexts for demanding Morrissy's resignation in 1916 was that he was in the habit of acting without adequate consultation. The real reason for the premier's action, however, was that Morrissy's deputy had been dismissed for corruption and a finger of suspicion was pointing in the minister's direction.

Morrissy was a losing Liberal candidate in the federal elections of 1896, 1900, and 1917, but in the election of 1921 he took the Northumberland seat by a margin of 1,400 votes over the Conservative Edward A. McCurdy. The Ottawa Journal wrote admiringly of his remarkable political career and colorful traits of character, but he did not assume an active role in Parliament. "Our MP looks lonesome," reported James L. Stewart from Ottawa in 1922. "He takes no part in the business, has nothing whatever to do, and would be lonely indeed if his amiable and lively wife were not with him."

Morrissy was president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in 1906. In the same year, he financed the start-up of the North Shore Leader, as a Newcastle newspaper that would be supportive of Liberal political interests. He had a reputation for being fair-minded, at the same time as he was committed to Catholic-Irish-Liberal principles. If an editorial which appeared in the politically-Conservative World in 1912 is to be given credence, however, his speech sometimes bordered on the barbarous. The paper accused him of becoming increasingly abusive in his electioneering as he grew "older and richer," railing about "thieves, swindlers, pups, Indians, dive-keepers, etc." When he spoke at Nelson that year many were said to have been "dumbfounded by the coarseness and vileness of his references to gentlemen ...opposed to him politically." When he had to resign the public works portfolio in 1916 The World accused him of making "impolite and boorish references in the House and elsewhere to other members of the Government and its supporters."

Morrissy was still the MP for Northumberland when his death occurred in 1924 at the Hotel Dieu Hospital in Chatham, a few days before his seventieth birthday. He was survived by his wife, Joanna A. Dunn, a daughter, and two sons, one of whom was Charles J. Morrissy. He was predeceased by several accomplished brothers, including William P. Morrissy, a physician in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Patrick F. Morrissy, BA, a teacher in Newcastle and elsewhere in northern New Brunswick for forty-five years.