BIOGRAPHY
John Ross Somers McLernon
A longer biography for John Ross Somers McLERNON (1881-1962) is available on
my blog site, prepared in 2013.
Early life in New Zealand
John Ross Somers McLernon, known as Ross, was born in Hamilton, New Zealand, on 17 August 1881. He was the son and fourth child of Samuel McLernon and Mary Jane Somers. Samuel was a watchmaker and jeweller from Antrim in Northern Ireland who had a business in Hamilton from 1876 to 1888.
Samuel purchased and opened a watch and jewelery business in Gisborne the family moved to Gisborne in November 1888. Ross McLernon attended school in Gisborne. He was amongst the top four students in the October 1895 scholarship examinations at Gisborne High School and was awarded a scholarship.
The McLernon family moved to Napier about 1897 after Samuel McLernon purchased a Napier jewellery and watch business in August 1896. Ross McLernon worked for his father and gave his occupation as jeweller in the 1905 Napier Electoral Roll.
Canada
Ross McLernon moved to Toronto, Canada in 1903 to attend the Canadian Horological Institute, a school that would gain worldwide attention as one of the finest institutions of its kind. The Institute trained students of all ages and with varying levels of experience in the theory and practice of watch making and repair.
Ross McLernon married Edith Jane ACER, a Canadian, about 1908. The couple had two daughters and a son.
From 1908 to 1920 Ross worked as a silversmith in Montreal. In 1912 Ross was booked as a passenger, on the ill-fated Titanic from England to America, but fortunately he missed the boat. In 1921 Ross changed his career, obtaining work in with his brother-in-law's Montreal pulp and paper company, J. H. A. Acer and Co Ltd. In 1929 Ross formed Acer McLernon Paper Company Ltd with his brother-in-law John Hamilton Adams Acer, a Montreal based company that became world agents for many of the major Canadian pulp and paper companies. Ross travelled extensively for the company and was company President from 1948.
Both Edith and Ross died in Montreal, Edith in 1958 and Ross in 1962 aged 80.
The company Ross established still trades today, since 1978 as Acer, Mclernon Canada Inc. (Acer, Mclernon). David McLernon was the company President in 2020.