The Callans and McClarys, by John Edward Callan - Callanworld

CHAPTER 11
The Messier-Byrd Family
Margery Helene Byrd,
mother of Al Callan, is descended
from French Canadian
Indians. Her family line has
been traced to the early 19 th
Century, with most ancestors
and their descendants living in
and around Quebec.
Family lore has it that a
Msr. Henri Lambert, Margery’s
Great, Great Grandfather, was a
French trapper of Canada whose
first wife was a French Countess.
He is said to have married her
during a trip to Europe. Upon
returning to Canada, he married
an Indian princess. A descendant,
Margery’s Aunt Irene
(Messier) LaPlante, recalls being
told as a child that the princess
was either an Iroquois or a
Blackfoot Indian. Lambert’s
Indian father-in-law nicknamed
him “Green Wood,” for reasons
that have been lost to history.
For this reason, he was sometimes
referred to in the family,
and now translated from the
French, as “Lambert, who calls
himself Greenwood,” or just,
“Lambert said Greenwood.”
After his marriage, Lambert
dropped his French name,
calling himself just Greenwood
the rest of his days. He passed
the name to a son he had with
Josephine, whom they named
“Charles Greenwood.” This was
Margery’s Great Grandfather on
her mother’s side. They had two
other sons. The first was
Chester, who became a copper
miner in Beloit, Wisconsin.
Chester has three daughters:
Margaret, Cella (who died of
tuberculosis), and Louise. The
other son was a boy named Ira.
He lived in Hartford, Connecticut,
and farmed spruce gum.
When Charles reached
adulthood, he sometimes used
the Greenwood family name,
sometimes Lambert, and sometimes,
Lambert-Greenwood.
Charles married a Canadian
woman, Lucy Martel, who
sometimes went by “Lucy “Martin,”
the anglicized version of
her name. Lucy and Charles had
several children.
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The most noteworthy for
our lineage was a daughter
named Josephine Elizabeth,
born in 1889. She was known as
Josephine Elizabeth “Lambert
said Greenwood.” as a child, but
as an adult, went by the name
“Libbie Greenwood.” She
married Joseph Messier (1883-
1945).Together, the couple had
10 children, including Cecilia,
who became the mother of
Margery Byrd Callan, and who
in turn was the mother of Albert
“Al” Callan. Her story is in the
next chapter.
Joseph Messier was the son
of Mitchell Macia and Flora
Lange. The names of Mitchell
and Flora are known only by
their appearance on Joseph’s
marriage license. Joseph was
married Feb.15, 1905, when he
was 22. The license shows the
bride as “Libbie Greenwood,
Age 16, born in Sheldon, VT.”
The license, in the possession
of Nancy (Byrd)
Nunamaker, shows their residence
as East Highgate, Vermont,
and says Joseph’s occupation
was “grinder.” The groom’s
father is listed as Mitchell
“Macia,” and his birthplace was
“Cananda.” It says the mother
was Flora Lange, birthplace,
Highgate. The ceremony was
officiated by J Porquette, Roman
Catholic Clergyman. The license
seal shows “Town: Highgate,
VT, “ and is signed, “CR Lyon,
town clerk.”
What is known about the
earlier Messiers is that the name
was Anglicized by some of
The Callans and McClarys
Joseph’s siblings, but not all. The
original spelling was Machia,
pronounced meh-SHAY-a.
While some, including Joseph,
his brothers Adlor and Fred, and
Joseph’s children Cecilia and
Francis (Uncle Fran), pronounced
it “MESS-ee-er.
Joseph’s son Joe, and Joseph’s
brother Will (see below) always
used the original spelling of
Machia and the French
pronounciation of meh-SHAY.
Joseph Messier Senior was
a quarry worker whose profession
was cutting and grinding
stone. He once was injured in an
explosion at the quarry and had
a metal plate in his head as a
result.
Henri Lambert and his
Indian bride had the following
children:
Elizabeth Elizabeth “Libbie” “Libbie” Green- Green- Green- Green-
wood wood (Messier) (Messier) (Brown), (Brown), who
later became mother of Cecilia
Messier.
Angie Angie and and Mathilda Mathilda, Mathilda who
were put in a Boston orphanage
for reasons unknown at this time.
Mable, Mable, who married Ernest
Monette. Mable had seven
children, 27 grand children and
28 grandchildren.
Lena Lena, Lena who had two children,
Margaret and Laurie.
Virginia, Virginia, Virginia, whose first hus-
band was Walter Osborn, a U.S.
Army officer. They had three
children, including a daughter,
Arlene. Her second husband was
Layman May. They lived in
Miami, Florida in their later
years in the early 1970s. They
lived in a trailer park at Tamiami