The Callans and McClarys, by John Edward Callan - Callanworld

second wife was Lorraine.
Francis and Lorraine lived in
Italy Valley, near Naples, New
York, for most of their lives.
They had five children. The
children, and their offspring,
were: Diane Diane, Diane who first married
Larry Reed. Diane later had two
daughters by a man other than
Larry, and later had a third
daughter, Nicki, by a man
named Tom. Frank, Frank, whose first
wife was Becky. Frank had a son,
Frank Jr., by his second wife,
Tami. Debbie, Debbie, whose husband
was a man named Frank, and by
whom she had a son named
Jason.; Edna Edna Mae, Mae, who was
married twice and had no children;
and Susan, Susan, who was
married and who died in an auto
accident. She did not have any
children.
Cecilia Cecilia Messier Messier was born
on 30 Aug 1913 in Province of
Quebec, Canada, district of
Bedford. The story of Cecilia
and her husband, Eddie Byrd, is
told in the next chapter. Cecilia
married Edward Byrd, son of
Benjamin Bird and Bertha
Starks, on 14 Oct 1933 in
Burlington, Vermont. Edward
was born on 21 Apr 1908 in
Scotia, New York. He died on 9
May 1951 in Rochester, New
York. Cecilia died on 30 Nov
1987 in Orlando, Florida.
Alta Alta Alta Messier Messier Messier Leo Poirer.
They had three children: Earl,
Roland and Harold.
Irene Irene Messier Messier married
Tom LaPlante. Their children
were Mary; James, who married
Ruth Farnard and died at age 48
of cancer; and Thomas, who
died at age 33 of cancer and had
a wife named Susan. James is
buried 60 miles outside of
Orlando, Florida. Thomas lived
in a trailer park in Honeoye
Falls and is buried in Honeoye,
New York.
James and Ruth LaPlante’s
children were Brenda and
Jimmy, who both are married;
and Wayne, Jerry, Scott and
Stephen who all are single still.
Irene now lives with her
daughter Mary in Gallapilos,
Ohio. She has had six surgeries
in the past few years, all for
cancer, of the breast and other
internal organs. They can be
reached at Mary’s email,
mrum@zoomnet.net . Linda
(Lowery) Callan, sister of Al
Callan, recalls that “Aunt Irene”
used to tease Linda when she
was a small girl, saying that once
she turns 35, she would “balloon
like a blimp.” That gene is
apparently unique to Irene’s
generation.
Irene’s former daughter in
law, James’ widow Ruth Farnard,
has done a great deal of
geneaological research on the
Messier family. She has all of
Irene’s family records now. She
lives at 395 Brittany Road,
Ontario, New York and can be
reached via email at
rfarnard@roch.rr.com or
kfarnard@localnet.com.
Evelyn Evelyn Messier Messier was born
with “a wandering mind,” says
her niece, Nancy (Byrd)
Nunamaker. She never married,
and was admitted to an insane
~ 47 ~
asylum, Brandon Training
Center in Connecticut, (claim #
009-07-0991), and remained
there untl the asylum closed on
Feb. 22, 1982. She was then
placed in a residential home
where she lived until her death
about ten years later. “As she got
older she was very heavy,” Nancy
(Byrd) Nunamaker recalls. “She
was always very childlike mentally.
When Mom (Cecelia) and
Aunt Irene would go to visit her
in the sanatorium, she would see
Mom’s necklaces, and she would
say, “I want that.” They would
always give it to her.”
Catherine Catherine “Kay” “Kay” Messier
Messier
married her first cousin,
Armand, who was the son of her
grandfather Mitchell Messier’s
brother Will. Uncle Will himself
is worth a family tree volume all
by himself.
Living on a farm in
Highgate Center, Vermont, Will
Macia fathered 21 children, his
last child when he was 75. He
had 18 children with his first
wife, but only 11 lived to adulthood.
These were his five sons
Willy, Donald, Clarence,
Raymond, Armand (who married
Catherine Messier); and his
six daughters, Dorothy, Doris,
Arphia, Victoria, Peggy, and
Margaret. Perhaps not surprising
considering their lineage, many
of the remaining children were
still born, and many died in
childhood. After the 18 th child
was born, Will kicked his first
wife Margaret Machia out of the
main farm house they lived,
allowing her to live in another
The Callans and McClarys
smaller house on the farm. He
then took a second wife, Mary,
and sired three more children by
her.
Catherine and Armand had
four children, Shirley, Joe, Bill
and Carol (who later married
Jerry Spinichia). Despondent
shortly after the birth of Carol,
Armand hung himself in the
barn of the family farm. His
daughter Shirley found him.
Over the years, says Margery
Callan, Catherine “went out with
20 different men, Then there
was a guy named Joe who was
around all the time the kids were
growing up. Then she met Bill
and married him. He died a few
years ago. She had one boy by
him named Billie.” Catherine is
alive and living in Rochester with
her daughter Carol Spinichia.
Carol and Jerry had two children,
Tina and Jerry Jr.
Joseph Joseph “Little “Little Joe”
Joe”
Messier” Messier” married a woman
named Armeda. They had three
boys. The first two were Joseph
and Gary. In the late 1960s, Joe
married a henna-haird woman
named Lola.
Wilfred Wilfred Wilfred Messier Messier was
burned to death when he was
about five years old. He went to
the outhouse with a lantern and a
Sears catalog, a fire somehow
started and he was burned alive
inside. This happened when his
mother was pregnant for Evelyn,
the next child. In later years,
Cecilia once told her daughter
Nancy that “grandma’s mind
wanders because she lost her
son.”