Before the birth of the Association des Familles Messier Inc., there were many Messiers who were researching their origins… but each in their own corner… Few, if any, documents relate the path that led to the birth of our association.

The oldest compilation of genealogical data on the Messier family that we have traced is a handwritten document (369 pages) begun in 1915 by Adrien Messier, whose title, on the first page, is simply « Messier Family. » This compilation of data was given to us by Reine-Marie Le François (348), granddaughter of the compiler.

From his early days in the community, Brother Louis-Armand, a Marist (Armand Messier), son of Joseph and Georgina Giguère, began compiling genealogical data on the Messier family. For 40 years, he transcribed the fruits of his research into small school notebooks, which he bequeathed to his sister Simone, wife of Georges Joubert, upon his death on September 8, 1965. In the early 1970s, Simone met Gilles Messier (3) from Laval, who was already beginning to take an interest in genealogy. Simone lent him all the manuscripts she had received from her brother. These served as the basis for the book on the Messier family, « The Messiers and Their Ancestors: 700 Years of History, » which Gilles wrote in the early 2000s. A few years after Gilles gave her Brother Louis-Armand’s notebooks, Simone gave them to Réal Messier (85) because she knew that Réal had developed a passion for genealogy over the past few years, and she herself didn’t know what to do with it all. You will find Armand Messier’s biography in *La Moisson des Messier*, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 20-27.

In the 1970s, several other Messiers conducted their own research and compiled data on the family, but there is no indication that they undertook any collaborative efforts. To our knowledge, it was two men named Jean-Marie Messier (one from Beloeil and the other from Laval) who laid the first stones toward forming a Messier association… but each did so independently.

In the 1980s, Jean-Marie Messier of Beloeil established the « Michel Messier Foundation. » The honorary president was Arsène Messier of St-Louis. Initially an organizer, Jean-Marie Messier later became president. The group was holding its second sugar shack event in St-Jude. Although the letters patent had not yet been obtained at that time, the election of directors took place during the summer picnic of 1988. It also appears that the members were informed at that time that an association had existed for 10 years, bringing together the descendants of Jacques Messier, and whose president was Jean-Marie Messier of Laval. Although we do not have a copy of the charter of the « Michel Messier Foundation, » it appears that it was established in 1988. On May 24, 1989, Jean-Marie Messier of Beloeil passed away, and no one replaced him as head of the Foundation. Jean-Marie, of Beloeil, and his uncle Arsène, of St-Louis de Richelieu, are descendants of Zacharie/Azarie Messier and Catherine Lamoureux. The main activity organized by this group was the annual gathering at the sugar shack in St-Jude. These gatherings still take place and were organized successively from 1988 to 2014 by three descendants of Zacharie/Azarie Messier.

Jean-Marie Messier de Laval, son of Alphonse and Antoinette Yon, founded a philatelic club and developed an interest in genealogy, following in the footsteps of his mother and grandfather, Georges Yon, influential members of the French Canadian Genealogical Society of Montreal. Upon his retirement in 1981, Jean-Marie devoted himself full-time to genealogy. He became a legend at the courthouses, and the National Archives of Quebec and Ottawa took an interest in the Messier family and several other ancestral families.

Although rumors circulated that a foundation bringing together the descendants of Jacques Messier had existed for several years, it wasn’t until the second half of the 1980s that Jean-Marie Messier (1) met Gilles Messier (3) at the Laval Philatelic Club, a shared passion. After a few meetings, they discovered they had another passion in common: genealogy. Jean-Marie quickly shared with Gilles his desire to form a family association to unite all the Messiers, since he was a descendant of Jacques and Gilles, a descendant of Michel. History doesn’t say whether Jean-Marie (1) was aware of the steps taken by the other Jean-Marie (from Beloeil) to form an association… If so, perhaps he didn’t want to be outmaneuvered by his namesake… it seems that it was at that point that he decided to take the necessary steps to obtain the letters patent for our association. Counting on the support of Gilles (3) and after convincing six other Messiers (Pierre (2), Jean-Claude (4), Jean-Jacques (5), Luc (6), Suzanne (7) and Gérald (8)) to his cause, Jean-Marie Messier completed the “Application for Incorporation and Memorandum of Agreements” which he submitted to the Inspector General of Financial Institutions. This body issued the “Letters Patent” on February 21, 1989, incorporating the applicants under the corporate name “Association des Familles Messier inc.” On this occasion, the first meeting was held at the National Archives in Montreal. Jean-Marie was appointed president, Jean-Claude, 1st vice-president, Suzanne, 2nd vice-president, Pierre, secretary, Gilles, treasurer, Jean-Jacques, archivist, and Luc, administrator. Other new members were appointed administrators and regional directors. Subsequently, at least four other meetings were held during the first year, in L’Ange-Gardien, St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Bedford, and Granby. The goals of these meetings were to raise awareness of the organization and to recruit new members.

To continue this story, which has been unfolding for 25 years, I invite you to browse through all the issues of La Moisson des Messier published to date. In turn, the various editors have sought to report as faithfully as possible the actions and activities of the members of the Association des Familles Messier inc.