Once again, a letter from the Children’s Aid Society annual report caught my attention. It was just too cute not to look into further, and what an interesting story it turned into! The letter was in the 1882 CAS Annual Report. In it, young Willie Guyette wrote to Assistant Secretary of the CAS, Jared Macy. Willie had fallen out of the hay loft and had a sore arm. He had a pet squirrel. He fed chickens, led horses to water, drove hogs, watered hogs, drove cattle, watered cattle, and he chopped wood with a little axe. How could I not try to find out more about little Willie?
William Guyette was the son of Julius and Leonora Guyette. Leonora was Julius’ third wife. Julius was 67 and Leonora was 21 when they married in about 1869. Julius had been married in Canada to Ellen Leriger. They were the parents of seven children and Ellen passed away in 1851. In the 1860 census, Julius (age 51) and his two youngest daughters were living with his second wife, Hanna, who was 26. Hanna disappears from the picture by 1870 and Julius (age on census was 68?) was with his third wife, Leonora (age 22), and their first child Adele “Ida” was three months old. Julius and Leonora would go on to have two more children, William in 1874, and Marguerite in 1876. Leonora passed away two years later. Julius was 78 years old by this time. He could not care for three little ones. William was admitted to the St. Lawrence County Orphan’s Home. Ida (age 10) was placed in the home of a newspaper editor. She was listed in the 1880 census as a domestic servant. Marguerite was admitted to the St. Lawrence County Poor House on May 12, 1878. On her entry form, it says her mother was dead and her father was 78 years old and could not care for her, that he was supported by his son. Marguerite disappears after this. I was unable to find her in the Orphan’s Home or the Poor House, which were on consecutive pages in the census. She may have been lucky and been adopted by some local person. We may never know. What we do know is that neither Will nor Ida ever mentioned her, nor any of their older half siblings.
The Children’s Aid Society sent a train to Burlington Junction, Missouri, in May of 1881, and Willie was a part of that same company of children for placement. Mr. Trott found Willie a home with William Johnston and his wife. Ida was taken to Nodaway County, too, a few months later.
Ida married Thomas Henry Jones on the 11th of July, 1885, at Maryville, Missouri. She had to lie about her age, saying that she was over the age of 18, when in fact, she was barely fifteen. Thomas and Ida became the parents of seven children, with six living to adulthood. Thomas was a farmer. They lived in Cherry County, Nebraska, for several years and then moved to Canon City, Colorado. There are often clippings in the Missouri newspapers about Will Guyette visiting his sister in Nebraska or Colorado, an indication that the two stayed close. Ida passed away on the 26th of September in 1926 at the age of 56.
Will Guyette lived a wonderful life. We are missing some information about him, thanks to the burned 1890 census and a lack of newspaper coverage. Here’s what we do know. When he arrived in Missouri, he was placed in the home of William and Elizabeth Johnston. In 1900, Will Guyette was a 26-year-old farmer, renting a farm with a friend near Quitman, Missouri. On the 20th of April 1904, Will Guyette married Nelle Amanda Barr. They would have three children together, John, Mildred, and Roberta. They settled near Burlington Junction and farmed for a short time. Will soon left farming and began his business as a stock breeder and trader. He served as a member of the township board there, just the beginning of a career in local politics. In February of 1918 they moved to Tarkio, Missouri. He raised cattle, hogs and horses, and offered his fine stallions and jacks for breeding in the area.
It wasn’t long until Will became very active in the Tarkio community. In 1921 he was elected an Alderman for the North Ward of town, winning by quite a margin. In 1925, when it was time to seek reelection, the Tarkio Avalanche newspaper reported that the North Ward was “very well represented by Mr. Guyette.”
It was in May of 1925 that William Guyette was elected to the board of directors of the Tarkio Baseball Club. He continued to serve on this committee until his death. In 1939, one of the Tarkio teams was called The Guyette Oilers.
1926 brought about a new business for William, Guyette & Company Feed Store. In this store, he sold mill feed for stock as well as chick food, laying mash, and chick grit. His advertisement claimed his NuTone feed was “The Greatest Cattle Feed on the Market.” A year later, he was advertising the service of grinding flour for local residents.
William Guyette was a member of the Methodist Church of Tarkio, a steward on the official church board, and he sang in the choir.
On July 13 in 1941, William Guyette died at his Tarkio home at the age of 67. He’d suffered from a long illness that had curtailed his work.
The little boy who was so proud of his work with the horses, cows and chickens at his new home, grew to be a fine man who raised some of the finest livestock in northern Missouri. And every day at the National Orphan Train Complex, we continue to discover more wonderful stories like the story of the life of William Guyette.
