Margaret Isabelle (Belle/Bell) Guyette

Margaret Isabelle (Belle/Bell) Guyette, daughter of Michel Goyette and Lenora Jette, was born on 7 May 1861 in Kankakee, Illinois and died on 5 Apr 1950 in San Francisco, CA at age 88.

General Notes: Margaret Isabelle Guyette

Belle Guyette: Attested as such in the 1920 federal census.

Belle I. Guyette: Attested as such in the 1910 federal census.

Her birth: her 1920 federal census entry gives her place of birth as Ohio, contrary to material I have from elsewhere. Her 1880 census entry supports an Illinois birth.

Considerable information on Belle Guyette can be found in Barbara J. Harvey’s "A Journey Westward: The Guyette and Gregg Families." This book includes eye-witness descriptions of Belle, and an obituary, cited without source, which notes that Belle was "a charter member of the Royal Neighbors Hope Camp at St. Marys. Recently she was presented a fifty-year pin."

As a child she lived in Douglas, Iroquois County, Indiana, before the family moved to Kansas in 1870. They settled in Jackson County, where she was one of the students in the early days of St. Marys Mission School. She was married to William Quinlan before she turned sixteen.

1880: She appears as M. Belle in William Quinlan’s 1880 federal census entry. She is described as keeping house. Her birth-place is given as Illinois, that of both parents Canada.

1900: After her husband died, Belle appeared in the 1900 Kansas census as head of the family, taking care of six children: Elinor, Isabelle, Thomas, Edward, Margarette and James. This census entry gives her birth place as Illinois, that of her father New York, and that of her mother, French Canada.

Colette Quinlan reports that "Belle was widowed early and left alone to raise a bunch of rowdy boys. She gradually sold off the farm in order to feed her growing boys. Belle was known to enjoy a glass of wine, a rare thing in Kansas of that day."

1903: The September 4, 1903 issue of the St. Marys Journal mentions her in passing: "Miss Isabel Quinlan returned to Topeka Sunday after a visit with her mother" (Belle).

1910 and 1920: appears with her son’s family in the federal census records for Kansas.

c. 1936: She attended the wedding of her grandson Harold Edward Quinlan to Leona Jane Neer in San Francisco, and her signature is preserved in the guest registry.

Her death: She died in San Francisco at her son Edward’s home, but was buried at Mt. Calvary Cemetery, St. Marys, Kansas, next to her husband and near her parents, Michael and Lenora.

Margaret married William Quinlan on 28 Feb 1876 in Shawnee County, Kansas.