Alexander Peter Ayotte was born in Canada in 1835. His parents, Alexis and
Emelie (Lizotte) Ayotte both died at a young age, leaving their children
orphaned. Alex was taken in by his uncle, Pierre Ayotte, who took his family to
Vermont to live. In 1850 Pierre was living in Pawlet, Vermont, and Alex was in
Wells working on a farm. In 1858 he married Caroline Woods of Wells. In 1860
their first child, Jessie, was born.
At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Alex was working as a Blacksmith in
Pawlet . He wanted to enlist immediately, but did not want to leave eighteen
year old Caroline and their small baby alone. Therefore, he moved his family
back to Wells, where he felt they would be safe and well cared for by Caroline's
parents. He said good bye to his young wife and baby, and went across the state
line into Troy, New York, where he enlisted for a two year period in the 2nd
Regiment of the New York Infantry.
During the war, his experience as a blacksmith served him well. He was
assigned to detached duty as a blacksmith in the Quartermaster Department at
Fort Monroe, Virginia. However, just one month later he was listed as sick.
After several days he was back on duty, but must not have been completely well.
In May, 1862, he was discharged on a surgeon's certificate of physical
disability, since he was suffering from nephritic disease. He had not
experienced any active duty during the year he was enrolled.
Back home in Wells, he was reunited with his family, after an absence of just
a year. Since his health was poor, perhaps he moved in with his in-laws, where
his wife was already living. In January, 1864, Caroline gave birth to a second
daughter, Effie Caroline. By now Alex’s health had improved, and he again got
the itch to return to the war. When Effie was a month old, he left behind his
twenty one year old wife and two small children, and re-enlisted, this time in
the 93rd Regiment at Albany.
This time around, Alex saw plenty of action. He fought in one of the major
battles of the war --the Battle of the Wilderness-- and was wounded at Brandy
Station. He was sent to Mower General Hospital in Philadelphia to recover from
gun shot wounds. He remained in the hospital for four months, but the only
wounds mentioned in his service record were wounds to the hand. It is hard to
imagine hand wounds requiring four months to heal. One wonders if his health was
again poor.
He returned to his regiment upon discharge from the hospital, but just five
days later he was wounded again, this time at Poplar Grove, Virginia. He was
hospitalized at Fairfax Seminary, Virginia. His certificate of discharge
describes the loss of little and middle fingers of left hand, and crippling of
the remaining fingers. He also had “pthisis pulmonalis” (Tuberculosis of the
lungs.) He never returned to his Regiment again. On April 11, 1865, he was
permanently discharged. But General Lee had surrendered on April 10, so the war
was over.
A little over a year after returning to Wells, Alex's only son, Leon Sykes,
was born. By this time Alex supposedly had his own carriage factory, according
to family tradition. But no evidence of this has ever been discovered. In
the 1870 census Alex is listed as a blacksmith, with $1,000 worth of property.
His wife's parents were living with them at this time. Alex's health was poor,
and apparently his wife and eldest daughter were not well. Caroline died in 1876
at the age of thirty three from cancer, and Jessie died in 1879 from
Tuberculosis, only eighteen years old. They are both buried in the Wells
Cemetery.
Alex was now alone with a fifteen year old daughter and thirteen year old
son. His health had not improved, and he finally decided to accept the advice of
his good friend and commanding officer from the army, Major Scobey, who had
tried to convince him that the climate in the west would be much better for his
health. Major Scobey was living in north eastern Montana, and offered to secure
a position there for Alex. After much deliberation, Alex decided to make the
move. At this time his wife's cousin, Georgiana (Jenny) Brown, had come to Wells
from Park Ridge, Illinois, to visit relatives. Jenny's mother, Caroline
Goodspeed, was the sister of Minerva Goodspeed, Alex's mother-in-law. There were
many Goodspeed relatives in Wells to visit, including her cousin’s widower,
Alex Ayotte. He was sixteen years older than she, but there must have been an
attraction between them. They agreed to get married after he got
settled in Montana, and Jenny accompanied him on his trip as far as Park Ridge.
Alex and his two children continued the journey to "The West,"
settling at Fort Buford, Dakota Territory. Fort Buford was a Military
Reservation, 30 miles square. Half of it lay in Montana Territory, and the other
half in Dakota Territory. It was located on the left bank of the Missouri River,
near the mouth of the Yellowstone. It served more as a glorified sherriff's
office, riding herd on renegade Indians. Alex worked as a blacksmith with the
Quartermaster Department, caring for the Cavalry.
Jenny was the daughter of Asahel and Caroline (Goodspeed) Brown. At age
thirty, Jenny was the last of the Brown girls to marry. She inherited a ready
made family, with two teen age children. Alex took his new bride back to Buford
with him, and together they established the Fort Buford Hotel, later known as
"Hotel de Ayott". Jenny and Effie ran the hotel, while Alex performed
his duties as Deputy United States Marshall, worked as a blacksmith, and
operated the cable ferry across the river. Life was much cruder here than it had
been in Vermont or Illinois, but this Eastern family brought a touch of class to
the west which truly impressed the local people. One of their frequent visitors
was William W. Mabee, editor of the Glendive Times. He came on the pretext of
surveying the area to write an article for the paper, but he was obviously
smitten with the charms of Effie, who by now was a beautiful 18 year old
socialite. It wasn’t long before they were married at her Alex's home in
Buford. That was just the beginning of Mr. Mabee’s problems!
In 1883 started building a ranch just south of the reservation. When
completed, he was said to have the best lot of buildings on the road from
Glendive to Buford. He had a large and comfortable two story residence of eight
rooms in the lower story, being two log cabins joined by a huge kitchen between
them. To complete the ranch there was a stable, a corral, two wells, a
blacksmith shop, storeroom, ice house, and a building each for poultry, swine
and cattle. Eventually this roadhouse became known as the Half Way House, being
a convenient stopping place for travelers on the road from Glendive to Buford.
Frequent covered wagon caravans could be seen in the barnyard, each containing a
complete family with all their earthly possessions, including their cows and
horses. It became a very popular spot, especially because of the dance hall on
the second story. Many an early gathering was held there. The area was named
Ridgelawn by Jenny Ayotte, because of the ridge it lay on, and the beautiful
lawn around the ranch.
Alex continued to work as Deputy US Marshall, being known as the "Terror
of all evil-doers," and operated his ranch in the lower Yellowstone Valley.
In August, 1885, Jenny gave birth to their first daughter. Having lost her first
child due to the lack of medical care in the area, she went back home to Park
Ridge to give birth to Ellen Lida. The baby was delivered by Jenny’s
half-sister, Ellie Whitcomb. Ellen was to grow up with her father’s grand
daughter, Jessie, Effie’s child, who was just six months younger than her.
This coincidence would make them more like sisters than niece and aunt as they
were growing up.
In November of this same year Alex filed a preemption claim for the 160 acres
on which he was living and farming, and received a patent for it. His homestead
was finally official. His log roadhouse was now known far and wide by hunters,
cowboys and newcomers in the area. He provided lodging, meals and whiskey to
anyone who came by. Since this was an official stage stop, there was quite a bit
of business. Alex continued as deputy Marshall, frequently apprehending
criminals and taking them to Miles City by stage coach.
When Jennie’s mother died back in Park Ridge, she was not aware of her
death for some time. The letter of notification sent to them was not
received for many months. All mail for the area was sent to Glendive, and from
there was brought down the valley by "way-mail". Anyone coming down
the valley would take the mail as far as they were going, and there it would sit
until someone else picked it up and carried it farther. Jenny was understandably
upset when she learned her mother had died months ago. They decided it was high
time they had a Post Office, so they circulated a petition to establish a Post
Office in Ridgelawn and everyone signed it. However, this totaled only eight
signatures, which they did not figure to be enough. But one day a couple wagon
loads of men stopped at the road house for a meal, and all thirty men signed the
petition. Soon there was a post office in Ridgelawn. Alex and Jenny were the
postmasters, and had the post office in their home.
Alex and Jenny's second child, Ethel Viva, was born in 1888. For this birth
Jenny traveled to Lansing, Iowa, where Effie Mabee was residing. Ethel was born
in Effie's home. After Jenny returned to Ridgelawn with the new baby and two
year old Ellen, Alex moved his family to the Poplar Creek area on the edge of
the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. The winter of 1886/7 had been devastating for
the Eastern Montana cattle ranchers, and Alex lost most of his stock. He decided
to accept an offer of the position of Indian Agent at Fort Peck from Major
Scobey. Here his family lived along with the Indians, having an Indian squaw as
nurse maid for the children. Ellen recalled in later years seeing horse
thieves hanged on the Reservation. Leon was a real cowboy by now, and frequently
pulled his little sister, Ellen, up on his horse with him, galloping off to the
horror of his step mother. It was an exciting life for the little girls.
Alex worked at the Poplar Creek Indian Agency for several years. Then
his health worsened, and in August, 1891, it became necessary to go back to Park
Ridge for medical help. Jenny, also a shrewd business woman like her mother, had
bought a piece of property in the center of Park Ridge in 1889, and the Ayotte's
moved into the house upon their return from Montana. The house, built in the
early 1840's, was the second house built in Park Ridge, and Jenny had been
interested in buying the property for years. It stood where the Citizens State
Bank now stands. They were living in this house when Alex died at Presbyterian
Hospital on October 30, 1892. He was buried at Park Ridge Cemetery. His obituary
states simply: "AYOTTE: At Presbyterian Hospital, Oct. 30, A.P. Ayotte.
Funeral at Park Ridge Congregational Church, Nov. 1 at 2p.m." His death
certificate states the cause of death was intestinal obstruction.
Thus ended the life of another hardy pioneer, a life that spanned a little
over a half century, and had seen many interesting experiences. He experienced
the hardships of the itinerant farmer's life in Canada; the tragedy of being
orphaned at a young age; the excitement of emigrating to another country and
working hard as he came of age in Vermont; the satisfaction of marrying and
raising a family and fighting for his country; and the pain of injury and
illness; the grief of loosing his wife and daughter; the challenge of starting
over at age 45 with a new wife in an unsettled part of the country. He met his
challenges well. pdarling@bmt.net
