140 West Fort St. Residence of James Frederick Joy

The distinction of having been the prime factor in the building of more than sixteen hundred miles of railroad in Michigan alone is of itself sufficient to make the name of James F. Joy one of the most significant in the story of this state. From 1836 until his death in 1896, Mr. Joy was a resident of the city of Detroit. Beginning his career there as a struggling young attorney, he rose to be one of the foremost business men of the United States, a recognized authority on finance, and one of the ablest railroad managers of the middle west. His achievements both in his profession and in practical affairs is remarkable. With his great executive ability he combined attributes of character which marked him as one of the most distinguished of Michigan's citizens. It has been said of him that he was too honest to be politic, too conscientious to be sycophantic and that his practice of all times telling the truth often made enemies of small-minded men, but brought him the friendship, never violated, of the greatest individuals of his time.

James Frederick Joy was born at Durham. New Hampshire, December 2, 1810, a son of James and Sarah (Pickering) Joy. His father was a blacksmith by trade, and at Durham manufactured scythes and also engaged in ship building. The first ancestor of the name was Thomas Joy, who left England about 1632, locating at Boston. The town records show him to have been a landholder at Boston in 1636. James Joy, the father, was a man of strong character, of much enterprise and originality, was a Federalist in politics, a Calvinist in religion, and a leader in both religious and civil life in his community. His character and example were influential in the lives of his children, and from him the great railroad builder and lawyer inherited some of his best native traits. The common schools of New England introduced James Frederick Toy to a knowledge of life, and he completed his education in an academy, a short distance from his home. He then took up teaching and with some assistance from his father finally entered upon a collegiate course, graduating at the head of his class at Dartmouth College, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. From Dartmouth he went to Harvard College, and took up the study of law. His finances did not allow him to continue until graduation, and he supplemented his income by teaching in the academy at Pittfield, Massachusetts, and for a year as a tutor in Dartmouth College. Resuming his studies at Harvard, he completed the course within a year and was admitted to the bar at Boston.

In September, 1836, Mr. Joy arrived at Detroit, and entered the law office of Hon. Augustus S. "Porter, later United States senator from Michigan. In 1837 he opened a law office of his own, and became associated in practice with George F. Porter, who had a large acquaintance with prominent moneyed interests in this state and elsewhere. Mr. Joy took a front rank as an able attorney, and in a few years his professional and business ability were directed into the channels where he made his greatest success. During the decades of the thirties and forties, Michigan, like many other states had entered upon a great scheme for internal improvements, and a part of the system was the construction of a railroad line across the southern half of the state. In 1846, the state treasury had become bankrupt through the attempt to complete and manage this railroad and undertakings of a similar character, and the result of this disastrous experience was that the state finally sold what was then called the Michigan Central Railroad to a private corporation. In the interests of this corporation Mr. Joy framed the charter, organized the company, and induced capitalists to embark in the enterprise. The new company undertook to extend the road to Chicago, and in the litigation connected therewith Mr. Joy was busily engaged and from that time forward gradually made railway law his specialty, and in his time had no superior as a railway attorney in the entire country. From serving as legal adviser of railroads he was gradually drawn into the management and became prominent in extending railway connections and new constructions, occupying places of executive control among the new lines. The last important case in which Mr. Joy appeared as leading counsel and advocate was that of ejectment of George C. Bates against the Michigan Central and Illinois Central Railroad Companies in the United States Circuit Court. The case involved the title of the two companies to the station grounds at Chicago — property valued at that time at more than two million dollars. The arguments of Mr. Joy. in this trial have been models for attorneys ever since, and it was his successful conduct of the litigation that brought to a climax a career as counsel and attorney which placed Mr. Joy among the greatest of his class during the generation. The record of the late James F. Joy as a railroad builder and organizer introduces many of the best known transportation systems in the middle west. He organized the company which constructed the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy at a cost of sixty million dollars, and before any of the construction work was begun he made a trip on foot over the proposed route.

For many years he was president of the corporation and under his direction the road was extended to both Quincy and Omaha. The railroad from Kansas City to the Indian Territory was another enterprise projected by him, and it was finished along the route he indicated. Mr. Joy also was chiefly instrumental in constructing the first bridge across the Missouri River at Kansas City, thus giving great impetus to the development of that community. About 1850 Mr. Joy became interested with . J. W. Brooks, and they made the contract for completing the construction of the Sault Ste. Marie Canal. Within two years the canal was completed much to the benefit of the navigation interests of the inland seas. For many years Mr. Joy had been general counsel for the Michigan Central Railroad, and in 1867 became its president. In that office he superintended the rebuilding of the line, and the new equipment of every department, and it was largely owing to his effective labors that the Michigan Central came to rank as one of the leading trunk lines between the east and middle west. During his presidency the road was double- tracked over a greater part of the distance; and the old style rails were replaced with steel rails which cost one hundred and thirty dollars ($130.00) in gold per ton in England. Mr. Joy promoted and finally secured control of the Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw Railroad, which was built from Jackson to Saginaw and from the latter place to Mackinaw. He was also instrumental in the construction of the line from Jackson to Grand Rapids, both of these roads now being parts of the Michigan Central System. He built the Detroit & Bay City, and the Detroit, Lansing & Northern Railroad, also the Michigan Central's Air Line from Jackson to Niles, the Kalamazoo & South Haven, and the Chicago and West Michigan.

During the early seventies, Mr. Joy became interested in a railroad projected to run along the west bank of the Mississippi River from Dubuque, Iowa, to a point opposite La Crosse, Wisconsin, and the line completed as the result of his efforts is now a part of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul System. His work was an important factor in securing to Detroit its connection with the Wabash Railroad, and in the planning and establishment of adequate station facilities at Detroit. With other influential Detroit capitalists he supplied most of the money which built the Wabash from Detroit to Logansport, Indiana. He and four other business men constructed the Union Station and the Western Detroit facilities now enjoyed by the Wabash. For several years before his death Mr. Joy lived in retirement, but up to the end of his life his advice and counsel were often sought by men of large affairs, not only in Michigan, but throughout the nation. His death occurred September 24, 1896, at the advanced age of eighty- six years. It has justly been said of him: "His life was of great benefit to his city and state, as well as to Chicago and the western country. Few men have guided and invested such vast sums for a number of years as he did." Mr. Joy was one of the Michigan capitalists, who, in 1845, bought the stock of the Michigan State Bank, and that institution paid regular annual dividends of ten per cent until the expiration of its charter in 1855, at which time its stockholders received one hundred and fifteen per cent. He was also a director of the Second National Bank of Detroit, when its charter expired. The Second National was succeeded by the Detroit National, and Mr. Joy was one of its honored directors until his death. In politics though a vigorous advocate of the principles of the Republican party, Mr. Joy was never prominent as a practical politician, though he gave serious and beneficial attention to the duties of citizenship. He was elected a school inspector of Detroit and in 1848 was city recorder. In 1861 much against his will, he was induced to accept nomination for the legislature, and was elected by an overwhelming majority, serving during the Civil war period when patriots were needed at the helm of the ship of state. Until, business affairs compelled him to resign, he also served as a regent of the University of Michigan.

Richard P. Joy: While none of his sons has attained to such a preeminent position in connection with such large and varied affairs, as was occupied by the late James F. Joy — and under the modern methods of business organization and system, the possibilities of such individual pre- eminence are now greatly limited — Richard P. Joy has for a number of years been regarded as one of Detroit's foremost bankers, and has well upheld the dignity and importance of the family name and fortune.

Richard P. Joy was born in the city of Detroit, January 25, 1870. He received his education in the public schools and then entered Phillips Academy at Andover, Massachusetts, where he graduated in 1890. His active business career began in the engineering department of the Fort Street Union Depot Company, and he quickly demonstrated his individual capacity for business and proved a worthy son of his father. Mr. Joy was one of the young men of wealth and social prominence, who early manifested a large interest and took a public spirited part in civic affairs. He devoted much of his time to the study of municipal problems, and from 1898 to 1901 served as alderman in the city council from the second ward. In 1906-07, he served in the office of comptroller of Detroit.

When there came an advantageous opening for a new bank to afford more adequate facilities for the commerce of Detroit, Mr. Joy became interested in the formation of the National Bank of Commerce, of which he was made president by the unanimous vote of the board of directors. From its beginning this bank has been exceedingly successful. It was the first large bank of Detroit to establish its quarters on the second floor of a building, a situation which caused many firms to predict its early failure. The founders of the institutions believed that business would go where it was best taken care of, and their judgment was proved sound when $800.00 was deposited in the National Bank of Commerce on the opening of the institution. The bank proved one of the strongest of local concerns during the crisis of 1907, and since that time no Detroit bank has stood higher in the confidence of the people than the National Bank of Commerce.

Aside from his duties as president of this bank, Mr. Joy is vice president of the Detroit Copper & Brass Rolling mills, a director in the Packard Motor Car Company, director in the Diamond Manufacturing Company, president of the Detroit Union Railroad Depot & Station Company, and stock holder in many manufacturing enterprises. His social clubs are the Detroit Club, the Detroit Board of Commerce, the Yondotega Club, the Country Club, the Old Club, the New York Yacht Club and others. In 1908 "Sir. Richard P. Joy married Miss Mary Moore and their three children are Ella H., Richard P., Jr., and William Moore.

Henry Bourne Joy: On other pages of this work is a review of the career and a consistent tribute to the memory of the late James F. Joy, father of him whose name initiates this review, and thus it is not necessary to offer further record concerning the family history or to designate the pre-eminent position held by James F. Joy as one of the most influential and honored citizens of Michigan, a state in which his sons have distinctively furthered the high prestige of the family name. Henry Bourne Joy has been one of the dynamic forces in connection with the great industrial and commercial progress of his native city, where his capitalistic interests are many and varied and where he stands forth as an alert, enterprising business man and a loyal, public-spirited citizen, so that he is fully entitled to specific recognition in this history of his native state.

Henry B. Joy was born in Detroit, on the 23d of November, 1864, and here his early educational training was acquired in the public schools and private schools. This was supplemented by attendance in the Michigan Military Academy at Orchard Lake, and the historic Phillips Academy at Andover, Massachusetts, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1883. Thereafter he was a student for three years in the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, from which institution he withdrew in 1886, in his junior year. His business career began in the offices of the Peninsular Car Company, a Detroit corporation, and with this company he filled successively the offices of clerk, pay- master and assistant treasurer. From 1887 to 1889 Mr. Joy was actively identified with mining operations in Utah. In November, 1890, he was appointed secretary of the Fort Street Union Depot Company, Detroit, on the 4th of February, 1891, was made secretary and assistant treasurer of the company, and on February 7, 1900, was elected director, positions which he held until February 5, 1902. He was elected a director of the Detroit Union Railroad Depot and Station Company February 7, 1894, elected treasurer October 8, 1896, vice president and treasurer, February 2, 1898. and from February 1, 1899, to February 5, 1913, was president, and in the last named year was elected vice president. Specific mention of the building of the fine union station is made in the sketch of the life of his father, elsewhere in this volume. From 1899 to 1906 Henry B. Joy served as treasurer and director of the Peninsular Sugar Refining Company, and from 1906 to May 25, 1910, he was a director in the Michigan Sugar Company, which absorbed the interests of the former corporation. His most important industrial connection is with the Packard Motor Car Company, which has contributed greatly to the precedence of Detroit as the leading center of the American automobile industry. This company was founded by James W. Packard at Warren, Ohio. One of the earliest purchasers of Packard cars was Henry B. Joy, who later interested Detroit capitalists and the Packard plant was moved to this city in 1903, he becoming a director and the general manager of the company. In 1908 he was elected to the presidency of the same, — a position which he has since held. From a review of the history of the automobile business in Detroit are taken the following facts :

"On October 12, 1903, the Packard Motor Car Company, which had operated at Warren, Ohio, opened its new plant in Detroit. Henry B. Joy had been one of the early owners of a Packard phaeton, and his enthusiasm was so great that a company was formed and a handsome factory was built on the boulevard. An interesting commentary on how little even the men in the industry anticipated the expansion that would take place is that the Packard Company did not buy the frontage on the boulevard, but contented themselves with seven and one-half acres of ground about two hundred feet off the street, figuring that not for many years would they need to acquire the piece of ground between their property and the street. Today this company owns all the frontage for blocks on both sides of the boulevard, and their property covers fifty-two and one-half acres. The Packard was the first company in the city to make a motor car with four cylinders, and was one of the pioneers in the building of six-cylinder cars, which it now builds exclusively."

Mr. Joy has not only been most prominently identified with important enterprises that have conserved the material progress and prosperity of the beautiful Michigan metropolis, but he has also entered fully into its representative civic activities and social life. For five years he was a member of the Michigan Naval Militia, and he served in the United States navy in the Spanish-American war, in which he was chief boatswain's mate, the Michigan Naval Reserves, consisting of eleven officers and two hundred and seventy men. having been detailed on the auxiliary cruiser "Yosemite" and having seen service in Havana, Santiago and other points. In all situations they won the approval of the regular naval authorities and honored the state which they represented. For the sinking of the Spanish transport "Antonio Lopez," off San Juan, Porto Rico, June 28, 1898, the crew of the "Yosemite" was, in 1902, allowed by congress a bounty of fifty thousand dollars. Mr. Joy is a member of the Navy League of the United States, is affiliated with the Yale University Chapter of the Delta Psi fraternity, and in his home city he holds membership in and is a director of the Detroit Board of Commerce, a member of the Detroit Club, the Country Club, the New Detroit Athletic Club, the Old Club, the Detroit Boat Club, the University Club, the Yondotega Club. He is also a member of the Yale Club of New York and the New York Yacht Club. He is a director of the American Fair Trade League of New York and of the American Protective Tariff League, New York. Mr. Joy's wide interest in public affairs has made his name known all over America, and as president of the Lincoln Highway Association, which is building a concrete road from New York to San Francisco, as a memorial to Abraham Lincoln, his work has won the favorable comment of the motor enthusiasts and nature lovers of the nation. On the nth of October, 1892, Mr. Joy was married to Miss Helen Hall Newberry, of Detroit, and they have two children, Helen Bourne an Henry Bourne, Jr. automobile business in Detroit are taken the following facts : "On October 12, 1903, the Packard Motor Car Company, which had operated at Warren, Ohio, opened its new plant in Detroit.

Henry B. Joy had been one of the early owners of a Packard phaeton, and his enthusiasm was so great that a company was formed and a handsome factory was built on the boulevard. An interesting commentary on how little even the men in the industry anticipated the expansion that would take place is that the Packard Company did not buy the frontage on the boulevard, but contented themselves with seven and one-half acres of ground about two hundred feet off the street, figuring that not for many years would they need to acquire the piece of ground between their property and the street. Today this company owns all the frontage for blocks on both sides of the boulevard, and their property covers fifty-two and one-half acres. The Packard was the first company in the city to make a motor car with four cylinders, and was one of the pioneers in the building of six-cylinder cars, which it now builds exclusively." Mr. Joy has not only been most prominently identified with important enterprises that have conserved the material progress and prosperity of the beautiful Michigan metropolis, but he has also entered fully into its representative civic activities and social life. For five years he was a member of the Michigan Naval Militia, and he served in the United States navy in the Spanish-American war, in which he was chief boatswain's mate, the Michigan Naval Reserves, consisting of eleven officers and two hundred and seventy men. having been detailed on the auxiliary cruiser "Yosemite" and having seen service in Havana, Santiago and other points. In all situations they won the approval of the regular naval authorities and honored the state which they represented. For the sinking of the Spanish transport "Antonio Lopez," off San Juan, Porto Rico, June 28, 1898, the crew of the "Yosemite" was, in 1902, allowed by congress a bounty of fifty thousand dollars. Mr. Joy is a member of the Navy League of the United States, is affiliated with the Yale University Chapter of the Delta Psi fraternity, and in his home city he holds membership in and is a director of the Detroit Board of Commerce, a member of the Detroit Club, the Country Club, the New Detroit Athletic Club, the Old Club, the Detroit Boat Club, the University Club, the Yondotega Club. He is also a member of the Yale Club of New York and the New York Yacht Club. He is a director of the American Fair Trade League of New York and of the American Protective Tariff League, New York. Mr. Joy's wide interest in public affairs has made his name known all over America, and as president of the Lincoln Highway Association, which is building a concrete road from New York to San Francisco, as a memorial to Abraham Lincoln, his work has won the favorable comment of the motor enthusiasts and nature lovers of the nation. On the nth of October, 1892, Mr. Joy was married to Miss Helen Hall Newberry, of Detroit, and they have two children, Helen Bourne an Henry Bourne, Jr.
History of Michigan by Charles Moore 1915 Lewis Publishing Company

That "mail lives not to himself alone" is an assurance which is amply verified in all the affairs of life, but its pertinence is most patent in those instances where persons have so employed their inherent talents, so improved their opportunities and so marshaled their forces as to gain prestige which transcends mere local limitations and finds its angle of influence ever broadening in beneficence and human helpfulness. There are thousands of men of fine character and ability ever looming up among us, and in even a cursory review of the lives of such lies much of incentive and inspiration. Apropos of these statements there is peculiar consistency in according In this volume an epitome of the career of Detroit's distinguished citizen, the late James F. Joy, whose productive activities were gigantic and whose life was one of impregnable integrity and honor. He was a man of the nation but was essentially a citizen of Detroit, whose people may ever take pride in his character and his accomplishment.

James Frederick Joy was born in Durham, New Hampshire, on the 2d of December, 1810, and was a son of James and Sarah (Pickering) Joy. His father was a blacksmith by trade and in later life was a manufacturer of scythes and a shipbuilder at Durham. Tho original American ancestor in the agnatic line was Thomas Joy, who immigrated from England about the year 1632, locating in Boston, where he became a land holder In 1636, as shown by the town records. From that city his descendants removed to various localities in New England. The father of the subject of this memoir was a man of much enterprise and of strong intellectuality; he was a Federalist in politics and a Calvinist in religion. His influence was potent in fixing correct principles in the minds of his children and all of them honored him In their after lives.

The early education of James F. Joy wan secured in the common schools and in a neighboring academy, in which he took a two years' course. He then engaged in teaching and through the compensation thus received, supplemented by such financial assistance as his father was able to accord, he realized his ambition and entered upon a collegiate course. In 1833 he was graduated at the head of his class, in Dartmouth College, which conferred upon him the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He soon afterward entered Harvard Law School, at Cambridge, where he made rapid advancement in the accumulation and assimilation of technical knowledge, but his pecuniary status was such that he was compelled to withdraw at the end of the first year. He thereafter was for several months preceptor in the academy at Pittsfield, New Hampshire, and for a year was a tutor in Dartmouth College. He resigned the latter position to resume his law studies at Cambridge, where, within a year, be completed the prescribed course and was duly admitted to the bar, in Boston. He had decided to locate in the west, and in September, 1836, he arrived in Detroit, where he entered the law office of Hon. Augustus S. Porter, "one of the noblest men that ever represented Michigan in the United States senate."

Mr. Joy arrived in Detroit at a period when Michigan was in a transition state. Although the act of admission had passed congress, Juno 15, 1836, conditions were attached, requiring the assent of the people through a representative convention, in respect to the boundaries defined in the act. This convention assenting, December, 1836, tho formal act of admission was passed by congress, January 26, 1837. Mr. Joy thus became a contemporary with Michigan, as a state. He came here without capital, without powerful connections and without established pecuniary credit. He had, however, the powers and qualities formed by habit and education, which made him independent of either capital, connections or pecuniary credit—a clear head, a sound judgment, quick perceptions, and a aslant the most comprehensive and masterly In grasping legal and business propositions. To these high intellectual powers were joined a great moral force of character, a resolute will, self-reliant and firm, combined with strict integrity, inspiring confidence, and patient perseverance, insuring success. The practice- of economy, self-denial and industry, a proper pride in his professional business obligations, and punctuality in all engagements, which laid tho foundation and guaranteed that prosperity and usefulness which his subsequent life has developed. To these properties must we look for the elements which conceived and successfully consummated those great enterprises which have secured for Michigan and the states west of it, that material prosperity which they today enjoy. Not to any accident of birth or fortune, or any external circumstances or condition, can we trace tho extraordinary results achieved through his influence. In addition to the qualities named, the only advantages of that kind which he inherited, mid which he retained to the Inst, were his fine personal appearance and commanding and impressive address.

In May of the year 1937 Mr. Joy opened an office of his own, and in the ensuing autumn he formed a professional partnership with George F. Porter, who had an extended acquaintanceship with prominent capitalists and financiers, so that the firm at once secured a clientage of representative order, and became known as one of the leading local firms in the western country. Soon after the firm of Joy lbs Porter was formed it became the attorneys for the old Bank of Michigan, this at the time being the only bank in the northwest of recognized credit with eastern banks and capitalists, hence its relation to it gave the firm an extended and lucrative practice. Mr. Joy, as the legal head of the firm, was the leading and confidential counsel of Messrs. Dwight, who were the principal owners of this bank, and of others ha New York, Boston, Cleveland, and Springfield, Massachusetts. From 1837 to 1847, and when, owing to a combination of circumstances, the old Bank of Michigan became insolvent, Mr. Joy, in tho complications incident, had occasion to meet in the courts and elsewhere tho most gifted and distinguished minds in the nation. During the height of the speculative craze in the late '30s and early '40s Michigan had established what was known as the internal-improvement system, under whose operations the state had purchased the Detroit and St. Joseph Railroad. In 1846, through the workings of this system, the state became bankrupt, and as a means toward solvency proposed to sell this railroad, whose name had been changed to the Michigan Central. In the interest of a corporation formed to buy the property Mr. Joy largely framed its charter, completed the organization of the corporation and induced capital to embark in the enterprise. The sale restored the state to solvency and general business resumed normal ramifications. The new company undertook to extend tho road to Chicago, and in the important litigation incident thereto Mr. Joy was engaged to such an extent in Michigan, Indiana and Illinois that he was gradually drawn away from his practice in Detroit. He gradually made railway law a specialty and for a long period he was one of the foremost figures in railway litigation in the United States, his practice being extensive and profitable. From being the legal advisor of railway companies he was gradually drawn into the field of management, becoming prominent in extending railway connections and in the construction and executive control of new lines. The case of George C. Hates in ejectment against tho Illinois Central and Michigan Central Railroad Companies, in the United States court, was the last very important cause in which he appeared as the leading counsel and advocate. The ease involved the title to the Chicago station grounds of the two companies—property at that time valued at two million dollars—and in this celebrated case Mr. Joy's remarkable powers were so exemplified as to gain him unprecedented prestige. The necessarily prescribed limitations of this publication of course prevent a detailed review of this cause, but the same is n matter of historical record.

Mr. Joy became extensively identified with the railway interests of the country and was largely engaged in the extending of lines. He organized the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Company, whose line cost sixty millions of dollars, and before construction was instituted he made a trip on foot over the proposed route. For many years he was the executive head of the corporation, and under his direction the lines were extended to Quincy and Omaha. The line from Kansas City to the Indian Territory was another enterprise promoted by him. Incidentally built the first bridge across the Missouri river at Kansas City, thus giving great impetus to the development. About 1857 Mr. Joy became associated with J. W. Brooks and entered into a contract, through a company organized for the purpose, to undertake and complete the Sault Ste. Marie canal. The work was pushed forward with utmost vigor and was completed within two years, to the great benefit of navigation and commerce.

About the year 1867 Mr. Joy became president of the Michigan Central Railroad Company, of which he had been general counsel for many years. Under his direction, as chief executive, the road was largely rebuilt and every department was made adequate to meet the demands placed upon it. Those improvements were made at great expense, double track being laid on a large portion of tho line and the steel rails used having cost, in gold, one hundred and thirty dollars per ton, in England. Mr. Joy also promoted the building and finally acquired control of the Jackson, Lansing Saginaw Railroad, from Jackson to Saginaw and Mackinaw City, and also of tho road from Jackson to Grand Rapids—both now parts of the Michigan Central system, lie also built the Detroit and Bay City and the Detroit, Lansing Northern Railroads, and tho Michigan Central's air line from Jackson to Niles, the Kalamazoo & South Haven, and the Chicago & West Michigan Railroads, were alike the results of his activity and progressiveness. He was the prime factor in the building of more than sixteen hundred miles of railroad in Michigan alone, and the beneficent influence of this work may well he understood. In the early '70s Mr. Joy became interested in a proposed railroad to run along tho western bank of tho Mississippi river from Dubuque, Iowa, to a point opposite La Crosse, Wisconsin, and through his efforts the line was completed, being now a part of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul system. Mr. Joy was also largely instrumental in securing to Detroit its connection with the Wabash Railroad and in providing adequate station grounds for its business. He and other Detroit citizens furnished most of the money by which the connecting line was built from Detroit to Logansport, Indiana, and with four others he built the large and elaborate Union depot in Detroit, together with the railroad, through the western part of the city, connecting with the Wabash. Mr. Joy was also one of the organizers of and attorney for the Sault Saint* Maria Ship Canal Company (in 1852-3-4), which built the first "Soo" canal and locks, thus making possible the navigation of Lake Superior by vessels from the lower lakes. It was ever the practice of Mr. Joy carefully to consider and digest, pro and eon, all plans conceived by him, and hence when his decisions were reached, he was firm in seeing them executed.

For several years prior to his death Mr. Joy lived essentially retired from active business, though still financially interested in a number of the corporations mentioned. Of him it has been said: "His life was of great benefit to his city and state, as well as to Chicago and the western country. Few men have guided and invested for so many years such vast sums of money as did be." In 1845 he was two of those who purchased the stock of the Michigan State Bank, which thereafter paid ten per cent dividends regularly until the expiration of its charter, in 1855, at which time its stockholders received one hundred and thirteen percent for their shares. He was a director of the Second National Bank of Detroit, and when its charter expired, in 1883, it was succeeded by the Detroit National Bank, of whose directorate be continued to be a member until his death.

Though never active in tho domain of "practical politics," and never a seeker of public office, Mr. Joy was intrinsically loyal to all the duties of citizenship and exerted his influence In the promotion of good government, being an uncompromising advocate of the principles and policies of the republican party. In 1839 he was chosen to the office of school inspector in Detroit, and in 1848 was elected city recorder. In 1861 he was Induced to accept the nomination as representative of the Detroit district in the state legislature, to which he was elected and in which he held a place of much prominence and influence in the climacteric period marking the opening of the Civil war. He served a short time as regent of the University of Michigan, but resigned on account of the exactions of his business interests. In 1880 he was a delegate to the republican national convention, in Chicago, and there made the address nominating the Hon. James G. Blaise for the presidency.

From a sketch of the career of Mr. Joy prepared several years ago by the writer of the present article, the following pertinent extracts are made: "Although always an active man, Mr. Joy never neglected mental recreation and improvement, but at all times kept up his early acquaintance with the classics and with all that is best in literature. When business hours were over, business care were laid aside and never carried home. As an inevitable In tho life of such a man as Mr. Joy, he encountered many and large financial losses, but no matter what their magnitude, it is believed that there never was an evening when he would not lose all thought of them In reading the pages of some favorite author. His love of books was a taste that he had cultivated from early youth. His library, including many costly volumes, was the result of the steady accumulation of years and contained the best editions of the best authors. Not only were all the great lights of English literature represented but also the works of the beat foreign authors in the original text, and the latter he read with the same facility as did he those in his native tongue. Well thumbed editions of the ancient classics and the works of the ablest French authors found prominent places in his collection and gave ample evidence of having been read and reread many times."

Mr. Joy was twice married. He first wedded Martha Alger Reed, daughter of Hon. John Reed of Warmouth, Massachusetts, member of congress for several years and also lieutenant governor of his state. Upon her death Mrs. Joy left the following children: Sarah Reed, who married Dr. Edward W. Jenks, both of whom have passed from life; Martha Alger, who married Henry A. Howland, both of whom were killed in a railroad accident; and James Joy.

Mr. Joy's second wife was Miss Mary Bourne of Hartford, Connecticut, and the children of this union were: Frederic, who died in 1893; Henry Bourne, who is mentioned on another page of this work; and Richard Pickering Joy, who is president of the National Bank of Commerce of Detroit, and is mentioned elsewhere in this work.

James F. Joy was summoned to the life eternal on the 24th of September, 1896, and his life on earth stands as a perpetual voucher for nobility of character and of definite usefulness in the complex scheme of human activity and accomplishment.

James Frederic Joy in Elmwood Cemetery Detroit MI - (Photo by David at Find-A-Grave)

Martha (Reed) Joy and Mary (Bourne) Joy - wives of James Frederic Joy

President National Bank of Commerce; born, Detroit, Jan. 25, 1870; son of James F. and Mary (Bourne) Joy; graduated Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., 1890; widower (married, Ella Gertrude Hopkins, who died April 10, 1897). Began active career in engineering department, Fort Street union Depot Co., and now occupies following offices: President national Bank of Commerce (since June 1, 1907); vice president and treasurer Detroit Union R.R. Depot and Station Co.; vice president Detroit Copper and Brass Rolling Mills; director Packard Motor Car Co., Diamond manufacturing Co., Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw RR Controller City of Detroit, 1906-7; alderman Second ward, 1898-01. Member Detroit Board of Commerce. republican. Presbyterian. Clubs: Yondotega, Detroit, Country, Old Club, New York yacht (New York). Recreation: Yachting. Office: The national Bank of Commerce. Residence: 971 Woodward Av.
The Book of Detroiters by Albert Nelson Marquis 1908 by Albert Nelson Marquis
Brother of Henry Bourne Joy (above)