“I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.”
Thomas Joy, 1610-1678 (Maternal 11th Great-Grandfather)
Thomas Joy is described as a “house carpenter.” He was a principal contractor, master builder, and architect in Boston. He first appears in Boston land records in 1636-37. After his political differences with Winthrop’s government (1646), he removed to Hingham, fifteen miles distant, and became identified with that village though still holding property in Boston, and for some years resided there. All his children excepting the youngest were brought to the First Church in Boston for baptism. In Hingham he bought a dwelling, farm, and mill privilege. He built or enlarged the grist mill at the town’s cove, and created a saw mill in the same locality. In 1658 he became a member of the Boston Artillery Company, now the famous “Ancient and Honorables,” and in 1657-8 he built the house in the market place of Boston, which was at once the armory, court house, and town hall of Boston, and first seat of government of Massachusetts. It burned down in 1711, and was replaced by what became known as “the Old State House,” later the site of the “Boston Massacre” which still stands to this day. In 1665 he was admitted “Freeman” of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. – Excerpt from Thomas Joy and His Descendants
RESOURCES
BOOK: Thomas Joy and his descendants in the lines of his sons Samuel of Boston, Joseph of Hingham, Ephraim of Berwick; a portfolio of family papers, comp. by James Richard Joy (1900) (Link)
BOOK: A Brief History Of The Joy Family By One Of Them by Cornelia C. Joy Dyer (1876) (Link)
John Joy (1546-1630) & Elizabeth Valentine (1547-1630)
Thomas Jay (1583-1614) & Frances Matthias Pawlet (1587-1678)
Thomas Joy (1610-1678) & Joan Gallop (1618-1691)
Joseph Joy (1645-1697) & Mary Prince (1649-1726)
Joseph Joy (1668-1716) & Elizabeth Andrews (1665-1743)
David Joy (1693-1739) & Ruth Ford (1698-1772)
Benjamin Joy (1719-1810) & Sarah S Cummings (1721-1803)
Ephraim Joy (1742-1777) & Elizabeth Pool (1747-1836)
Ephraim Joy Jr (1774-1856) & Eunice Freeman (1788-1862)
David Joy (1820-1899) & Sarah C Williams (1818-1882)
Hubbard Joy (1845-1930) & Harmony T Foot (1851-?)
Erwin H Joy (1874-1957) & Gertrude E Fuller (1872-1945)
Shirley E Joy (1893-1962) & Lenna Belle Kidder (1904-1980)
Shirley Ann Joy 1933-2006 (Maternal Grandmother)