Forgotten Dartmouth Men
JAMES FREDERICK JOYRailroad Pioneer
BY A BIT of amplification of the imagination, the creation of the Lincoln Highway, the daddy of all the great arterial highways in the United States, can be given a Dartmouth aspect. The idea of this type of road originated in the fertile mind of Henry B. Joy of Detroit whose business reputation was established through the production of the Packard motor car. He is the son of one of Dartmouth's outstanding sons, James Frederick Joy, the valedictorian of the class of 1833. Mention has heretofore been made in the ALUMNI MAGAZINE of the seeming futility of finding anything romantic or sentimental in the General Catalog, but the accomplishments of Mr. Joy demonstrate that, looking behind the scenes in the General Catalog, one may find stories of the activities of men sufficient to whet the interest of readers of every type.
It is a far cry from the little town of Durham, N. H., which, in December, 1810, was merely a wide place in the road, to the presidency of some of the greatest railway systems in the United States. Those two points, however, stand out in the life of Mr. Joy. He was seventh in descent from Thomas Joy of Boston and Hingham, Mass., Boston's earliest builder and architect, who built the first Boston Town House.
Born in Durham, December 2, 1810 (he died in Detroit, September 24, 1896), Mr. Joy's 86 years of life were crowded with deeds well done. He was the only one of the 12 children of James and Sarah (Pickering) Joy to gain an education. His father was a blacksmith, shipbuilder, scythemaker, cotton mill agent and farmer. Joy gave promise of great usefulness during his college course. For a year after graduation he was a tutor in Latin in the College, and he was also principal of the Academy in Pittsfield, N. H., the family home.
In 1836, after taking the usual legal course, Harvard made him a Bachelor of Laws, and, after a cleAship with Chief Justice Story, he settled in Detroit, establishing with George F. Porter the legal firm of Joy and Porter. For 25 years these gentlemen were regarded as outstanding practitioners at the Michigan Bar.
Then Mr. Joy withdrew from the firm, as his business activities required the major part of his time. In 1845-6, Mr. Joy and Mr. J. W. Brooks organized a corporation and raised the money for the purchase of the Michigan Central, the bankrupt railway system which had been constructed in the Wolverine State by the Commonwealth of Michigan. Following the purchase of this road, these gentlemen completed it, and the time of its completion marked, as Dr. James R. Joy, in his "History of Thomas Joy and His Descendents," says, "the turning point in the history of Michigan." The Michigan Central became a great factor in the commerce of the State, and in the central section of the United States.
After giving up active practice, Mr. Joy spent his entire time in caring for the railway enterprises in which he was interested. Not only was he director of the Michigan Central and Illinois Central, but he organized and became president of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, and, a little later, of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad.
Thousands of Dartmouth men have crossed the bridge extending over the Mississippi River at Kansas City, unaware of the fact that one of their fellow alumni, of the class of 1833, erected this bridge. This activity made Kansas City the outstanding market place of the Missouri valley. Another great accomplishment of his was the organization and building of the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad. Mr. Joy, in his own name, purchased 800,- 000 acres of land in Kansas from the Chero- kee Indians, and, under the protection of soldiers of the United States Army, he constructed the railroad.
GREAT RAILROAD ACHIEVEMENTS
In 1867, after long service, Mr. Joy resigned the presidency of the Burlington system to become president of the Michigan Central. He held that office until 1876 when he felt that the burden of increasing years warranted him in relinquishing some of his heavy labors. It was not long, however, before he was made president of the Wabash Railroad, and, through his marked ability, he was able to reorganize that road to the satisfaction of its stockholders. The last great enterprise with which Mr. Joy was connected was the erection of the Union Depots at Detroit.
The cultural side of this man is shown in the fact that his favorite relaxation from business worries was the reading of the Latin and French classics in the original. It must be remembered that in 1833 the valedictory oration was delivered in Latin, and we also recall that Mr. Joy began his life's work as a tutor in Latin in the College. In the great library of his Fort Street mansion, one case was devoted to the Latin classics bound in vellum.
The home life of Mr. Joy was particularly delightful. He was married in 1841 to Martha Alger, the daughter of Lt.-Governor John Reed of Massachusetts. She died in 1850, and ten years later he was married to Mary Bourne, of Hartford, Conn., who died in Paris in 1890. There were two sons and two daughters by the first marriage, and three sons by the second. The eldest daughter, Sarah Reed, was married to Edward Watrous Jenks, M.D., ot Detroit. He was founder and president of Detroit Medical College, and was also a professor in Bowdoin Medical College, Chicago Medical College, and the Michigan College of Medicine. Dr. and Mrs. Jenks had one son, our own Nathan (Kid) Jenks '96, M.D., Cornell '99. Jenks, following in the footsteps of his father, was professor of obstetrics in the Detroit College of Medicine. He died in his home city in 1916.
Mention has been made of the son, Henry Bourne Joy, whose fertile mind and whose tremendous activities throughout the country resulted in the building of the Lincoln Highway. He attended the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale, served as chief boatswain's mate in the Spanish War, and became receiver for the Michigan and Grand Trunk Railroad in 1900. His connection with the Packard Motor Company is a matter of history, well known to all those who have followed the automotive industry of the United States. We see in three generations, the grandfather, James, a builder of ships; the son, James F., a builder of railroads; the grandson, Henry 8., a builder of motor cars and highways. The "History of Thomas Joy and His Descendents" was written by Dr. James Richard Joy, Yale 'B5, and editor of the New York Christian Advocate. The earliest mention of Thomas Joy was found in the Records of Boston, when, in February, 1636, he was given leave "to buye a peece of ground." He was believed to have been born in the county of Norfolk, England, in 1610, and came to Boston in 1635.
Incidentally, there is also a Dartmouth connection with this editor and eminent literary authority. He was prepared for college at Lawrence Academy, Groton, Mass., under E. S. Ball, Dartmouth '74, and Albert Oscar Brown' 78, later governor of New Hampshire. The preceptress became Mrs. Brown. He had hoped to enter Dartmouth. The winter before his expected entrance to the college, he visited a friend, G. W. Woodward 'B4, who lived in a Dartmouth dormitory. The town was buried in snow. The stove in the dormitory room yielded only a modicum of heat. The youthful sub-freshman, learning of the rigors of the northern climate in winter, the bleakness of "No. 10," and the lack of many of the creature comforts to which he was accustomed, lost his Dartmouth enthusiasm. He entered Yale, was graduated in 1885, and has become one of the outstanding alumni of that institution.
