WILDER AND MARTHA SMITH JOY

Wilder and Martha were my Great-Great-Great-Grandparents. They were early settlers of Delaware County, where they resided on a farm for many years. Wilder was born June 21, 1789 in Putney Windham, Vermont, to Amos Joy and Rachel Fletcher Joy. I have some old Bible pages that were torn from a Bible by an elderly cousin in California. He sent them to my mother because he had no one to pass them on to. In the letter he sent along with them he wrote: Only very sketchey records were kept by Grandmother James (Martha Ann Joy James) of her family in a very old bible published in 1843 and said pages are enclosed herewith as I am the last of my own family and because you might like to have them.

Solomon and Wilder Joy came to Delaware County in the year 1815, from the state of Vermont, and they were endowed with the sterling virtues which have always characterized the people of New England birth and Puritan faith. Wilder was not a communicant in any church when he came to Delaware, but he very early joined the Methodist Church, of which he thereafter remained one of the pillars until his death. In this church all his children were baptized, and all, following in the footsteps of their parents, became active and useful members.

Wilder Joy was one of the charter members of the Board of Trustees of Ohio Wesleyan University.

Following are paragraphs taken from the HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, OHIO. 1880 p. 259 “The first account we have of the organization of an agricultural society in Delaware County, we find in the OHIO STATE GAZETTE (now the Delaware Gazette) of June 28, 1833. It says: ‘At a meeting of the citizens of Delaware County, convened under an act of the Legislature of Ohio, to authorize and encourage the establishment of agricultural societies in the several counties of this State, passed February 25, 1833, Dr. Noah Spalding was appointed Chairman, and F. Avery, Secretary. A number of resolutions were adopted. The first one ’That a society be formed called the Delaware County Agricultural Society, etc.’ A second resolution required that ‘Each member pay 50 cents annually to the society.’ The officers elected were Milo D. Pettibone, President; Wilder Joy, Vice President; Frederick Avery, Secretary; William Little, Treasurer.

page 260
At the first show of above society, October 3, 1834, Miss Martha Ann Joy received a prize of $2. for the best piece of jeans; Mrs. Martha Joy, $1 for best cheese; Wilder Joy $5 for the best bull.

In 1835, the advertisement and premium list in the Gazette, lists Wilder Joy as President, Frederick Avery, Secretary.

page 263
“These early meetings and exhibitions were held, partly in the public square and partly on the commons. The exhibitions of ‘Domestic Manufactures; took place in the court house, and the show of animals was usually made on the lot where the Baptist church now stands. The Society flourished for a number of years, and then too, a little Rip Van Winkle nap, and from it awoke under a special act of the Legislature, passed at the session of 1847-1848. The Society was reorganized under this act, and in May, 1848, a meeting was held, which elected the following officers: David Bush, President; Wilder Joy, Vice President; B. Powers, Treasurer; L. Glessner, secretary.

page 264
“The people of Delaware County display much interest, and devote a good deal of attention, to the breeding of fine stock. We have the authority of Thomas F. Joy, that his father, Wilder Joy and Judge Williams, brought the first blooded cattle to the county, about 1826. They purchased them in Pickaway County. Among the number was a short-horn bull, a dark roan, and a very fine animal for that early period, when most of the fine breeds in this section had been crossed until their blood was getting thin. About 1836, Gilbert Van Dorn brought some short-horns into the county, and in a few years, Mr. Jones of Radnor, brought in some Durhams, which he had purchased from M. S. Sullivant of Columbus. These were followed by other purchases and importations in different parts of the county. At the present time, there are some half-dozen or more very fine herds of blooded cattle in Delaware County. The largest and finest herds belong to Messrs. Jones, Hills, T. F. Joy, Norman Perfect of Sunbury, John Worline and N. Leonard.”

p. 318 “Coming soon after the Worlines, on the same side of the river, and a little north of them, was William Sweetser. With the Sweetser family, came the family of Hosea Miller, and two young men. Solomon and Wilder Joy. Mr Sweetser came from Dummerston, Vt. In the fall of 1815, after a forty days’ journey through the wilderness. Note: There is a Dummerston and a West Dummerston both about 8 or 10 miles N and NW of Brattleboro, Vt. The first is near the Connecticut River.

page 319
List of those voting in the first election, October 11, Wilder Joy, Vermont, 1815, Solomon Joy, Vermont 1815.

page 368
Wilder Joy listed in a group of persons appointed to apply to the Legislature for an act of incorporation in the founding of Ohio Wesleyan University. In 1845, Wilder Joy was a trustee of Methodist Church, Delaware, Ohio.

Wilder Joy married Martha Smith on December 15, 1817 in Delaware, Ohio.

They were the parents of the following children.
This is from the old Bible pages I have.

Amos W. – Born Dec. 8, 1818
and died Sep. 29, 1846

Martha Ann – Born March 15, 1821

Maria – Born May 25, 1823

John Quincy A. – Born Feb. 5, 1826
and died Dec. 9, 1827

Thomas Fletcher – Born July 29, 1828
and died Feb. 9, 1890

Lucinda S. – Born May 8, 1831

Elisabeth - Born Feb. 1, 1839
and died Sept. 9, 1834

Mary – Born Aug. 8, 1835
and died Nov. 2

Lucy R. – Born Apr. 4, 1838

Caroline – Born March 21, 1841

Frederick Meric – Born Nov. 15, 1846

Wilder died at age 70.

Martha was born September 19, 1798,
in Pittsfield, Rutland, Vermont.

Martha died at age 68.