Exhibit A

 

Who was Thomas JOY of Hingham, MA?

 

Thomas JOY was a man of English birth who immigrated to America aboard the ship Constance in 1635 and married Joan Gallup in Boston in 1637.  He was a carpenter, house builder, millwright and by some called an architect.  He has been credited with building the first Town House of Boston in 1657.   The Thomas JOY family moved from Boston to Hingham, MA about 1646 and erected a gristmill and sawmill there.  He wrote his will dated July 8, 1677 and died in Hingham on October 21, 1678.  The JOY family worshiped at the “Old Ship” Meetinghouse in Hingham late in his life.  The JOY family plot is directly behind the church.  All of the markers including the original ancient stones spell the name JOY.

 

Several significant published works have been written on Thomas JOY, the Colonist.  The first such work was printed in 1876 titled “A Brief History of the JOY Family. By One of Them.” by Cornelia C. Joy Dyer.  This date predates Quaker Eli JAY’s endeavor into genealogy by almost twenty (20) years.[1]  This book is 37 pages long and gives a good account of the immigrant Thomas JOY through most of his grandchildren.[2]  The surname JAY is not mentioned in this book.  All descendants, for whom the author is one, spell their surname JOY.  For researchers who wish to consult or read this work, it can be found at… http://books.google.com/books?id=aChWAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA9&dq=thomas+joy+hingham&lr=#PPP1,M1 .

 

A second and more complete historical work was published in 1900 titled “Thomas JOY and His Descendants” by James Richard JOY.  This book was dedicated to the “venerable memory of Thomas JOY and Joan Gallop, his wife, Colonists of the Massachusetts Bay of New England”.  This work is 225 pages, indexed, well written, attributes much of its contents to a portfolio of family papers, is sourced and gives a very detailed account of the family.  Additionally it touches on all the children and grandchildren of Thomas JOY and Joan Gallop.  The date of this book predates any published article by anyone researching the JAY surname.[3]  However, this book does discuss the “ancient origins” of the JOY surname and in this general context the possibility of a JAY surname connection is mentioned.  All descendants referenced are identified by the JOY surname.  For researchers who wish to consult or read this work, it can be found at… http://books.google.com/books?id=uShWAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=thomas+joy+hingham&lr=#PPA1,M1 .

 

Other published 19th and early 20th century works with multiple references to Thomas JOY include:

 

“Suffolk Deeds, Liber II, the Suffolk Registry of Deeds [Boston]” published by Rockwell and Churchill, City Printers, Boston, 1883

http://books.google.com/books?id=gzYuAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA83&dq=thomas+joy+hingham&lr=

 

“The Loyalists of Massachusetts and the Other Side of the American Revolution” by James Henry Stark, published in 1910

http://books.google.com/books?id=jkgSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA411&dq=thomas+joy+hingham&lr=#PPP11,M1

 

In all cases the family surname is referenced as and spelled JOY.  In no instance is the JAY surname mentioned in regard to any American individual.  It should also be noted that more contemporary works on the JOY family all draw or source their information from the above works.

 

In summary, the immigrant Thomas JOY was a well documented immigrant, both historically and biographically long before JAY family research began in earnest.[4]  None of the origin period works by JOY family descendants spell their name JAY or reference any American connection to the JAY family.

 

The JOY and JAY Surnames and how James Richard JOY’s book probably influenced C.M. JAY

 

All early references to the origins of the JOY and JAY surnames generally state the following:

 

“The name is believed to be derived from the locality of Jouy, in Normandy [France], and may have reached England in the form of “de Jouy”.  It has undergone many modifications, in some which its identity disappears, as it passes from JOY to JAY through such forms as JOYE, JOIE, JAIE, JAYE and even GEE”.[5]  While this quote appears in a 1900 work by James Richard JOY, his source was documented as the “Patronymica Brittanica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom” by Mark Antony Lower, published in 1860.

 

What Mr. Lower actually states is this…”JOY…Probably from one of several places in Normandy called Jouy; or perhaps a contraction of JOYCE.” [6]  Additionally, he does not connect the JAY surname with JOY. 

 

Other surname works of that period make similar connections.  What this means is that at some point there were many people who lived in a location (Jouy) in Normandy who were not necessarily related.  As surnames became popular, many of them adopted the place they “came from” as their surname “so-and-so of Jouy”….they still were not related.  As the centuries passed, those surnames morphed into JOY, JOYCE, JAY, GEE, etc. ….they still were not related.  Additionally, the reader must realize that these surnames could also be adopted for a variety of reasons and not all JOYs or JAYs necessarily derive from these lines.  DNA research on the JOY and JAY family lines has already proven this.[7]

 

James Richard JOY goes on to discuss Norfolk Co. England as being the seat of a family of JOY (who he says is now spelled JAY) headed by John JAYE (1563-1619), lord of the manor of Hoverston, lying between Hillington and Yelverton.  He continues and finally states “Those who have given most studious consideration to the ancestry of the American colonist [Thomas JOY] are of the opinion that he was of this Norfolk stock.”[8]

 

Finally in the Appendix, Mr. JOY gives a more detailed account of the JAY (JOY) family of Norfolk County, England and states “In a recent post office directory of Norfolk County, England, the name JOY appears but once.  There are a dozen JAYs in the same list, including a ‘Thomas JAY, miller, of Diss’ and such familiar Christian names as James, George, Benjamin, William, Charles and Joshua.  Mr. Brown, an experienced genealogist,[9] concludes that the region of Norfolk about Norwich is the ground which must be visited by the person who shall at no distant day, we trust, discover the birthplace and parentage of Thomas JOY the Colonist.”[10]

 

In summary, Mr. JOY stops short of specifically tying Thomas JOY, the immigrant, to the JAY family of Norfolk Co. England and presents no documentary evidence to that effect.  He did however present the subject matter and craft a number of statements that on-the-surface sound authoritative and imply that his assumptions are somehow legitimized or supported by others.  They are however speculation.  No-doubt the reader of the period would have considered him an ‘expert on the subject’ and assumed he knew what he was talking about.

 


[1] Eli Jay, considered the father of JAY genealogy in America, mailed out his JAY family questionnaire to JAYs across the country in 1893.

[2] Ms. Dyer makes the following statement on page 5 without providing any documentary evidence or sources “Records in England, leave no doubt that Thomas JOY emigrated to America from Hingham, Norfolk County.”  This unsourced statement is the origin for all entries found concerning the birthplace of Thomas JOY.  James Richard JOY’s work stops short of that unequivocal statement.  He states “Of his birth and early life nothing is known.  It is probable that he was born about 1610 in County Norfolk, in England…”

[3] Cassius Milton Jay, The Bulletin, California State Society Sons of the Revolution, November 1928, Query Response.  This article was the origin of the Thomas JOY-JAY family connection.  Some sources are given but critical facts and relationships can not be documented or established.

[4] The ancestry of the Chief Justice John Jay is an exception to this statement.  His pedigree and descendants were well known at this time.  The Quaker Jay family of interest to Eli and Cassius Milton Jay are not connected to the family of Chief Justice John Jay.

[5] “Thomas JOY and His Descendants” by James Richard JOY, 1900, page 9

[6] “Patronymica Brittanica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom” by Mark Antony Lower, 1860, page 174.

[7] With very few samples taken, eight unique DNA Haplotypes have been identified as of 2009 for the JOY and JAY families.

[8] “Thomas JOY and His Descendants” by James Richard JOY, 1900, page 10.  Mr. Joy does not identify who “Those who have given most studious consideration” are.

[9] Mr. Joy does not source or state Mr. Brown’s credentials or reasoning.

[10] “Thomas JOY and His Descendants” by James Richard JOY, 1900, page 182