Births, Weddings, and Deaths of Harold Joy’s Family
1862
Harold is born at Moorfield House in Headingley, Leeds. He has five older brothers and two older sisters.
1866
Harold’s oldest brother, Arthur, marries Alice Ormonde Butler. Her father, Major John Octavius Butler, is the head ironmonger at Kirsktall Forge in Leeds. The foundry makes railway ties for most of the British Empire [tbc]
1869
Harold’s father, William Glover Joy, is elected mayor of Leeds.
1876
Harold’s father, William Glover Joy, dies from an infected neck carbuncle on April 17.
1873
At age 28, Arthur dissolves his business partnership in Arthur Joy & Company and retires. This is the last record I’ve found of him, other than attending his father-in-law’s funeral in October 1873. Family notes say he abandoned his wife and went to Canada. He has no known children.
1878
On January 14, brother Frank dies of rheumatic fever at Winterbourne, Maze Hill, St. Leonards on Sea. He is 24 years old and had been serving as a Lieutenant in Her Majesty’s 106th Regiment of Foot
1878
On September 4, Harold’s 29-year-old sister, Amy, marries Charles Nantes at St. Leonard’s On Sea. He works as a coroner and barrister, then eventually a solicitor. Charles is kind and generous to the extended Joy family and they are financially well off. They eventually have four children.
1879
On December 4, Harold’s 29-year-old brother, Douglas, marries Anne Constance Reckitts at her family home at Hessle, near Hull. The Reckitts are a wealthy Quaker family. Brothers Percy and Harold are groomsmen. Douglas and Annie go on to have two sons and one daughter.
1879
On December 31, Harold’s mother, Mary Joy, dies of congestive heart failure in St. Leonards on Sea. Douglas Joy is the executor.
1880
In April, Harold leaves from Liverpool bound for Barrie, Ontario where his family has paid for him to be taught farming. His mother’s brother, Uncle William Holt lives in Barrie, as does his father’s sister, Anne Joy.
1883
On March 26, Harold arrives in Halifax, having sailed back from England on the S.S. Parisian, a mail steamer from Liverpool. He traveled in a cabin (1st class)
1883
On April 18, Harold Holt Joy and Jean Hannah Grahame are married in Toronto.
1884
On March 16, Harold’s 28-year-old sister, Lottie, marries Osmond Ogilvie. He is the son of a wine merchant. According to family notes, Osmond Ogilvie “makes his money at cards and vice.” At age 33, he lists himself on the census form as a retired coffee planter. They have one daughter, Violet Dashwood, who never marries.
1884
In August, Harold and Jean return from a visit to England (and probably Scotland, probably Barlanark, the Hill family estate, Jean’s mother’s family). Jean would have been in her first trimester of pregnancy and likely very seasick on the steamship.
1885
On March 2, Nina Mary Joy is born, and Harold and Jean become parents. She was probably named after Harold’s mother, Mary. The name Nina is from the Grahame side.
1886
On October 13, Harold’s brother, Percy, marries Tina Lucy Sanderson in London. They are married by her uncle, Reverend Sanderson. They will have two children, Gladys and Gordon.
1887
On February 16, Harold and Jean’s second child, Douglas Grahame Joy, is born in Barrie. He is presumably named after Harold’s older brother, Douglas. [some sources have the birth in Kalamazoo, tbc]
1890
On February 24, Harold Holt Joy dissolves his business partnership with two other men in a Nashville, Tennessee electrical contracting business. He assumes the debts.
1890
On November 2, Harold and Jean’s third child, Ernst Grahame Joy is born in Anniston, Alabama.
1900
Harold seems to return to his family in Toronto. Tries a cure for alcohol cravings. He invests some money he received from an inheritance (or possible business sale – TBD) in a business venture, but loses it all when he is somehow cut out of the partnership. Maybe 1901. TBD
1909
Harold leaves Canada, probably for England.
1910
Harold is an inmate at Norbury Park, an almshouse in Northwest Chicago. He lists his occupation as electrician.
1916
Harold’s brother, Charles, dies at age 66. His personal effects were valued at $76,000 (2025 CDN), all of which he to his 27-year-old unmarried daughter, Olive Fawsitt, and with nothing for his wife. Jean Joy described Charles as a “little bow-legged man” in her letter to her son Douglas.
1919
On September 27, Jean Joy dies at Blatwood, her home in York Mills, Toronto.
1920
In June, Harold arrives from England at Quebec City, having sailed from Liverpool on the S.S. Melita. He lists himself as “married,” possibly unaware that Jean has died.
1921
In January, Harold meets with his son, Ernst Grahame, in Toronto. They both sign documents, attesting that Harold had lived in Canada and the US each for a minimum of 10 years. This document is unlikely to be related to citizenship, and is probably for employment purposes.
1922
Harold works as an electrician in Pittsburgh. Part of this time he is employed by the Edgewater Steel Company in nearby Oakmont.
1924
On April 3, Harold dies, and was presumed dead of carbon monoxide poisoning. He had been living at 321 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh.