Louisville's First Families
THOMAS JOYES 








   Sketched from a portrait owned by this distinguished citizen's  grandson, Chapman C. Joyes. Thomas Joyes was the eldest son of  Patrick Joyes, founder of the Louisville family, was a noted linguist, fought in early wars, and was identified with the social and political life of old Louisville. 

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The Joyes Family. Chapter VIII.








   IT was after only three years in America that Patrick Joyes, of Galway,  Ireland, cast his lot with the pioneers, reaching Louisville in the year  1784. This Irish gentleman, after completing his education in France and Spain, lived for some time in France, and with his wife, Anne O'Gara, of Ireland, sailed from Bordeaux and took up his residence in Philadelphia. Making a business trip to the Falls of the Ohio, he decided to settle here, and his first home, on the north east corner of Sixth and Main, remained in the possession of the family for 99 years.
   The home of Anne and Patrick Joyes was famed for the hospitality of colonial days, so little understood by the most genial host of the present, with parties of friends and later of kinsmen, arriving on horseback and by stage coach from Virginia and the Central Kentucky settlements, assured of hearty welcome. Those were the days of the trundle beds and of huge bedrooms accommodating two or more of the old four posters, one of which slightly crowds the sleeping apartments of today. The style of entertaining continued in the Joyes family to the time when horseback rides were replaced by journeys on steam cars. In 1892, at the country

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home of Patrick Joyes II, near Shelbyville, called 'Oxford" for his grandfather's boyhood home in Ireland, lavish hospitality was the echo of the century before. It was at "Oxford" that the second Patrick Joyes, with his family, spent the last twelve years of his life.
   The Joyes family is entirely distinct from the family of Joyce, whose name is pronounced the same way, and, in fact, with the exception of an army officer, who emigrated from Galway much later than the Louisville settler, there are no other Joyeses in the States beside the descendants of Patrick and Anne Joyes, and comparatively few of them.
   Two sons and three daughters were born to the pioneer couple at the home at Sixth and Main. All married and lived in either Louisville or Jefferson county. Thomas Joyes, born in  1789, the elder son, is said to have been the oldest male white child born within the city limits. Like other patriotic citizens of his time, he had ample opportunity for military service, figuring in the Wabash Campaign of 1812, and with the rank of captain fought with the 13th Kentucky militia at the Battle of New Orleans.
   He was a surveyor and spent part of his young manhood in the office of the county clerk. He was sent to the Kentucky Legislature several times.

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   He was one of the Louisville citizens to be pallbearer at the re-interment of Daniel Boone's body at the Frankfort cemetery in 1845.
   Thomas Joyes was noted as a linguist, inheriting the gift from his father, who spoke French, Spanish and German fluently. To these his son added several Indian dialects, and it was of him that Judge Fortunatus Cosby said he believed if Tom Joyes was shut up over night in the room with a Russian he would be in full command of the language by break of day. His early holdings were Jacob's Park, then Burnt Knob, a farm of over 300 acres, and the major portion of Towhead Island (the Guthrie heirs and the widow of the Rev. John Norton owned a small part of the island). Burnt Knob was sold by Patrick Joyes II to the city for park purposes when Mayor Charles Jacob was in office.
   Thomas Joyes married Judith Morton Venable, daughter of Judge Joseph Venable, of Shelbyville, and had one child, Patrick Joyes, born in 1826, at his grandfather's home on Main street. He was educated at Centre College and was a graduate of Harvard Law, was a public spirited citizen and one of the first presidents of the Y. M. C. A. He was also the first president of the Charity Organization, now the Associated Charities, served on the board of the Cook

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Benevolent Fund Home for the Aged, and was an elder in the First Presbyterian church.
   Patrick Joyes married Florence Coleman, a great beauty and a greatly beloved woman, daughter of Chapman Coleman and his wife, Anna Mary Crittenden. Their hospitable home was on Second street, next door to Christ Church Cathedral House. They were the parents of six children. Their daughter, Anna Mary Joyes, married Haiden Trigg Curd, the mother of Florence Joyes Curd; Mrs. Percy N. Booth, who has two children, Florence Joyes and Alexander Galt Booth; of Pattie Curd, Mrs. Albert Hueling Davis, of Jacksonville, the mother of Albert Hueling Davis, Jr.; of Lieut. Joyes Curd, United States Air Service, recently returned from France and now at a rest camp in the Catskills. Lieut. Curd was gassed while on duty over there.
   Chapman C. Joyes married Sallie Swope, daughter of Ben L. Swope, and is the father of Janet Staines Swope and of Thomas Swope, who has just been released after two years' military service.
   Capt. Morton Venable Joyes, Judge Advocate's Department, Washington, married Caroline Hancock Barr, daughter of Judge John W. Barr, and is the father of  Lieut. Watson Joyes, U. S. Engineers, in France, of Preston Pope Joyes, who married Nina Harlan Bingham, the 

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father of Nina and Preston Pope Joyes, of Florence Coleman Joyes, II, and of  Morton V. Joyes, Jr.
   Florence Coleman Joyes I, and Patrick Joyes,Jr., make their home with their sister, Mrs. Curd, on First street, and another brother, Dr. Crittenden Joyes, who married first Lida Robinson, daughter of Worthington Robinson, and later married Almeda Griggs, of Texas, lives in Fort Worth and is the father of one child, Mary Griggs Joyes.
   Catherine Joyes, daughter of Patrick and Anne O'Gara, married William McGonigale, and was the mother of John McGonigale, of the old surveying and real estate firm of Henning, McGonigale & Hobbs. He married Josephine Miller Oldham, widow of George Oldham, and his children are William J. McGonigale, Florence Joyes McGonigale and Mary McGonigale.
   Nancy Joyes married Thomas Johnson, of Jefferson county, and was the mother of Thomas Johnson, who married a sister of E. D. Standiford.
   Thomas Johnson III married Betty Brooks, the father of Brooks Johnson, of Edward Lee Johnson and of Etta Brooks Johnson, Mrs. Edward C. Tyler.
   Elizabeth Joyes married William H. Sale and was the mother of William H. Sale, who married

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Della Nagle, father of Della Sale, Appeline Joyes Sale and of Hewett Sale, of  Chattanooga and Louisville. Another grandchild is Betty Sale Reese, widow of  Edward Reese, whose father was Charles Sale.
   John Joyes, the youngest child of Patrick and Anne Joyes, was born in  1799, was educated at St. Mary's College, studied and practiced law, was the second Mayor of Louisville, and City Judge from 1835 to 1854. He married Harriet Lanier, daughter of Major Thomas Martin Lanier, distinguished soldier of the Revolution. His daughter, Stella Joyes, married James A. McAfee, of pioneer family, and was the mother of Annie McAfee, who married Robert Dulaney, and has one son, Woodford Dulaney, recently returned from service overseas, and of Leal McAfee.
   Judge Joyes' daughter, Susan Joyes, married Major Edward P. Byrne, of the Confederate Army, and her daughter, Harriet, married Heaton Owsley, and was the mother of Edna Owsley, Mrs. Frederic Hill, of Chicago, and of John Owsley, of New Haven, Conn., whose wife was Helen Hall.
   A son, Clarence Joyes, married Mary Riddle and has a son, William Joyes, who makes St. Louis his home. Judge Joyes' other sons were gallant soldiers in the Confederate army:

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Capt. Erskine Joyes, who was killed in action, attached to Second Kentucky Regiment; Lieut. John Joyes, who served under his brother-in-law, Major Byrne, who commanded a Kentucky Battalion. 

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