William A. Joy

Virginia and other places / Civil War
  • Military specialty: Unknown
  • Awards: Unknown

b. 10 Jun 1838; d. 2 Dec 1901. William A. Joy was born to Samuel and  Sally Joy in Orono, Maine. At some time in the 1850s, the family moved to Fox Lake, WI. By 1862, he was farming in St. Anthony, MN.

Joy was one of the men recruited during the Civil War to help replenish the ranks of the First Minnesota Regiment. He enlisted on 15 Mar 1862. During his term of service, he was in all the battles in which the regiment participated from Fair Oaks to Savage Station. Both battles were fought in May-June of 1862 in Henrico Co., VA. He also participated in the Battle of Gettysburg.

In Feb 1864, the regiment returned to MN to await their discharge in May. Joy was discharged on 23 Mar 1864, by virtue of his reenlistment as a veteran volunteer on 24 Mar. He was mustered in on 31 May 1864 as a private and placed in Company A.  He was quickly promoted to corporal. From August or September, he served as Battalion Quartermaster Sergeant.  He was promoted from corporal to sergeant on 4 Dec 1864. He was transferred from Company A to Co. C in Mar 1865. Beginning on 13 Apr 1865, he served as acting Regimental Quartermaster. He was discharged as an enlisted man on 10 Apr 1865 to accept a promotion to 2nd Lieutenant in Co. C. He was discharged with the Battalion at Jeffersonville, IN on 14 Jul 1865.

After the war, Joy married Eliza M. Wheeler on 26 Oct 1868; they had 3 children. By the time of the 1870 census, the family was farming in Empire Twp., in Dakota Co., MN.  By 1875, they had moved to Cottonwood County, MN and homesteaded in section 26 of Mountain Lake Township.

Buried at Greenwood Cemetery, Spokane, WA.

  • Obituary: Yes