Dr. Milton R. Joy was born in Remsen, Oneida county, N. Y., December 7, 1861, a son of Henry L. and Mary (Paine) Joy. He was the older brother of Dr. Louis Joy; also an Ilion graduate. When Milton was an infant, his family moved to Ilion, where he later attended the high school. He also attended Cazenovia Seminary and Syracuse University. He began his medical studies under Dr. H. B. Maben of Ilion, and was graduated from the Long Island College Hospital with the degree of M.D. in 1884. After graduation from medical school, he took post graduate work in the New York Post Graduate Hospital. He later moved to Perryville where he practiced for seven years.

Dr. Milton R. Joy, married Miss Neta James of Utica, on November 30, 1886, in Utica, NY. They settled in Perryville, where he had established his practice. In 1892, they moved to Cazenovia. Two children were born to them, a daughter, Genevieve F. Joy who married C. Francis Beatty. Their son, Dr. Harold Joy, married Vivian White. Dr. Harold Joy and family lived in Syracuse where he was an ophthalmologist.

Dr. Milton Joy was appointed Cazenovia health officer. This position he held for over thirty years. He was president of the village for two terms (1905 and 1918), trustee for three terms, trustee of the village school for 20 years, and trustee of the Cazenovia Seminary for a number of years, also trustee of the Methodist church for many years. He was New York Central Railroad surgeon for over 50 years. He was one of the first surgeons in this part of the country to do a successful operation for appendicitis. He also was one of the earliest physicians to use antitoxin in the treatment of diphtheria.

For over fifty years Dr. Joy was one of the leading physicians of Madison County, and always had a large practice. Most of the years of his practice was in what is now spoken of as the "horse and buggy age" and he always kept three horses and sometimes four to do his work. His first automobile was the third one owned in Cazenovia.

Mrs. Neta James Joy, wife of Dr. Joy, died at the Crouse-Irving Hospital, Syracuse, on September 15, 1922. She was 56 years old. "Although she had been an invalid for several years, her death was unexpected... Mrs. Joy before her illness was very active in her church and a leader in the social life of the village. She was a former president of the Ladies Aid Society of the Cazenovia Methodist Church and had been very active in the King's Daughters' organization. Mrs. Joy was a musician and as president of what was known as the Choral Society, exerted considerable influence upon the musical life of the community. She was well known for her kind heart and thoughtfulness of others, which made her beloved by all who knew her, especially by children."

Dr. Joy, married Lula Boyd of New Woodstock in 1924. They owned a home on Boca Ceigo Bay in Florida on the Gulf of Mexico where they spent winters.

Photograph courtesy of Madison County nygenweb site

When he retired from active practice, he bought and lived in "The Oaks" which was known as a beautiful home on the south shore of Cazenovia Lake.

Dr. Milton R. Joy, 93, who had practiced medicine 52 years in the Cazenovia area until his retirement in 1936, died at his home, The Oaks, yesterday morning. He would have been 94 next Tuesday.

Dr. Joy was a member of the Madison County Medical Society Syracuse Academy of Medicine, the State Medical Society. American Medical Association, and New York Central Society of Railway Surgeons. For more than 50 years he was a New York Central Railroad surgeon. He Was one of the first physicians to use antitoxin in the treatment of diphtheria.

In 1941 he was presented a certificate by the State Medical Society "in recognition of 50 years devoted to the service of the public in the practice of medicine."

Dr. Joy served as mayor of Cazenovia two terms, health officer for more than 30 years as well as trustee of the Cazenovia village school 20 years and trustee of Cazenovia Seminary.

BORN IN REMSEN

The doctor was born in Remsen, Dec. 7, 1860, son of Henry Livingston Joy and Mary Paine Joy. The family moved to Ilion in 1866. He was educated at Ilion Union School, Cazenovia Seminary and Syracuse University. He received his medical education at Long Island College of Medicine from which he was graduated in 1884, then took postgraduate work in the New York Post Graduate Hospital. He was the oldest living alumnus of Long Island College.

The doctor began his practice at Parryville in 1886, practicing there for six years before moving to Cazenovia.

Most of the years of his practice was in what is no spoken of as “the horse and buggy age.” He always kept three horses and sometime four. He was the third Cazenovian to own an automobile. At one time he had a Snowmobile which enabled him to visit his patients when the roads were deep in snow. There was no plowing of the roads in those days.

ARDUOUS EXPERIENCE

He recalled many interesting experiences. One cold night he received a call to go to Fenner to see a patient. The show was deep and the road so drifted that it had to be abandoned and a trail laid out across the fields. In the darkness he could not see the way, and horse and driver wandered until the horse became exhausted and lay down. The doctor covered the animal with blankets and a robe and using his shovel, which he always carried with him on such trips, he covered the animal with snow except for his head which he protected with the turned up cutter.

Then taking his medicine case, he started out. By luck he came to a fence which he followed, finally coming in sight of buildings which proved to be the home of his patient. He rested, treated the patient and had something to eat. When daylight came, he and willing neighbors found the horse in fairly good condition, took it to the barn, fed it and soon they were on the way home. Neither the driver nor the horse suffered ill effects from the harrowing night's experience.

HOSPITALS NOT USED

In those early days, the hospitals were not so much used by persons in the rural sections as now. Many of the operations were in the patients' homes, and Dr. Joy was well known as a surgeon and operated on many cases, some on the kitchen table. He was one of the first surgeons in this part of the country to do a successful operation for appendicitis.

He delivered, 2, 235 babies, a number greater by several hundred than the now total population of Cazenovia. Some of the babies were grandchildren of those he delivered in earlier days.

In 1886, Dr. Joy married Neta James of Utica, who died in 1922.

Two year later he married Lula Boyd of New Woodstock, who survives him. Other survivors are two children, Mrs. Gene Joy Beatty, wife of C. Francis Beatty of Scarsdale, a director of the Socony Vacuum Oil Co., and Dr. Harold H. Joy, an ophthalmologist, of Syracuse; six grandchildren and nine great grandchildren.

For several years, Dr. and Mrs. Joy have spent summers in Cazenovia, and winters at their winter home in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at the home, 12 Ledyard Ave., in charge of Rev. Lawrence Mills, rector of St. Peter's Episcopal Church of which Dr. Joy was a member.