History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/William L. Joy
WILLIAM L. JOY was one of the sturdy pioneers of Sioux City and for a quarter of a century one of the foremost lawyers of northwestern Iowa. He was born in Townshend, Vermont, August 17, 1830. After graduating at Amherst College in 1855, he read law and was admitted to the bar. In the spring of 1857 he traveled westward until he reached the then little frontier town of Sioux City where he decided to make his home. He became a partner of N. C. Hudson in the practice of law, and some years later became a partner with Craig L. Wright, and for twenty years the law firm of Joy & Wright was the leading one in Sioux City. They were attorneys for the Illinois Railway Company, the Sioux City and Pacific, the Dakota Southern, Columbus and Black Hills Railway companies and the Iowa Falls and Sioux City Railroad Land Company. In 1865 Mr. Joy was elected Representative for the district composed of the counties of Plymouth, Woodbury, Cherokee and Sioux, in the Eleventh General Assembly, where he ranked high as a legislator. He was one of the organizers of the Sioux National Bank, and served as president up to 1896. He was also deeply interested in the public schools serving for twenty years as a director and president of the board. He died in California, July 1, 1899.