WmRJoycePhotoPage

Right: Wm. R. Joyce. Left: not sure, I think it's one of his brothers.	Left: Clarence Ingram Joyce Right: Wm. Richard Joyce	Wm. R. Joyce	Paw and Mom (Alma)
house that Paw built in Richlands, Va.	with Elaine at graduation	The Joyces	Birth Certificate
Marriage Record	Social Security Card	Death Certificate
I have left the documents in the size which I originally scanned them so they wouldn't lose resolution...they are therefore large. PawPaw's Birth Certificate: says that it is a delayed registration. I am not sure whether his birth was just not registered for 40 some years or if the original recording was lost by the records dept. Notice that G.W. Joyce signed the certificate and had to produce a written record (Family Bible) as evidence witnessed by the clerk. Marriage Record: No one knew until after my grandfather's death that he had carried this document in his billfold for 70 YEARS! Social Security Card: notice that it is "dated". I did some research on the history of Social Security, apparently the FIRST Social Security cards were issued starting on Jan. 1, 1937. His is dated Jan. 4, 1937. WOW! The house pictured above was the first built by my grandfather. He had worked in the coal mines until one of his lungs collapsed and had to be removed. Not allowed to go back to coal mining, he drew up a plan to provide city water to Richlands, Va. I believe that the "project" was funded by the WPA program and for 2 years he did this job. At the end of that project, with only a 2nd grade education and still no jobs in the area except coal mining; he built the house you see above. By that time, his daughter Alma had married and her husband (Kenneth Breedlove) was going "north" to seek employment. His daughter Norma Darlene "Donnie" was living in Cleveland, Ohio working as a "nanny" for a doctor and his wife. Daughter Elaine was in her last year of High School, and son Curtis "Bud" was still only about 12 yrs old. Elaine wanted to stay in Richlands and finish school so she stayed with family friends the rest of that year. My grandparents packed up and moved to Ohio. Elaine graduated high school and married Donald Jackson and followed within a year. Both my father and grandfather got jobs in Mansfield, Ohio working at Westinghouse. My grandfather quit because he refused to work on Sunday! Within a week or 2 my father was laid off from Westinghouse and they were job hunting again. I vaguely remember living in Cleveland, Ohio for a very short time, but apparently everyone liked Mansfield, Ohio and so back we came. By that time Elaine and husband, Don Jackson were in Mansfield and my grandfather and Don bought or leased a gas station. Don worked there full time and my grandfather part time because he'd decided to build houses. After he'd gotten a few contracting jobs and was being recommended for new work, he and Don sold the gas station. My grandfather built 2-3 houses a year after that until he retired in 1970. When I have time, I'll get some photos of other homes he built and post them. He worked 6 days a week, 12 hrs a day....and NEVER worked on Sunday! I remember when he was building a 2 story house for the Vidra family (Don was the Maintenance Superintendent for Mansfield Plant ~ General Motors) the guard on Paw's circular saw was broke and when he sat it down, it spun around and cut through his boot and nearly cut off his little toe. He went the the trunk of his car, got out his first aid kit and poured spirits of turpentine on it, bandaged it...and went back to work. He NEVER borrowed money to start a house. The first few jobs people paid for materials up front and paid for his labor when he was done. After that he had enough to build on "speculation" (build a house before it was "sold"). As I said, my grandfather NEVER worked on Sunday....he went to church. He wasn't a "member" anywhere. He went to a couple different churches on different days....depending on "who was preachin'". I went with him a lot. The churches never had names....half of them were in "borrowed" buildings that weren't in use for anything else on Sunday or Wednesday night. I asked him one time what kind of church we went to.....when I was old enough to know there were different "kinds" of churches. He said, "ohhhh, the church of Christ, holiness churches". I still don't know what kind of church we went to, but I always loved going. There were rarely "kids" there....mostly people older than my own parents, but I was never "bored". On the way home, I'd ask him about anything that I hadn't understood and he'd tell me. I've come to realize that my grandfather knew that we all need prayer as much as we do "preachin". He was a man who "prayed without ceasing". (1 Thessalonians 5:17) The Story of my Grandparent's Meeting: May, 1932. My grandmother was living in Columbus, Ohio with Grandpa Taylors family....working in a canning factory. Her father, B.F. Taylor was a traveling evangelist preacher. His wife, Julia and their children lived in Columbus. Grandpa Taylor was having a "Tent Revival" in Algoma, W. Va, where he'd met and married my grandmother's mother years before. Grandma Hylton (my grandmother's grandmother) still lived there in Algoma. For some reason, my grandmother (Gladys Taylor) decided to take that opportunity to visit both her grandmother and her dad before she got married in Columbus, Ohio....to a guy who's name I've forgotten. Well, anyhow, my grandmother goes to Algoma and at the Tent Revival where Grandpa Taylor is preaching, she meets Wm. Richard Joyce. 2 weeks later, she and my grandfather are married and she mails back the engagement ring to the guy in Columbus, Ohio. So much for "long engagements".....my grandparents were married 70 years!
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