Hi Kathy!
I am a Joice, that was my maiden name. I noticed that your message was posted GMT, are you in England? I am in California. I thought for a long time that my family and cousins were the only Joices in the San Francisco Bay Area, but Ancestry.com has shown me that there is a family of Joices (with an i, not a y) in Santa Clara City/County and the city of Hollister. Hollister is south of Santa Clara, but I am not sure what county it is in. Santa Clara is just south of the San Francisco Bay Area. My dad told me there was another family in
San Francisco, but they are not related to us which seems odd because they also spell it with an i. I don't believe that they still live in the area as they are not in the phone book nor Ancestry.
My Great Grandfather Alfred W Joice was supposedly born in Wisconsin, and my Great Grandmother was born in Chicago, Illinois. I can not verify either birth yet, except through census records. Alfred and Margaret had three boys, all born in Chicago. One of those boys is my grandfather (Charles). Margaret's mother, Mary J, immigrated to the US from Canada in 1851; her last name was Kirby. Margaret's maiden name was Whyte, and her father's name was William Whyte, Mary's husband.
My grandfather married Frances Simmons and had three boys, all still alive, and one daughter also still living. All of their children were born in Berkeley, California. One uncle is Richard Joice who has lived in Virginia for the past thirty years. My uncle Donald lives near my dad, Robert E. Joice (RE Joice, he is quite proud of that!!), in the California Gold Country of Auburn and Grass Valley, California. If you are not from our area, this is where gold was discovered in the mid 1800's, leading to major expansion of the West. Ancestry has shown me that another Joice family also lives in the Gold Country, one city near my dad, the other a little farther away, but my dad does not know them. After doing a lot of research
it is hard to believe they are not related because I have found small threads that the families have in common. Some related names due to marriage are:
Lamb (my aunt, also in California); Simmons; Martel (California Gold Country town of Rough and Ready, yes a true name!); Lowe in Pennsylvania (1700's),
and a few others that I will have to look up. There are very few girls in the Joice family throughout the generations.
This is probably way more than you wanted! Sorry, I get carried away!! Right now, I am trying to find Afred's history, and his son that died at 20, John R. Joice. There are so few records on my dad's grandparents. I did find out that Alfred's father was from Ireland and his mother, Eliza Grove, was from England. My dad did say that he thinks one of his relatives from the Isle of Man married a French woman. I did find some info about that but have not delved into it.
I hope this has not thoroughly confused you. Please feel free to contact me directly at:
schmidthaus1@comcast.net. I would be happy to share more, or help you research someone. Take care and I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Schmidt