Looking Back ...

Ancestry and legacy of East Randolph native Joel Foy donor of library building

Editor's note: The Randolph Free Library will celebrate the anniversary of its 50 years in the brick building on Jamestown Street with an open house on Sunday, Oct. 10 from noon to 2 p.m. The building was a gift from Joel Hall Foy, a former East Randolph resident, as a memorial to his wife Emma Warner Foy. He gave $50,000 for the building and established an endowment fund of $30,000 for maintenance. Most of the following information was taken from articles of the Randolph Register written around the months of the building's completion and dedication.

In a tribute written by his friend Stewart N. Miller, a resident of East Randolph, at the time of the new building's dedication, it is stated that Mr. Foy's grandparents "were among the very first to push their way into the wilderness which is now East Randolph, hew its forests into homes ad capture its waterways that they might lend their power for the industrial life of this new community."

His paternal grandfather was Samuel Foy who came to Cattaraugus County from Vermont in the 1820s. In those days there were no trading centers in this area and Samuel Foy, like other pioneers, drove teams to Buffalo with the lye salts and furs which early settlers traded for needed goods.

His maternal grandfather Joel Hall built a sawmill on the present site of the Glover's Mill property at East Randolph. His father Ara Foy and his mother Clarissa Hall Foy were born eight to ten years after the first settlement was made, and were considered by those who remembered them years later as "fine people". Ara Foy, after serving in the New York Cavalry during the Civil War, operated a sawmill near the site of the former Corbett Hill schoolhouse, later operated a farm at Axeville, then moved to the former Samuel Foy farm on the Napoli Road near East Randolph.

Joel Foy was born in East Randolph on Oct. 12, 1866, and spent his early life there, attended Chamberlain Institute and taught school for a few years. He was at one time principal of the East Randolph school. He became a partner in a drug store at East Randolph and later acquired sole ownership of the store. According to an article in the Oct. 7, 1949, Randolph Register, in those days...Bert Maltvie of Cattaraugus, who was for a time employed at one of the Randolph drug stores, was working on the idea of combining drugs in pill form for easier and more accurate dispensing. Physicians at that time customarily prescribed medicines in powder form.

Impressed with Mr. Maltbie's idea and his ability in compounding formulas, John and Charles Thompson of East Randolph, officers in the Seaboard National Bank in New York, later merged into the Chase National Bank, persuaded Mr. Foy to join in the pharmaceutical manufacturing enterprise. He left East Randolph in February of 1899. A factory was started in Buffalo and the business was later moved to Newark, N.J. Mr Foy went on to become chairman of the board of the Maltbie Chemical Company of New Jersey.

During the some fifty years he lived elsewhere, he returned to his native home often. He and his wife Emma, also a former East Randolph resident, retained an interest in the two local villages. In 1945 they made plans to enlarge the Randolph library building and to provide addition funds for its operation. Before these plans could be put into effect, Mrs. Foy died, and Mr. Foy decided to give a new library building an provide and endowment fund to aid in its operation. Realizing that adequate additional support would be needed, he asked the village to increase its contribution to library expenses by voting a two-mill library levy, which was done. His gift of the library was in the village of Randolph, but in the substantial endowment he had his old village of East Randolph in mind and made it with the provision that this village should have rights equal to Randolph in use of the library.

Unfortunately, Mr. Foy died Jan. 7, 1948, at age 81 after a year of failing health. Realizing he would not live to see completion of his project, he made provisions in his will to assure continuation of the work. His estate purchased $1, 485 worth of fixtures for the new building. Furnishings on the main floor were a gift from Georgia Price of New York City, a niece of the Foys, and a piano was given by Mrs. Phillip Small of Chicago.

Mr. Foy was buried in the East Randolph Cemetery. In an editorial in the Randolph Register at the time of his death, he was described as a modest man who seemed to take the attitude of an administrator of funds which were available for library purposes, never stressing their source. His aim was to expend these funds in a way which would benefit this community most, and because he took this attitude, he never said, "This is what I want to do for the community." He rather asked what was needed, what would do the most good. Then he went to work with library and village officials to achieve this goal. He consulted well qualified attorneys and an architect to learn the best was to proceed and as he continued his study of the project, he became increasingly interested in it, spending a large amount of his time and ignoring ever increasing ill health.

The last paragraph of the editorial is a fitting conclusion to this brief history of Joel H. Foy, and in part, a reflection of what those who benefit today from his efforts may think. "Now that Mr. Foy has been brought home to his last resting place in East Randolph cemetery, there is no way in which we, who will benefit from his generosity, can thank him for his great interest and careful planning, as well as for his financial aid. But this is probably how he would wish it. He cared for no public opinion, his reward was in knowledge of a work well done and the assurance of continued benefit."

Source: "Randolph Register" ¹⁰⁷⁴⁴