Among the truly representative men of Oakland County, none stand higher in the general estimation of the public than does Dr. J. M. Hoyt, of Walled Lake, Commerce township. James M. Hoyt, M.D., was born in East Aurora, Erie county, New York, October 5, 1817. His father, Jonathan Hoyt, was an eminent physician, and for ten years during the latter part of his life, which terminated in 1850, was one of the judges of the circuit court of Erie county ; and being a prominent politician of the Democratic school, Avas selected by his party as a candidate for Congress against President Millard Fillmore, upon the occasion of that distinguished gentleman's first election to that office.
The subject of our sketch received his literary education at the public school and academy of his native village ; and pursued his medical studies under the tuition of his father, and also, for three years, had the late John E. Marshall, M.D., of BufFalo, for a preceptor. To perfect his studies he entered the office of Dr. Marshall, and thereby derived the advantages of hospital practice; the doctor being the physician in charge of the Marine Hospital of that city. Dr. Hoyt graduated and received his diploma at the Geneva Medical College, of New York, in January, 1839. He emigrated to Michigan in the spring of 1840, and settled in the village of Commerce in the latter part of May of that year. By diligent application to his professional duties he here became quite popular as a family physician and as a citizen. After staying at Commerce for about two years he removed to Walled Lake, where he has since resided.
On April 3, 1841, he married Margaret, daughter of Hiram Barritt, Esq., the fruit of which union was ten children, of whom seven survive. On the 25th of July, 1859, he sustained the loss of his excellent wife, who had been faithful and devoted in the marriage relation, and a fond and affectionate mother. The doctor, acting upon the scriptural injunction, "It is not good to be alone," married his present wife, Eliza H., daughter of Mr. Lyman Hathorn, May 1, 1860. She is a lady eminently qualified by social graces and a kindly disposition to reign over the doctor's heart and home. Her genial hospitality and devoted domestic characteristics have secured for her an exalted position in the , hearts of her own and her husband's neighbors and friends.
The doctor has been a life-long Democrat, has held various offices of honor and trust in his township, including those of supervisor, township clerk, school-inspector, etc. He was elected to the senate from the then sixth senatorial district of this State, in November, 1858, over his opponent, Henry W. Lord, now of Pontiac. The district being largely Republican, he, owing to personal popularity rather than partisan favor, ran three hundred votes ahead of his ticket, gaining a majority over the Republican candidate of forty votes. While in the senate he was appointed chairman of the committee on asylums for the deaf, dumb, and blind; and also a member of the committee on mines and minerals. As a senator, it was said of him by his associates in that body that he was faithful in the discharge of his duties to the people of all parts of the State, and especially to his constituents. The report of the committee on asylums for the deaf, dumb, and blind, of which he was the author, is particularly spoken of as a very able state paper. In that document the author dwells at length upon the history, rise, and progress of similar institutions in other parts of the country, notably the one in Michigan ; showing the benefits that have accrued to this unfortunate class by wise and benevolent legislation. The report closes with an earnest appeal to his brother senators for a munificent appropriation ibr the benefit of this class of our populace. As an instance of the character of this report generally, and especially of the wisdom of its various recommendations, suffice it to say that it was unanimously approved by the senate, and unanimously adopted by both branches of the State legislature. He was a candidate of his party for the senate in 1860, and was defeated, after a sharp contest, by John Owen, of Waterford township, now of Saginaw city ; was a second time elected to the senate, however, in November, 1864, receiving a majority of what was then called the home vote ; was given a certificate of election, and took his seat. A contest arose, resulting in bis defeat, the legislature insisting on counting the soldiers' vote, contrary to the decision of the supreme court. He has been extensively engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery since his residence in this town. Having settled there at so early a day, he has become conversant with the trials and hardships of pioneer life ; as he was actually a pioneer practitioner of medicine in his township. To him we are largely indebted for the necessary data for the history of Walled Lake and vicinity.
One crowning characteristic of the doctor's career is, that he never turned a deaf ear to the appeal of the poor or the supplication of the needy. In his charity he has oftentimes furnished bread, as well as medicine, gratuitously. There are but two physicians in the county whose arrivals antedate his, Dr. Reynolds, of Birmingham, and Dr. Burdick, of Oxford. From a sickness which came upon him in the winter of 1875-76, which was the result of exposure to cold, occasioned by his zealous devotion to his professional duties, he is now nearly deprived of eyesight, owing to which he is now, at the age of fifty-nine, in comparative seclusion. He practices now only in extreme cases, and then only in consultation with the younger members of his profession. Having by industry and frugality acquired a sufficient competence to complete life's journey unattended by want, he now, in his days of darkness, spends his time as pleasantly as possible surrounded by his family, friends, and neighbors, and buoyed up by the knowledge that his affliction was occasioned by a faithful and heroic discharge of duty, and a lively expectation of a blissful eternity beyond the grave. In religion the doctor is a Baptist, being an earnest and faithful member of the Baptist church of Walled Lake. The doctor's whole career offers a fine illustration of Tennyson's couplet.