John J. Hoyt, the oldest medical practitioner in Ingersoll, and a man of marked skill, dates his birth at Sidney, Delaware county, New York, April 3, 1824. His parents, Daniel and Mary (Simpson) Hoyt, were both from Connecticut. The branch of the Hoyt family from which our subject sprung was from Wales. John Jay supplemented a district school education with several terms at the Delaware Academy, Delhi, N. Y.; taught school two winters, studying medicine at the same time; finished his professional studies with Dr. A. Fitch, of Delhi; attended lectures at Pittsfield, Mass., and Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and received his diploma from the latter institution in 1846.
Dr. Hoyt commenced practice in the Newark valley, Tioga county, N. Y.; at the end of one year, removed to Oswego, same county; in 1850 went to Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin, and in the autumn of the same year settled in Ingersoll. Here, for nearly thirty years, he has been in general practice, having usually an extensive ride, covering, especially at an early day, when the settlements were thinner and doctors scarcer, a wide area of country. Latterly he has considerable consultation practice, his ripe years, long experience, and mature judgment, giving great weight to his opinion on difficult cases.
Dr. Hoyt has been county coroner for several years, and has been in the town council, and on the school board, never, however, coveting office, but willing to bear his share of such burdens. The honor he lets others discover and enjoy.
The Doctor is an Odd Fellow, and has passed all the chairs in that order. He assisted in reestablishing King Hiram and King Solomon Lodges of Free Masons, in Ingersoll, and has held every office in the blue lodge of the former. When the first of these lodges was re-established, there were only three or four masons in this vicinity only himself in the village.
In January 1853, Clarissa C., daughter of Thomas Brown, a very early settler at Ingersoll, became the wife of Dr. Hoyt, and they have one son, Charles P. Hoyt, druggist, Ingersoll, Dr. Hoyt is of the firm of Hoyt and Williams, his partner being Joseph Arthur Williams. a native of Queenston, Ontario, born February 21, 1837. He was graduated at the medical department of Victoria College, Toronto, in 1863; became a Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, London, England, in November, 1876 a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, in January, 1877, and a Licentiate in Midwifery, Royal College of Surgeons, England, next month. He occupied the position of demonstrator of anatomy in the medical department of Victoria College for three years, and was regarded as an efficient teacher. Since residing in Ingersoll, he has continued his interest in educational matters, and has been an active member of the board of education nearly all the time. He has also taken a part in municipal matters several times holding a seat in the council. He is one of the most skilful men of the younger class, in the medical profession in Western Ontario, and is president of the Medical Association for Oxford county.