Joseph was born in Pennsylvania and traveled with his parents to Maryland and then on to Franklin Co., VA. According to J. C. Flora, he was married several years before coming to Franklin Co. in the early 1780s, although his oldest known child was born around 1787.

Once he settled in Franklin Co., he remained there for the rest of his life, dying in 1841. By all accounts, he was a successful farmer, owning between 1000 and 1500 acres of land.

Sources:
Flora, Joel Cephus, Genealogy and History of descendants of Jacob Flora, senior, of Franklin County, Virginia. 1951, Pages 20 - 21.