Background: Joseph was born in Curryville, Missouri. He attended
the local school and later went to Bowling Green where he graduated from high school. He
was well liked at school and was chosen as Senior Class President.
During his younger years he trained hard as a speed skater. According to his
sister Louise, he won most competitions and may have had a chance to compete in the
Olympics with proper training. Joseph was considered "fast with the fists" and
never walked away from a fight. As a young man he dated Mae Tipton. Mae however eventually
married Josephs brother George. Joseph married Mabel Josephine Brown and moved to
Milwaukee, Wisconsin where her sisters lived. There he worked for Omar Baking Company
where he was instrumental in forming a Union.
Joseph and Mabel had three children; Billy Joe, born September 29, 1930, Donnie
Gene, born August 17, 1933, and Nancy Ann, born May 11, 1935. Joseph and Mabel were
divorced around 1940. Joseph remarried around that year to Ruth Kabletz, also from
Milwaukee whom he met while working for Rotter Baking Company. Joseph and Ruth moved to
Lowell, Massachusetts for a time then later to Curryville, Missouri.
He worked for
Hercules Gun Powder Company in Louisiana, Missouri. Some time
later they moved to Chicago where he worked for various baking companies. While living in
Chicago, Joseph was involved in a car accident and was thrown from his truck and received
a punctured lung. His injury activated Tuberculosis, which had been dormant until that
time. He had the lung removed and was admitted to the Cook county TB
Sanitarium where he
died in 1961.