Joseph was born in Adams Township upon the old homestead near Myoma on 6 December 1837, the third son of William and Margaret ...Cashdollar. He grew to manhood working as a farmer. He enlisted in Company D, 137th Pennsylvania Volunteers on 7 August 1852 and served in the battles of Antietam and Fredericksburg. He was honorably discharged 3 June 1863. He married Sophia Staples in September of 1864 when he was 261/4 years old but she died in 1871. He is listed in the 1870 census as 30 years old with wife Sofia and one daughter. He then married Elizabeth P. Ramsey in 1872 and they had 5 children: Lawrence B., Walter, Anthony S., Edith E., and Elizabeth (deceased). In the 1880 census he was 40 with wife Lizzie and 4 children. Elizabeth died in 1881 and he married again to a daughter of Milton Marburger in 1882 and had 3 children. He was a member of the United Presbyterian Church where he served as a deacon. He also served as a justice of the peace and held the office of notary public.