After serving with Count Casimir Pulaski during the Revolutionary War,[3] Joseph and his family joined the pioneers who trekked westward through the Cumberland Gap.
Except for his service with the Kentucky Rifles during the War of 1812,[1] he was engrossed in pioneer life on the frontier, hunting, clearing fields, farming, and raising a large family.
They were involved in land sales with each other and title disputes with speculators; they served on juries together; and they were of like mind on the issue of slavery siding with the abolitionists.
The old soldier, Joseph, traveled with him on this trek, dying in 1834, and was buried at James Cemetery in Putnam County, just east of Greencastle.
In 1962 President John F. Kennedy signed into law an act that created Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, which was dedicated in 1966.